(COLORADO SPRINGS) — An author whose appearance at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) was canceled over “disparaging” remarks about President Donald Trump appeared at Colorado College (CC) on Wednesday evening, Sept. 10.
Paisley Rekdal was invited to speak at CC, and her lecture was similar to the one she had planned for the Air Force Academy. Her lecture included readings of her book “The Broken Country,” which explores memory and trauma among Vietnamese refugees.
The University of Utah professor previously criticized an executive order by President Trump regarding student protests, calling it “not just unconstitutional but one more move towards authoritarianism.”
Just weeks before Rekdal was scheduled to speak to cadets at USAFA, she was informed that the Academy’s superintendent had canceled her lecture. She says the subject matter is important to talk about, even if it’s uncomfortable.
“At first I thought that would be a bad idea, but after a while, I thought, ‘why not?'” said Rekdal. “I decided to take a more wide-ranging approach to the subject about how we memorialize war, how we artistically represent it, and how we think about war many, many generations after those conflicts have passed.”
The Academy said while it canceled Rekdal’s appearance over her comments toward the White House, it still plans to welcome speakers who encourage vigorous debate on a variety of subjects.
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