Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro in talks to appear at Wharton MBA club event

Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro is in talks to speak at an on-campus event next month. 

According to second-year Wharton MBA student Colin Duffy, who serves as president of Wharton’s Adam Smith Society chapter, the talk is scheduled to take place at the Penn Museum on April 14. Duffy wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian that Shapiro and his team are “fully confirmed.”

“The Adam Smith Society has been working with University Life, DPS, and the MBA Office of Student Life as part of the University’s established process for planning campus events and obtaining contract signatures,” a University Life spokesperson wrote to the DP. “The scope of the proposed event has changed several times, each of which requires a new review to ensure appropriate planning and resource allocation.”

The statement continued, “At this time, the group has not completed the required steps to obtain a cost estimate and move the event forward.”

“The contract has been ready on our end for some time,” Duffy explained in a statement to the DP. 

Duffy added that the Adam Smith Society — an association for MBA students and professionals — has been “working with Penn administration since the fall” to organize the event and accused the University of putting up “roadblocks” to the process.

“Penn’s attempt to mandate uncapped, vague security fees without providing clear criteria, estimates, or precedent is an opaque and inconsistent approach that raises concerns about fairness,” Duffy wrote.

He added that the Adam Smith Society would “not agree” to such fees.

Duffy wrote that the event — which the Adam Smith Society is co-hosting with the nationwide youth conservative organization Young America’s Foundation  — will include a speech by Shapiro and a live question-and-answer session. 

Duffy added that the event will include discussions of “ideas promoted by The Adam Smith Society.” According to the Society’s website, the organization aims to “promote debate and discussion around the moral, social, and economic benefits of capitalism.” 

According to Duffy, Penn initially tried to “block” recordings of the event and imposed “limitations on access, live streaming, and the potential for open-ended security fees tied to anticipated protests.”

He added that “for the sake of moving the event forward,” the organizers agreed that the event would only be open to members of the Penn community and not the public at large.

“We intended to open the event to the public to advance Penn’s mission of open inquiry and intellectual diversity while reinforcing Penn’s stated commitment to combating antisemitism by hosting a prominent Jewish public intellectual in an academic setting,” Duffy wrote in a statement.

The event — which Duffy said will take place in the Harrison Auditorium, the Penn Museum’s highest-capacity theater — is expected to occur just days after conservative commentator Steven Crowder is scheduled to appear in a debate organized by Penn Live Arts.

The debate with Crowder raised safety concerns among PLA staff, who worried the event would spread “hate, bigotry, and ignorance.” Two staff members — who were granted anonymity due to fear of retribution — told the DP that there was an initial possibility that the event with Shapiro would also take place at PLA.

Duffy wrote that the Adam Smith Society had been in touch with “venue partners such as Penn Live Arts and the Penn Museum” and “evaluated multiple venues and dates” before settling on the Harrison Auditorium.

A request for comment was left with the Penn Museum.

Shapiro is known for hosting the podcast “The Ben Shapiro Show,” aired by The Daily Wire. He co-founded the conservative media company in 2015. 

Shapiro has previously spoken at college campuses in tours affiliated with Young America’s Foundation. In 2024, he visited Yale University, the University of California — Los Angeles, Cornell University, and Vanderbilt University.

The structure of those events was similar to what Duffy described for the Penn event. In previous speeches, Shapiro addressed topics such as the Israel-Hamas war, campus protests, freedom of speech, and the 2024 presidential election.

“With the help of Young America’s Foundation, we are working tirelessly to make this event happen,” Duffy wrote. “The Penn community deserves real ideological diversity.”

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