NYU Graduates Praise Their Own Professor Jonathan Haidt for Writing Book Criticizing Awakening
College students can be a mischievous bunch, and NYU’s graduating class proved that by booing one of their professors at Yankee Stadium.
His follow-up to “The Coddling of the American Mind,” called “Anxious Generation,” has spent more than a year on bestseller lists around the world and is why free school policies are being written into national law.
The protest came from the 4-member Executive Committee of NYU’s Student Government Assembly, not the full student body. Their May 5 statement accused Haidt of “homophobic remarks in the classroom,” “public misconceptions about transgender identity,” and “disturbing statements about racism, social justice, and diversity, equality and inclusion.”
The “hate speech” follows on from a 2014 speech for Haidt’s Professional Responsibility course at Stern, where he taught behavioral psychology using unacceptable examples to demonstrate the moral basis of “sanctity/degradation”, including changing views on gay marriage. Haidt has been a long-time public supporter of gay rights.
The committee also questioned whether the selection of Haidt was “another attempt to push the IRL narrative.” NYU IRL is the university’s 2026 initiative to establish device-free zones on campus to reduce phone addiction and encourage face-to-face interaction. It is based on Haidt’s research.
Haidt received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and delivered his speech at Yankee Stadium on May 14. The speech, titled “Pay Attention,” was warm and non-political. “If there’s just one thing from my address that you remember tomorrow, next week, and 20 years from now, do this: Pay attention,” he told the graduates. “What you care about shapes what you care about. And what you care about shapes what you become.”
He also took a shot at Big Tech: “Some of the biggest companies in human history, they’re not trying to get your attention. They’re not trying to get you to pay attention to them. They’re trying to take it from you.” And he spoke directly to the serious case: “People, especially young people, are fragile. They are strong. Strong things become stronger, so we need to expose ourselves to challenges, actively.”
The Atlantic published the full text the next day so readers could judge for themselves the “disturbing remarks”. Greg Lukianoff has published a point-by-point rebuttal showing how the claim misrepresents the book and the speech.
Psychologists at UCLA, Harvard, and Ohio State have found that words that are believed to be harmful are associated with worse mental health outcomes, including more anxiety and depression, less energy, and worse emotion regulation. According to FIRE, Gen Z is about ten times more likely to use violence to suppress speech than Baby Boomers, and more than 25 times more likely than the Silent Generation. As of May 7, attempts to demolish the facility have exceeded 100 per year. In the first quarter of 2026, 65 out of 70 attempts were successful.
In 1990, Wellesley students protested against Barbara Bush as their commencement speaker for not being a “working woman.” The older women retreated. Pat Schroeder defended him. Jean Baker Miller called the objection “simplistic.” Bush spoke. His address is now on NPR’s list of the best inaugural addresses of all time.
