Yale University's William F. Buckley, Jr. Program has hosted its second Diversity Dinner with former New York Police Department (NYPD) commissioner Raymond Kelly speaking about his experiences in the agency especially on proactive policing.

Kelly, who was a polarizing figure in the police force for his clashes with civil society organizations over transparency, was honored in the ceremony held at the Plaza Hotel, which was attended by students, faculty and alumni of Yale. Gary Johnson, presidential candidate of Libertarian Party, was also present, according to The Washington Post.

Kelly was invited to speak in Brown University in 2013 but due to massive protests, it was cancelled by the university administration. Kelly recited the speech he would have given at Brown during the dinner, receiving praise for his proactive actions that led to the decrease of murders in New York City from 1990's 2,245 to 2013's 333 recorded incidents.

The inaugural Disinvitation Dinner last year was attended by George Will, the Pulitzer-prize winning newspaper columnist known for his conservative take on American and world politics. He was disinvited from his speech at Scripps College after protests, The College Fix reported.

Popular right-wing voices in different fields like International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were previously treated the same way by progressive activists for their conservative stances on controversial issues.

The Disinvitation Dinner was conceived by the members of the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program to give a platform to speakers who were disinvited from university speaking engagements all over the country.

First organized in 2011 by a group of Yale undergraduates, the William F. Buckley, Jr. Program was formed as a means to promote intellectual diversity in the New Haven-based University. The group especially advocated for more conservative intellectuals to participate in discourse more so in a time when the Ivy League university has become a bailiwick of liberals, Yale Daily News reported.

The full speech can be seen below:

Topics Yale University