Bari Weiss’Daniel Pearl Memorial Lectureon “the future of journalism” at UCLA was canceled Tuesdayamid student protestsandonline criticismsof the embattled CBS News editor-in-chief’s Feb. 27 appearance.

The annual lecture, held in remembrance of Daniel Pearl, the journalist who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in early 2002, will be rescheduled for an unspecified date, an individual with knowledge of the event told TheWrap. Past participants include journalists Jake Tapper, Christiane Amanpour and Bob Woodward.

Weiss’ lecture was met with unrest on the UCLA campus, with feminist peace organization CodePink organizing a student action to cancel the event back in January. Others on social media voiced concern that the university would platform Weiss to speak on the future of journalism as CBS News rides outcensorship allegations,high-profile staff departuresandlooming layoffsunder her leadership.

CBS declined to comment on the rescheduled lecture. UCLA did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.

“This is shameful, especially because Weiss has recently aligned herself with the Trump administration by attempting to cover up the fact that ICE agents are sending Venezuelan migrants to a torture center in El Salvador,” CodePink wroteon their call-to-action page, regarding a “60 Minutes” segment Weiss pulled late last yearbefore ultimately airing it in January.

“She has a history of flagrant xenophobic remarks about Palestinians, Muslims, and Arabs, and prides herself on her extreme views,” CodePink continued. “Weiss has created a career writing opinions that hold no journalistic integrity, which do not reflect the values of the Daniel Pearl Lecture Series at the Burkle Center.”

The editor-in-chief was further lambasted as “a mouthpiece for the White House.”

Weiss’ scheduled UCLA appearance also came amid reports of CBS News’ expected layoffs this spring, which are expected to impact 15% of the staff.

As TheWrap previouslyreported, the exact extent and timing of the cuts remain unclear, but they could come as early as March or as late as May, and the plans remain fluid as the network aligns internally.

The cuts would be the second round of layoffs since David Ellison’s Skydance acquired CBS parent Paramount last year andlet roughly 100 people goin October. They would, however, be the first round fully overseen by Weiss as she works to revamp the network.

Source: Drudge Report