As Spencer Brown of Young America’s Foundation reports, a “review” instituted by the University of Connecticut of Wednesday night’s lecture by Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro has triggered the decision by the university to prevent members of the public from attending unless they are on a pre-registered list.
The speech, part of YAF’s Fred Allen Lecture Series, will be open to students and faculty, but any other individuals who show up will not be permitted to attend.
UConn is a public, taxpayer-funded institution.
As Brown notes, “Just last week, Anita Hill spoke on campus at UConn in an event advertised as ‘free and open to the public,’ with ‘No tickets required for entry.’” Anita Hill was the woman who accused arch-conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment at his confirmation hearings in 1991.
Jay Bergman, a history professor at CCSU, sent an email to UConn employees, asking, “Can you explain the difference in the university’s treatment of the two speeches … which seems to penalize Mr. Shapiro and the College Republicans for their political opinions?”
Brown points out regarding Shapiro’s speech, “In a tragic irony, the listed point of contact for the event was ‘[email protected].’ If only the school’s stated commitment to ‘Diversity & Inclusion’ extended to ideological diversity and inclusion of conservative speakers, perhaps the school wouldn’t need to punish conservatives–the victims of leftist intolerance–in the name of safety.”
UConn’s “Chief Diversity Officer” Joelle Murchison has already sent an email to students stating, “We understand that even the thought of an individual coming to campus with the views that Mr. Shapiro expresses can be concerning and even hurtful and that’s why we wanted to make you aware as soon as we were informed.”