Activists and students reacted with outrage when a university chose a scholar on social media’s harms for a commencement speech.

New York University (NYU) picking social psychologist Dr. Jonathan Haidt for the talk “cheapens the accomplishments of the Class of 2026” and “misunderstands the political moment,” leftist group Fight for the Future said in a Wednesday statement, cheering NYU’s student government for denouncing the planned Thursday speech. Fight for the Future called Haidt a “fearmonger” for his research, which has found causal links between young people’s social media use and a generational mental health crisis.

Haidt did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

“Why might Haidt’s appearance lead to protest?” Fight for the Future Campaign Director Sarah Philips said. “Well, because he [is] one of the leading figures of a contemporary moral panic which leverages contested science to promote policies that strip young people of their autonomy.”

Philips attacked the NYU professor’s “right-wing talking points” expressed in his books on mental health. “Haidt, 62, is a consummate grifter whose scolding treatises about American youth include ‘The Coddling of the American Mind’ and ‘The Anxious Generation’: fact-lite airport bestsellers which right-wing groups deploy in support of a nationwide effort to ban young people from the Internet.”

The scholar previously described himself as a centrist who votes Democrat. He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2022 on the internet and mental health, arguing for legislation restricting social media companies’ ability to store minors’ data and requiring age-appropriate content for minor users. Haidt also pushes for banning cellphones from classrooms for students.

“Haidt has used his positioning to push for mass censorship laws that would harm LGBTQ youth across the globe,” Philips claimed.

The professor “wants a world where adults lecture young people and dismiss their protests as signs of moral failure — perfectly highlighted by the format of the event, where NYU’s actual graduates have been kicked off the podium for daring to stand up for Palestinian liberation,” Philips said — referring to an NYU student whose diploma was withheld in May 2025 after he turned his graduation speech into an anti-Israel diatribe.

An undated letter from NYU’s student government also expressed “profound disappointment” at the school picking Haidt to speak at graduation.

“In a world marked by sustained attacks on higher education and the global unraveling of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which has only deepened inequities, Professor Haidt is not the appropriate individual to address the Class of 2026,” the letter says.

“Since the announcement … many students have reported feelings of disappointment, disgust, unenthusiasm, defeat, and embarrassment — feeling that their commencement, intended to be a celebratory moment, has instead become another instance of being misunderstood,” the students wrote.

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