BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — David Hogg, one of the students who survived the Parkland, Florida shooting in 2018, has canceled his visit to California State University, Bakersfield.
According to a statement released by CSUB Thursday night, Hogg canceled all of his 2019-2020 speaking engagements. In September, it was announced that Hogg was scheduled to speak at CSUB in April of 2020.
CSUB officials said a representative for Hogg told CSUB the Harvard freshman's academic schedule conflicted with his speaking engagements, forcing the cancellations.
Hogg is a school shooting survivor and the co-founder of March for Our Lives, a youth-led movement that mobilized hundreds of thousands of protesters in Washington, D.C. weeks after the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Authorities said seventeen people were killed in the shooting.
"He appreciates the opportunity and hopes he can make it to the campus in the future," Hogg's representative said in an email to CSUB.
According to the statement, the director of the Kegley Institute of Ethics, Dr. Michael Burroughs, is working to schedule a different speaker and will have more information in the coming months.
“We are disappointed that David won't be able to join us but, as part of an academic institution, we understand and respect his need to prioritize his educational responsibilities,” Burroughs said. “We will find an excellent speaker for spring 2020 and look forward to continuing the tradition of the Charles W. Kegley Memorial Lecture Series."
