On Sunday, The New York Post pointed out in an op-ed that University of Wisconsin-Madison snowflakes, triggered by Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro’s speech there in mid-November, in which protesters formed a wall in front of Shapiro, have petitioned the university to deem the campus Young Americans for Freedom chapter, which sponsored Shapiro’s speech, a hate group.
The leftist group, the Student Coalition for Progress, also petitioned to have the members of the Young Americans for Freedom chapter subjected to “intensive diversity training.”
The petition read:
For the last few years, ultra-conservative student organization Young Americans for Freedom has existed on campus and has not been a threat to the greater campus community. They brought in speakers that espoused unsavory viewpoints and promoted conservatism, but were nonconfrontational.
That changed during the Fall 2016 semester.
When current chairwoman Kara Bell stepped in to replace the outgoing leader of the chapter, a decision was made to bring in controversial commentator Ben Shapiro. Shapiro has used his following and nationally syndicated media presence to deny the realities of systematic and institutional violences against Black and Brown people, sexual assault survivors, Muslims, LGBTQIA+ people, people with low income, people with differing abilities, undocumented immigrants, and anyone that is systematically targeted along identity lines.
The Post condemned the action in an op-ed, noting, “Triggering the whiners was a visit from conservative columnist Ben Shapiro, who spoke about how “’safe spaces’ limit free speech — which, the petition claimed, had denied ‘systematic and institutional violences’ against marginalized communities.”
The Post opined, “Happily, the petition bombed, scrounging barely more than a couple hundred signatures. But the effort shows yet again that ‘shut up’ remains the central argument of the campus left. Sadly, the kids who need re-education — or, rather, a basic education in the fundamentals of civilized discourse — are the ones in the Student Coalition for Progress.”
“Triggering the whiners was a visit from conservative columnist Ben Shapiro, who spoke about how “’safe spaces’ limit free speech — which, the petition claimed, had denied ‘systematic and institutional violences’ against marginalized communities.”
New York Post
Leftists at the University had created a private Facebook page before Shapiro’s speech, titled “F(***) White Supremacy: Interrupting Ben Shapiro.” The irony was not lost on Shapiro at the time, as he noted he had been the target of white supremacists.