Georgetown University’s foreign service school has caused quite a stir by inviting Alexei Navalny’s daughter, 22-year-old Stanford student Dasha Navalnaya, to speak at its commencement on Saturday. For some, Navalny—currently imprisoned in Moscow—is a symbol of anti-corruption for his outspoken criticism of President Vladimir Putin. But he’s also called Muslim immigrants “cockroaches,” used homophobic slurs, and only recently denounced Russia’s annexation of Crimea. That controversial past wasn’t lost on students, many of whom signed letters and petitioned to have his daughter removed from the ceremony. Some have vowed to turns their backs when Navalnaya speaks or hold up Ukrainian flags. The school has added two additional speakers to take some of the shine off their controversial guest, but it says it never considered removing Navalnaya. “We do not disinvite speakers on the Georgetown campus, and we don’t dissuade speakers from speaking,” Joel Hellman, dean of Geotgetown’s School of Foreign Service, told POLITICO. “We do communicate to speakers when concerns are raised among students, so they can take those into account.”
