Delivering a university commencement address used to simply be a unique kind of honor. Speakers stand before a podium, wearing a traditional graduation cap and robe, to offer graduates life lessons and inspirational words as they enter the next phrase of life. But today, speaking at a university commencement ceremony carries considerable risk, as Morton Schapiro, former president of Northwestern University, recently found out. Schapiro was scheduled to speak at Georgetown University Law Center’s May 17 graduation, but announced on May 6 that he would not appear at the event. Some Georgetown Law students had protested and petitioned to have Schapiro’s invitation rescinded, citing what they said were Schapiro’s “controversial, Zionist, and harmful opinions.” Schapiro wrote an op-ed expressing support for Israel and Jewish people a few days after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people. Schapiro is in good company. There’s a reason the free speech advocacy group FIRE calls the lead-up to college commencements “disinvitation season.” Over the last two decades, colleges and universities across the country have …