(Daily Bulletin) Novelist Salman Rushdie has decided not to deliver the graduation speech for Claremont McKenna College, pulling out days before the Saturday, May 17, commencement.
The decision follows criticism from Muslim advocacy groups and students.
Rushdie, an Indian-born British and American author known for writing about religion and politics, has drawn controversy before, including receiving death threats in the 1980s for his novel, “The Satanic Verses.”
“I write with news that Sir Salman Rushdie notified us yesterday of his decision to withdraw as our keynote commencement speaker,” Claremont McKenna President Hiram Chodosh wrote in a campus-wide email provided Tuesday, May 13, by the Claremont Colleges Muslim Students Association.
