DePaul University is back at it again, censoring more conservative voices.
While “Black Lives Matter” posters hang on DePaul administrative office windows, President Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider has banned College Republicans from hanging their “Unborn Lives Matter” posters on campus, despite the school being the largest Catholic university in the United States, allegedly backing the Catholic tenet (and science) that life begins at conception. According to the university president, these three words are rooted in “bigotry” and might “provoke” other students.
As relayed by College Republicans Vice President John Minster to The Daily Wire, the conservative group designed the “Unborn Lives Matter” poster to promote their pro-life views and their meeting times. Following standard protocol, the group then submitted their design for approval prior to hanging them up around campus. In a disturbing twist, the “controversial” pro-life posters were pushed all the way to President Holtschneider, who declared that he would prohibit them in order to shield his students from “bigotry” under the “cove of free speech.”
Yes, the word “bigotry” was just used to describe pro-life posters by the president of America’s largest Catholic university.
In an act Minster categorized as an exercise in “shaming” College Republicans, Holtschneider sent out a signed letter to the entire campus on Friday to address what he deemed to be unacceptable pro-life poster.
“By our nature, we are committed to developing arguments and exploring important issues that can be steeped in controversy and, oftentimes, emotion,” Holtschneider nonsensically claims, two sentences before banning “controversial” speech. “Yet there will be times when some forms of speech challenge our grounding in Catholic and Vincentian values. When that happens, you will see us refuse to allow members of our community to be subjected to bigotry that occurs under the cover of free speech.”
“Yet there will be times when some forms of speech challenge our grounding in Catholic and Vincentian values. When that happens, you will see us refuse to allow members of our community to be subjected to bigotry that occurs under the cover of free speech.”
-DePaul University President Dennis Holtschneider
According to the president, the pro-life poster “provokes” members of Black Lives Matter—a political movement steeped in violence. The mantra “black lives matter” is fully endorsed on campus.
“In fact, you have seen this in past months, as we have declined to host a proposed speaker and asked students to redesign a banner that provokes the Black Lives Matter movement,” continued Holtschneider, presumably alluding to the banning of Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro and Breitbart News’ Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking on campus.
Linking to DePaul’s Guiding Principles on Speech and Expression literature, Holtschneider then asks students to reflect on the following sentence, which seemingly lumps in the pro-life message with speech “inconsistent” with “Catholic values”:
“We accept that there is a distinction between being provocative and being hurtful. Speech whose primary purpose is to wound is inconsistent with our Vincentian and Catholic values.”
Hilariously, Holtschneider maintains that he is not “unfairly censoring” to “appease a crowd.”
“Some people will say that DePaul’s stance unfairly silences speech to appease a crowd. Nothing can be further from the truth,” he states.
Adding more hypocrisy to the anti-American act of censorship, the university currently has no problem plastering “Black Lives Matter” posters on their administrative offices. For example, Minster provided a photo of the Center for Identity, Inclusion, and Social Change office openly sporting a “Black Lives Matter” sign.
Minster blasted DePaul administration for cowering to intolerant campus leftist and censoring the rights of their conservative students once again.
“Rather than standing up for the pro-life and free speech ethics this ‘Catholic’ University claims to uphold, administration has bent the knee to radical leftists, banning more speech despite the pro-life message.”
-DePaul College Republicans Vice President John Minster
“Once again, DePaul University has shown its true colors,” Minster told The Daily Wire. “Rather than standing up for the pro-life and free speech ethics this ‘Catholic’ University claims to uphold, administration has bent the knee to radical leftists, banning more speech despite the pro-life message. These habitual violations of students’ rights are why organizations like the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) have claimed DePaul University may be the worst school for free speech in the nation. Sadly, administration is proving FIRE correct.”
As aforementioned, Shapiro was banned from speaking at DePaul in August. After doubling-down on their denial of free-speech, the administration opened the door to possibly allowing the conservative speaker to exercise his First Amendment rights on their campus, though no dates were given.
