A college president in Michigan is defending inviting women’s sports activist Riley Gaines to speak at the school’s commencement.
Adrian College President Jeffery Docking sparked outrage among LGBTQ activists for allowing the former NCAA Division One swimmer to address the student body at this year’s graduation.
"I think that higher-ed leaders need to hold strong right now and not cave in to people that want to crush free inquiry," Docking told Fox News Digital. The administrator said Adrian College “believes strongly in Title IX” and that Gaines's activism amid a broader conversation about accommodating transgender-identifying people in educational spaces is “pertinent.”
"To think that those women either here or anywhere else could be subjected to coming out for the first day on the team and being told you don't have a spot on this team … two or three trans athletes are taking your spot because they're bigger, stronger, faster, better lung capacity than you,” said Docking. “And so you're out. Just does not seem right to me.”
"We made a decision that we are going to bring her in to put this at the forefront," he continued. He pointed out that a transgender rights advocate spoke on campus in April of 2022.
"So, we've had it on both sides," Docking explained. "I do think that free inquiry has been pushed to the side in precisely those institutions, mainly higher education, that should be embracing it."
While a student at the University of Kentucky, Gaines competed against Lia Thomas, a biological male who identified as a transgender woman and was permitted to switch from the men’s league to the women’s league. Gaines publicly objected, stressing the physical advantage Thomas had over biological women and the personal discomfort she felt while having to share locker rooms with a biological male.
Gaines continued to publicly advocate for protections for female athletes after graduating. She has worked with both federal and state lawmakers to advance protective policies.
Gaines’s detractors have suggested her presence on Adrian College’s campus near Ann Arbor could endanger both her and the school’s LGBTQ community.
“Elevating this divisive and extremist symbol of hate with the largest megaphone and to the highest platform of an academic institution’s school year, their college graduation, as an alum, this is an embarrassing and hurtful decision. As a donor to the college, this is a bad investment decision,” said R. Cole Bouck, the creator of Adrian College’s LGBT and Ally Pride scholarship, per LGBTQ Nation.
Safe Place, the school’s LGBTQ organization, launched a petition to lobby the college’s administration to reconsider having Gaines speak at graduation.
“Riley Gaines has been known for her controversial stands that are far from inclusive. Her presence at such an important event could potentially harm those who support or belong to our community,” the group wrote in the description of the petition. “We must create an environment where everyone feels respected and valued, especially during such significant moments as graduation.”
The call to action had just over 2,000 signatures as of the afternoon of May 6.
Roughly 1,800 students attend Adrian College. The school was founded in March of 1859 as an offshoot of a Wesleyan Methodist theological institute. The school is still affiliated with the Methodist Church.
