Wharton Disinvites Controversial Keynote Speaker

The Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF), an annual student-run conference hosted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and scheduled to take place March 23, is embroiled in controversy. Forum organizers disinvited one of its keynote speakers, Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, a state in western India, on Sunday after university professors wrote a petition condemning Modi as a leader. The petition was signed by more than 300 people both in the university community and other parts of the world.

“Many of us did not think it was appropriate to have him as the main speaker at the forum,” says Toorjo Ghose, assistant professor at the university’s School of Social Policy & Practice, an Indian native, and a co-writer of the petition. “The main speech is given by someone the school supports, and he has a spotty record on human rights and development politics.”