Unlike social media platforms, any given university only has so many physical spaces, blocks of time, advertising and logistics resources, etc. to host speakers. They’re selectively chosen and coordinated.

So when a speaker is invited who is, for example, blatantly hostile to the advertised mission of the university, it raises eyebrows. And it paints a contradictory pictures that devalues the university itself. Or worse, if the message is blatantly hostile to a subset of students, it could discourage some people from even wanting to attend!

People work hard to get accepted to universities which they respect, and they have a vested interest in maintaining their university’s respect in the public eye.