Officials at Anne Arundel Community College have canceled a scheduled campus lecture by a controversial black educator after students raised concerns about his past comments on gay and lesbian identity and HIV.
Umar Johnson, a school psychologist and self-described "Prince of Pan-Afrikanism," is a touring lecturer on issues affecting the black community and was scheduled to give a speech on "The Impact of Historical Racism on the Present Generation" at the school's Arnold campus this Thursday evening, as part of the school's Year of Social Justice program and Black History Month.
However, a university spokeswoman said Tuesday that the event had been canceled after "thorough review and consideration" following complaints from students.
"It was determined that this event would not foster the kind of academic discourse valued at AACC," said Laurie Farrell, the spokeswoman, in an email.
Past speeches by Johnson are widely available online, on YouTube and elsewhere, in which he lectures on a slew of controversial ideas, including that HIV and AIDS are a government conspiracy, that treatment for HIV kills more people than the disease itself, that the government has a secret cure for HIV, that gays and lesbians have "sexual confusion," and that "homosexuality" is a "pathology born of childhood sexual victimization."
Johnson did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the cancellation of the event. He did, however, forward by email a flier -- also posted to his Twitter feed -- announcing the AACC event has been replaced with one unconnected to the college at the Riviera Beach Community Library, at 1130 Duvall Highway in Pasadena, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday.
Some students at the college, including Demetrius Diakhate, the president of the Black Student Union, said they supported Johnson speaking on campus. Diakhate said Johnson's critics had unfairly dominated the conversation about whether to rescind Johnson's invitation to campus.
Among those critics was Zoe LaFemina, who had expressed outrage at the idea of Johnson appearing at AACC.
LaFemina, president of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance, said she took her concerns about what she called Johnson's "bigoted views toward homosexuality and women" to campus administrators immediately upon learning of the event.
"I can't stress enough how awful I think it would be for Dr. Johnson to speak about these issuses on our campus," LaFemina said in an email. "I think the negative effect that his words have on a young, queer, person of color is huge."
Of the event being canceled, LaFemina said members of her group are "all very relieved that administrators realized the negative impact that Johnson's words could have on queer black students on campus."
LaFemina also said the impact of historical racism on today's generation, the intended topic of Johnson's speech, is "extremely important" and should be discussed, but could be better addressed by another speaker, perhaps even a member of the school's faculty.
Diakhate, meanwhile, said the cancellation of the event had left black students feeling "marginalized" on campus.
"The logic that the administration gave was that the Year of Social Justice is supposed to be about equality and fairness," he said. "Canceling a man's presentation because he has views that differ from yours doesn't sound like equality and fairness to me."
The AACC event is not the first appearance by Johnson in an educational setting to be canceled recently. Last month, Portland Public Schools also canceled a scheduled appearance by Johnson at a local high school.
Administrators there told the Oregonian that they had failed to properly vet Johnson.