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MONTREAL — Plans to celebrate a Concordia University college’s 40th anniversary are in disarray after the school decided to disinvite a Harvard professor because of his controversial views on feminism.

Last November, the Montreal university’s Liberal Arts College asked Harvey Mansfield, a professor of government at Harvard, to speak during a gala scheduled for May. But following criticism from some alumni, the college quietly cancelled his visit and the entire gala in February.

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The decision by the college’s principal, Mark Russell, went largely unnoticed until Mansfield published an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal this week claiming he was disinvited because of his race and his opinions.

“The invitation was a surprise, and the rejection less of one, because I am a white male conservative professor,” Mansfield wrote in the newspaper April 15.

Eric Buzzetti, a professor at the college who disagrees with the snub of Mansfield, said in an interview Thursday the controversy around the scheduled speech led to the decision to cancel the gala.