Student-activists at the University of Pittsburgh are outraged that Daily Wire host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michael-knowles-doubles-down-on-trans-cpac-comments-that-set-internet-ablaze" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Knowles</a> is scheduled to appear on campus and take part in a debate on transgenderism next month. 
The students called on the school officials to protect &#8220;LGBTQIA+ individuals&#8221; on campus from “language” that “directly threatens violence against trans individuals.” The Student Government Board also released a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpwE0BSs6ZU/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> condemning Knowles’ planned appearance, along with other conservative events, as “transphobic hate.” 
Dylan Mitchell, president of the College Republicans at Pitt, the group hosting Knowles on April 18, told The Daily Wire that he is concerned the university will give in to leftist pressure and cancel the event. 
“It&#8217;s incredibly disappointing to see so many students at the University of Pittsburgh who are so averse to the concept of free speech. As college conservatives, we know there will always be backlash to our beliefs because we go against the tide of the majority, but that&#8217;s why it&#8217;s so important that we stand up for ourselves and refuse to back down,” Mitchell said. 
Knowles was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wh-spokesperson-karine-jean-pierre-repeats-false-claim-michael-knowles-called-for-eradication-of-transgender-people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">harshly criticized</a> after multiple news outlets falsely reported that he called to eradicate transgender people during a recent speech, leading some people to accuse Knowles of calling for “genocide.” The Daily Beast edited its original headline, which claimed Knowles called for the “transgender community” to be eradicated, to reflect that the podcast host called for eradicating “transgenderism,” not people who identify as transgender. Rolling Stone made a similar update.
Despite Knowles clarifying that he was not calling for harm to be done to transgender people, a student at Pitt started a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/hold-the-university-of-pittsburgh-accountable-in-protecting-lgbtqia-individuals?redirect=false">petition</a> last week, telling the university that allowing people like Knowles to speak on campus is “unacceptable and against the values of this University.” 
Former college swimmer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/swim-champ-riley-gaines-drops-shocking-claims-about-lia-thomas-on-crain-co" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Riley Gaines</a> and Daily Wire Senior Editor Cabot Phillips, who are speaking to the Turning Point USA chapter at Pitt in the coming weeks, were also mentioned in the petition, which referred to them as “transphobes.” The petition has received more than 9,000 signatures.
So far, Pitt has not canceled any event hosted by the campus Republicans or Turning Point USA. The university released a <a href="https://www.communications.pitt.edu/services/media-relations/latest-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> last week reaffirming the rights of campus groups to host “provocative” speakers. The administration’s statement, however, agreed with leftist students that “these events are toxic and hurtful for many people in our University community” and doubled down on its “unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.”
“Some members of our community have expressed concerns about Michael Knowles’ viewpoints, including Knowles’ recent statements about transgender people,” the statement said. “The University affirms its deep commitment to and support of all Pitt community members including our trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming community members.”
The Pitt College Republicans are standing their ground and still plan on hosting Knowles despite the backlash.
“We are not afraid,” Mitchell said. “We will stand up and represent those who are afraid of the backlash, and we&#8217;ll continue to stand up until conservatism is accepted on campus and nobody has to fear sharing their beliefs. Petition or not, we will certainly not be canceling this event, and we will be hosting more conservative voices in the future.”

Michael Knowles

Leftist Students Melt Down Over Upcoming Michael Knowles Appearance At Pitt; University Says Event ‘Toxic,’ ‘Hurtful’

Leftist Students Melt Down Over Upcoming Michael Knowles Appearance At Pitt; University Says Event 'Toxic,' 'Hurtful'

College Republicans

Education

Free Speech

Politics

The Daily Wire

Transgender

University of Pittsburgh

Alarming proportions of conservative college students at more than 200 American universities said in a <a href="https://5666503.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/5666503/CFSR_2022_Report.pdf">national survey</a> they self-censor their views inside and outside of the classroom out of fear of damaging their reputation.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a nonprofit organization defending free speech and free thought, released its third annual College Free Speech rankings through a commissioned survey of 44,847 students at 208 colleges about students’ perceptions and experiences regarding free speech on their campuses.
Among several key findings, the survey revealed 63% of students fear speaking their minds could result in damaging their reputation, 42% of conservative students report that they “often” feel uncomfortable speaking freely, and 40% of students feel uncomfortable disagreeing with a professor — in public or in a written assignment.
“That so many students are self-silencing and silencing each other is an indictment of campus culture,” FIRE Senior Research Fellow Sean Stevens said in a <a href="https://www.thefire.org/news/just-released-2022-2023-college-free-speech-rankings">news release.</a> “How can students develop their distinct voices and ideas in college if they’re too afraid to engage with each other?”
Out of all the topics discussed on campus, students find abortion, racial inequality, and COVID vaccine mandates to be the most difficult.
The study also found that most students believe campus speakers who oppose liberal ideologies should not be allowed to speak on campus.
About 75% of students do not support a campus speaker stating transgender people have a mental disorder or believe that Black Lives Matter is a hate group, and approximately 70% shun those who claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen or support making abortion completely illegal.
FIRE CEO Greg Lukianoff said in a <a href="https://www.thefire.org/news/just-released-2022-2023-college-free-speech-rankings">news release</a> said the situation for freedom of speech and academic freedom has been in trouble on campus long before the foundation of the nonprofit in 1999.
“That situation has gotten far worse in the last few years,” Lukianoff said.
According to the report, 59% to 73% of the students surveyed oppose allowing controversial conservative speakers on campus — depending on the speaker. However, only 24% to 41% said they oppose specific controversial liberal speakers.
“More than three-in-five students (62%) said that students shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus was acceptable to some degree, down from 66% in 2021, and one-in-five (20%) said this about using violence to stop a campus speech, down from 23% in 2021,” the report reads.
Adam Goldstein, FIRE’s vice president of research, told <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/nearly-half-of-students-uncomfortable-expressing-controversial-views-on-campus-new-fire-free-speech-report/">The College Fix</a> in an email last week, “large numbers of students demanding censorship is a relatively young phenomenon.”
“Not more than a decade old, really, whereas schools have been censoring student speech as long as they’ve existed,” Goldstein said. “So I’m somewhat skeptical of the schools who say they had to censor something because students complained.”
Goldstein added that censorship measured based on student demands or administrative or faculty control is “a chicken-and-egg problem.”
“Some students demand censorship, and schools occasionally justify their policies by saying the students demanded it,” Goldstein said.
The report indicated Columbia University ranked as the lowest school for free speech “by far” with a score of “Abysmal.” Other lowest-ranking schools included Georgetown, Skidmore College, and the University of Pennsylvania.
The University of Chicago ranked highest for freedom of speech for the second time in three years.

‘That Situation Has Gotten Far Worse In The Last Few Years’: Most College Students Self-Censor, Fear Disagreeing With Professor

National Survey Suggests Most College Students Self-Censor, Fear Disagreeing With Professor

Conservatism

U.S.

Members of the University of Oregon’s student government are trying to remove the College Republican organization from campus by cutting off funding and revoking its status as a campus-recognized club.
The Washington Free Beacon <a href="https://freebeacon.com/campus/students-at-university-of-oregon-attempt-to-remove-college-republicans-from-campus/">reported</a> that while activists haven’t been able to dissolve the club, they have stated their intentions to do so and have “unanimously passed a resolution calling for ‘cultural competency training’ for all organizations during a meeting with College Republican leaders.”
The reason for such condescension comes after some College Republicans attended a “stop the steal” rally. A few members posted a picture of themselves at the rally on Instagram, and two Proud Boys flags can be seen in the background. Isaiah De Alba, political director for the university’s College Republicans, told the Free Beacon that his organization doesn’t support the Proud Boys “in any way, shape, or form.”
&#8220;The reality of the situation is that this is not about our one-time Instagram post.… This is about a long-standing hate for conservative ideology on campus and the mob mentality at our university,&#8221; De Alba told the outlet. &#8220;We are more than happy to compromise with [the student government] in some way that does not conflict with our conservative beliefs or beliefs in free speech.&#8221;
As the Free Beacon reported, the Instagram “photo garnered nearly 2,500 comments, some of which called the Republicans ‘neo-Nazis.’&#8221; A student government secretary commented on the photo by saying she was “so excited to deplatform” the College Republicans.
Activists at the University of Oregon have repeatedly demanded College Republicans condiment white supremacy and political violence, though they do not appear to have called on College Democrats to denounce violent leftist extremist groups like antifa.
“The calls for the club&#8217;s abolition continued in the student newspaper, the Daily Emerald. One student columnist said the university was ‘protecting and [legitimizing] White ideology’ by letting the club operate on campus,” the Free Beacon reported.
College Republicans have faced similar campus mistreatment by illiberal college activists who oppose their ideology and claim to be offended or harmed by conservative beliefs.
In November, activists at Bates College in Maine protested after the school featured a College Republican leader as part of its series on students voting, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/students-protest-after-school-posts-photo-of-college-republican-school-president-apologizes">reported</a>. Students protested, and the series was removed. The president of the college even apologized to protesters for daring to feature someone with different political views. In February, protesters at the University of California-Santa Cruz <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-protesters-destroy-college-republicans-info-table-reportedly-spit-on-u-s-flag">smashed</a> the College Republicans’ information table and tore up their placards. They also apparently spit on the Betsy Ross version of the American flag.
In <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shocking-video-conservative-students-harassed-and-intimidated-by-leftist-student-mob">video</a> posted late last year, conservative students were harassed and intimidated by a leftist student mob. The conservative students were simply handing out flyers for an upcoming speech and buttons. Conservative students at the University of Washington were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/university-faculty-member-secretly-records-ashe-schow">secretly recorded</a> by a faculty member while eating lunch and posted their conversation, lacking context, to Twitter in an effort to shame them.

University of Oregon

University Of Oregon Student Government Trying To Eject College Republicans

As part of a series about students voting in the 2020 election, Bates College in Maine posted photos to its Instagram account of various student organizations. The problem? Exactly one photo was of a College Republican leader at the school.
Hundreds of students protested the photo, even holding a rally. School officials deleted the post and apologized for daring to highlight a student who didn’t hold left-leaning opinions. The school’s president even appeared at a rally to apologize for the photo.
The Bates Student, the college’s student newspaper, <a href="https://thebatesstudent.com/20795/news/students-demand-accountability-following-instagram-post/">reported</a> that the college planned to profile one student per day ahead of the election and that the College Republican was the third student profiled.
“On Oct. 23, the Bates Communications Office posted a slideshow featuring eleven students who were voting in their first presidential election. They planned to post a profile of one student a day leading up to the election on the Bates College Instagram,” the paper reported. “The post profiling the president of Bates College Republicans was only the third of the profiles to be posted, and at that point, it was the only post that referenced a student organization affiliated with a political party.”
Eleven students were set to be profiled, the outlet reported, and all but one of them were from neutral or left-leaning student organizations, yet students didn’t let the series continue once they saw the College Republican.
As The College Fix <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/hundreds-of-students-protest-after-university-posted-a-photo-of-a-college-republican/">reported</a>, school officials spoke at a rally to apologize for the photo.
“To be clear, that’s not where it should stop…I need to do more work, my colleagues need to do more work,” said Sean Findlen, a spokesperson for the school.
Bates president Clayton Spencer also attended the October 30 rally to apologize.
“It was incredibly insensitive of me to speak out about the election without taking that into account,” Spencer said, referring to the “added harm, fear, and feelings of unsafety inflicted on the Bates community,” that the election supposedly caused.
Students weren’t satisfied with the apologies and the deletion of the post, however, the Fix reported.
“They demanded a series of changes from the university, one of which included a deletion of the post,” the Fix reported. “The unmet demands include a ‘direct stance against racism with a commitment to anti-racism work,’ a promise ‘from all affiliated Bates student organizations to [engage in] anti-racism work’ and a required course in critical race theory for all students.”
Instead of teaching students that ideas and beliefs that differ from their own are not a form of violence, the college caved and reinforced those illiberal demands.
For years, students across the country have made assumptions about their fellow students based on their political leanings, yet colleges and universities have done nothing to actually educate those who insist those with right-leaning ideologies are evil. Instead, schools have reinforced those beliefs by acquiescing to angry students.

Protest march

Students Protest After School Posts Photo Of College Republican; School President Apologizes

College

Maine

Practitioners of witchcraft have joined the cause of liberal student groups at the University of North Texas (UNT) in an attempt to remove a conservative student organization from the school&#8217;s campus.
As first reported by <a href="https://texasscorecard.com/metroplex/democrats-declare-war-on-conservatives-at-university-of-north-texas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Texas Scorecard</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/UntDemocrats" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UNT College Democrats</a> joined LGBT campus group <a href="https://twitter.com/untglad" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">UNT GLAD</a> and &#8220;Chicanx/Latinx&#8221; student group <a href="https://twitter.com/vivamueve" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MUEVE</a> to write a Change.org <a href="https://www.change.org/p/removal-of-the-young-conservatives-of-texas-from-unt-for-hateful-actions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">petition</a> demanding the removal of the UNT chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT).
The petition, addressed to University President Neal Smatresk and signed by more than 2,500 people as of Monday afternoon, alleges that YCT &#8220;has shown a pattern of racism, transphobia, and homophobia throughout the 2019 through 2020 school year.&#8221; It goes on to cite examples of what they deem objectionable behavior, such as when YCT tweeted that &#8220;pronouns in your [T]witter bio isn’t a personality trait.&#8221;
Also listed is the time YCT encouraged students to celebrate National Coming Out Day by &#8220;coming out&#8221; as conservatives, as well as when they made a point about affirmative action by holding a bake sale that charged different prices based on the customer&#8217;s ethnicity. Claiming &#8220;these actions have hurt numerous organizations, minority groups, and the well being of harassed students,&#8221; the petition maintains that &#8220;YCT needs to be held accountable for said transgressions.&#8221;
Various iterations of YCT have existed since the organization was first founded in 1980. Its chapters across Texas &#8220;participate in a variety of activities, including campaigning, political activism, informing the general public on a variety of political topics, and much more,&#8221; <a href="https://texasscorecard.com/commentary/commentary-conservatism-under-fire-on-campus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wrote</a> Kelly Neidert, who is the chairman of the chapter at UNT, which was reinstated in Fall 2019 after being dissolved in 2005.
Screenshots provided to The Daily Wire of tweets and direct messages sent to YCT and Neidert show that the campaign against the organization took on a more ominous tone when alleged witches began claiming to invoke otherworldly forces against them. &#8220;It started with, like, one,&#8221; Neidert told The Daily Wire. &#8220;But now there&#8217;s like 30 of them threatening me.&#8221;
In one since-deleted tweet, &#8220;Anna Katz, a recent graduate of UNT, tweeted a picture of a drawing of a goat captioned ‘the devil’ and a cauldron. Katz, who later removed the Tweet, could not be reached for comment,&#8221; as reported by <a href="https://freebeacon.com/campus/student-invokes-satan-to-drive-conservative-group-from-campus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Washington Free Beacon</a>. Katz informed Neidert that she was performing a ritual with &#8220;intentions of misfortune&#8221; against her, but qualified her hex by explaining that it was not intended to induce &#8220;physical harm.&#8221;
Other tweets sent to YCT depict images of menacing Tarot cards, one of which shows an image of death, which a user interpreted as predicting imminent downfall. Other messages expressed overtly satanic sentiments.
<div class="image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-1348723 aligncenter" src="https://s2.freebeacon.com/up/2020/07/IMG_4811-473x1024.png" alt="" width="393" height="851" /><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="CToWUd a6T aligncenter" tabindex="0" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ui=2&amp;ik=6a4a7f29c8&amp;attid=0.1&amp;permmsgid=msg-a:r1023530675928862392&amp;th=1734a12a379a3d99&amp;view=fimg&amp;sz=s0-l75-ft&amp;attbid=ANGjdJ-jr8rQ7NREVOWCyS9W3SBtMvSwRC1ZMKwfrVVncZstKtzKf1cyLIGj-ej7-zvfhNC4Gmdzy_otvrprdil-K3vQiYKhGRybM5KNwVzDEJzWmA-KmZzjLGiaiYw&amp;disp=emb&amp;realattid=1734a1293a05ffd84411" width="390" height="844" data-image-whitelisted="" /></div>
<div class="image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-514127 aligncenter" src="https://static.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/1-411-600x548.jpg" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" srcset="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/1-411-600x548.jpg 600w, https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/1-411.jpg 870w" alt="" width="442" height="404" /></div>
<div class="image"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="CToWUd a6T aligncenter" tabindex="0" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ui=2&amp;ik=6a4a7f29c8&amp;attid=0.1&amp;permmsgid=msg-a:r937626973434333141&amp;th=1734a08c542df286&amp;view=fimg&amp;sz=s0-l75-ft&amp;attbid=ANGjdJ8SIJ9p5n4NcuQ5MOuUKFkn7IMLW83fPGCnbLd7RhvBzWaHDMB9cQAj3Eje5h5o6pEoLiraa2EL9vGijDwUB2Yv8DkqVveDVwbiI92uF4JGaC3jOqN1tMpsxw4&amp;disp=emb&amp;realattid=1734a08a65954e03d0b1" width="320" height="635" data-image-whitelisted="" /><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-514132 aligncenter" src="https://static.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/12-8.jpg" alt="" width="341" height="311" data-src="https://static.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/12-8.jpg" /></div>
&#8220;I prefer the attacks that are just like name calling and that sort of thing,&#8221; Neidert said. &#8220;The whole witch stuff, it hasn&#8217;t really freaked me out, but it&#8217;s been concerning. I think that it&#8217;s alarming that there are this many young adults who find that acceptable.&#8221; As a Christian, Neidert views the witchcraft being used against her and her organization as &#8220;pure evil, especially when they make references to Satan and they think it&#8217;s funny.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s not funny, and I&#8217;m definitely more concerned for them than I am for myself, if they think that&#8217;s okay,&#8221; she added.
A spokesman for UNT College Democrats told <a href="https://freebeacon.com/campus/student-invokes-satan-to-drive-conservative-group-from-campus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Washington Free Beacon</a> they had no comment on the hexing but stood behind their petition, which they said was not in response to YCT&#8217;s politics. &#8220;This is not a choice made by political decision, we do not care that they are conservatives, we would do this if any group on campus was spreading the rhetoric YCT spreads,&#8221; they said.
A spokesman for UNT GLAD echoed the College Democrats and said they would begin an emailing campaign if the administration fails to respond to the petition&#8217;s demands. The University of North Texas did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment.
Since the election of President Donald Trump, occultists have grown increasingly brazen in ceremonially cursing their political opponents. Shortly after Trump&#8217;s inauguration, self-proclaimed &#8220;magical thinker&#8221; Michael M. Hughes published a &#8220;mass spell to bind Donald Trump and all those who abet him,&#8221; which went &#8220;internationally viral&#8221; to become &#8220;the largest magical working in history,&#8221; according to his <a href="https://www.michaelmhughes.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">website</a>.
Since then, many have performed Hughes&#8217; spell repeatedly during <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39090334" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">waning crescent moons</a> with the intention of removing Trump from office. He later published &#8220;Magic for the Resistance: Rituals and Spells for Change,&#8221; which offers &#8220;ideas for altars, meditations, community organizing, self-care, and [&#8230;] a toolkit for magical people or first-time spellcasters who want to manifest equality and peace.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It&#39;s finally here! MAGIC FOR THE RESISTANCE: RITUALS AND SPELLS FOR CHANGE is on store shelves and shipping from online retailers. Ask for it at your local bookseller or order online: <a href="https://t.co/JjnB5ENBig">https://t.co/JjnB5ENBig</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BindTrump?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BindTrump</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MagicResistance?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MagicResistance</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WitchHunt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WitchHunt</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/M4TR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#M4TR</a> <a href="https://t.co/cU503saxYv">pic.twitter.com/cU503saxYv</a>
&mdash; Michael M. Bind Trump Hughes (@michaelmhughes) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaelmhughes/status/1039587937393037315?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
Shortly after contentious confirmation hearings for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, witches made headlines when they repeatedly gathered to hex him at Catland, an occult bookstore in Brooklyn. In a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/179836286297165/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">statement on Facebook</a> advertising the ritual to the public, Catland wrote, &#8220;We are embracing witchcraft’s true roots as the magik [sic] of the poor, the downtrodden and disenfranchised and it’s [sic] history as often the only weapon, the only means of exacting justice available to those of us who have been wronged by men just like him.&#8221;
Father Gary Thomas, the Catholic exorcist for the Diocese of San Jose, held a special Mass in response to hex, telling <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/catholic-exorcist-holding-special-mass-counter-witches-hex-kavanaugh-1176666" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Newsweek</a>, &#8220;The decision to do this against a Supreme Court justice is a heinous act and says a lot about the character of these people that should not be underestimated or dismissed. These are real evil people.&#8221;
During the protests that erupted last month in the wake of George Floyd&#8217;s death, videos offering instruction for performing rituals of protection for protesters went viral on the TikTok app under the hashtag &#8220;#BLMWitches,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/11/black-lives-matter-surprise-supporters-mitt-romney-gushers-elmo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian</a>. One of the witches told <a href="https://www.bustle.com/wellness/witches-on-tiktok-support-black-lives-matter-with-spells-hexes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bustle</a>, &#8220;Hexes and curses can be used to slow police down — witchcraft is all about manipulating the supernatural to your will.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-satanic-temple-threatens-to-sue-mississippi-if-god-mentioned-on-state-flag/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Satanic Temple Threatens To Sue Mississippi If God Mentioned On State Flag</a>

Witchcraft

‘Pure Evil’: Conservative Student Organization In Texas Under Attack From Witches And Liberal Student Groups

College Democrats

Occult

Texas

TikTok

Conservatives are under assault.
In another incident in a string of attacks, protesters at the University of California at Santa Cruz bashed a College Republicans information table, with one reportedly spitting on a U.S. flag.
A video posted on social media shows two protesters ripping up placards. One is seen appearing to spit on a 13-star “Betsy Ross” American flag laying on the ground and calls it a symbol of &#8220;white supremacy.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Leftist attacks College Republicans tabling for free speech <a href="https://twitter.com/ucsc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ucsc</a>! 
SPITS on American flag and calls it a symbol of “white supremacy”!
UC Santa Cruz still silent about this incident of political violence. Updates as story develops. <a href="https://t.co/0sELEnKOQe">pic.twitter.com/0sELEnKOQe</a>
&mdash; Hayden Williams (@HaydenTWilliams) <a href="https://twitter.com/HaydenTWilliams/status/1227984673097371651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Dylan Temple, president of the College Republicans chapter at UC Santa Cruz, told the <a href="https://www.thepostmillennial.com/suspect-who-destroyed-college-republicans-booth-at-ucsc-identified-as-queer-activist/">Post Millennia</a>l that the incident began after one of the protesters grabbed one of the group’s flags.
&#8220;The Post Millennial can report that one of the assailants who destroyed a College Republicans booth and assaulted a tabler at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been identified as 23-year-old queer activist, Martina Martin, who also uses the name Artimus Martin.&#8221;
<blockquote>On Feb. 7, Martin and another young woman were filmed vandalizing the booth at Quarry Plaza on the UCSC campus. Martin, who uses “they” and “them” pronouns, can be seen taking the lead on the attack by trying to forcibly yank a “Trump 2020” flag from Hayden Williams, who was tabling at the booth and was scheduled as a guest speaker later that day.
“This is a flag of white supremacy,” Martin says in the video, which has since gone viral after being uploaded this week. As the two tussle over the flag, chairs and items are knocked over before Martin shoves Williams to the ground. Martin then tears down the booth’s banner and spits on the Betsy Ross flag before fleeing from the scene with the accomplice, who had torn up a sign.
The video does not show what happened before the vandalism began but Dylan Temple, president of College Republicans at UCSC, says the incident started when Martin tried to steal a flag. He says the incident was immediately reported to campus police.</blockquote>
The incident was yet another in a string of violent attacks against conservatives. In one attack in Florida, a driver smashed his van into a Republican voter-registration tent in a Jacksonville shopping center parking lot, barely missing six volunteers. The man then got out of his vehicle and recorded video of the smashed tent before fleeing.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Today in Jacksonville, Florida six Trump Campaign volunteers were intentionally targeted while registering voters. <a href="https://t.co/0wzaCYh5ut">pic.twitter.com/0wzaCYh5ut</a>
&mdash; Duval County GOP (@DuvalGOP) <a href="https://twitter.com/DuvalGOP/status/1226273637214408705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In another incident, an unidentified woman allegedly punched a retired New York City police officer who was wearing MAGA-style attire in a Tennessee bar. Then, in New Hampshire, a man allegedly assaulted a 15-year-old Trump supporter and two adults near a polling site during the state’s primary election.
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-hampshire-man-arrested-after-allegedly-assaulting-pro-trump-teen-polling-site">Fox News</a> reported that Windham Police Department arrested Patrick Bradley, 34, and charged him with simple assault and disorderly conduct.
“Police said the incident happened Tuesday as Bradley exited the voting location inside the high school and was walking by a Trump campaign tent occupied by several supporters,” Fox News reported. “As he passed by the tent, police said, Bradley slapped a 15-year old juvenile across the face and then assaulted two other adults who attempted to intercede.”
Bradley was also accused of throwing Trump signs and trying to destroy the tent.

Hands holding American flag

WATCH: Protesters Destroy College Republicans’ Info Table, Reportedly Spit On U.S. Flag

Donald Trump

Republicans

Last Tuesday, the editorial staff of the Daily Californian, the student newspaper for the University of California, Berkeley, authored and published an editorial entitled <a href="https://www.dailycal.org/2019/11/12/expecting-useful-dialogue-from-coulter-is-futile/">“Expecting useful dialogue from Coulter is futile”</a> in response to Ann Coulter’s impending November 20th speech on campus. The argument laid out by the editorial board only serves to confirm conservatives’ suspicions about the state of present-day American institutions of higher education — suspicions that UC-Berkeley and the Daily Californian have attempted to rebuff since the school became the forefront of the campus culture war in the wake of the 2016 election.
I won’t attempt to hide my bias like the Daily Californian. As the former president of the organization bringing Coulter to campus, the Berkeley College Republicans, I have an interest in seeing this event succeed. But that doesn’t invalidate my critique of the editorial board’s logic.
At the beginning of the piece, the editorial board claims that “there are many more qualified authorities on immigration beyond Coulter,” despite the fact that Coulter is considered one of the most prominent influences on Donald Trump’s immigration policy in 2016.
Of course, they dare not give alternate suggestions as to who we might bring instead — but those speakers, conservative speakers, they swear, are out there.
What if the Berkeley College Republicans brought Stephen Miller to Berkeley’s campus? Undoubtedly, his current role as a senior policy advisor to President Trump — on matters of immigration, specifically — would classify him as a “more qualified authority on immigration” than Coulter. But would a visitation from Miller elicit a different response? Probably not. Would a visit from a conservative who is more pro-legal immigration than Coulter be received more cordially? No. I can say this with certainty because this is the same talking point the campus Left has trotted out every time a prominent conservative comes to speak on campus. The campus Left’s rejection of these speakers has nothing to do with the speakers’ previous work experience and everything to do with the fact that they are bringing right-wing viewpoints to campus.
The editorial goes on to say: “In theory, interacting with speakers who have differing views is a healthy way to encourage useful political discourse. But the fact of the matter is, Ann Coulter is absolutely not the person to bring in for productive dialogue, and the event’s current structure does not give space for audience members to engage with Coulter. The event’s public webpage doesn’t list any time for a Q&amp;A, nor is the event itself a panel; so how is this event supposed to be facilitating dialogue without the act of opening space for, well, dialogue?” Again, we see the liberal establishment on campus falling back to creating constantly shifting, malleable, and inconsistent standards.
The assertion that it is impossible to have productive dialogue when both sides of the political spectrum are not equitably represented in a forum provided by an overtly partisan campus institution seeking to provide a counter-narrative to the predominant campus narrative is ridiculous. By their own logic, every forum created to have dialogue, not only at UC-Berkeley but also throughout the entire UC system, is now invalidated given the overtly partisan actions taken by the <a href="https://campusreform.org/?ID=13993">UC system against the Trump administration</a> for rescinding DACA. Furthermore, these standard are ones that the Left is completely uninterested in upholding in the classroom itself, where the presentation of information is anything but equitable.
If these truth-seeking journalists actually did their job and researched the major campus events the Berkeley College Republicans have hosted, they’d know that we host events in both panel and lecture formats, and that every event comes with a substantial amount of time allotted for Q&amp;A from the audience.
But what else should we expect from the next generation of our journalistic firefighters?
The editorial board attempts to shift the blame for campus disruptions that have cost the UC-Berkeley campus hundreds of thousands of dollars in security and damages from those protestors trying to create a heckler’s veto to the Republican students who unapologetically seek a voice on Berkeley’s hyper-liberal campus.
This type of response to the Right’s representation on campus is the direct result of the Left’s domination of academia that has protected and justified leftist students’ conflation of argumentation with literal assault for decades. The result: Students with a weak command of history and wavering principles they can’t defend, making them incredibly susceptible to being whipped up into these childish frenzies every time a conservative or Republican comes to campus.
&nbsp;
If you’re interested in attending Coulter’s speech at UC-Berkeley, purchase tickets <a href="https://secure-tickets.berkeley.edu/14812?fbclid=IwAR3kUAep94ZArYQzuSKKhigE_EBQ1MYqCc8TdQ3u-1MFHnNIIRyMPjFVuaU">here</a>.

UC-Berkeley campus

DEVLIN: UC-Berkeley Students Blame Campus Republicans And Coulter For Possible Event Disruptions

Ann Coulter

Protest

University of California Berkeley

On Thursday, conservative students affiliated with the College Republicans and Turning Point USA (TPUSA) at Binghamton University in New York were harassed and intimidated by a massive mob of activists.
The groups were “tabling” side-by-side in a public space on campus, according to John Restuccia, president of the College Republicans.
While the College Republicans were handing out flyers for an upcoming speech by famed economist Dr. Arthur Laffer sponsored by the Young America’s Foundation (YAF), the individuals at the TPUSA table were handing out buttons and posters pertaining to conservative political ideology.
Restuccia left to attend a class, but was later called back to the site due to the burgeoning protest. He dialed the State University Police and headed over.
According to Restuccia, as well as Jon Lizak, vice president of Binghamton’s TPUSA chapter, the number of activists grew over the course of the protest until there were roughly 200 people haranguing the conservative students and disrupting their property.
Lacey Kestecher, chapter president of TPUSA at Binghamton, recorded approximately an hour and a half of footage from the frightening encounter, seven minutes of which can be seen below.
In the video, one activist attempts to dismantle the College Republicans/TPUSA set up, throwing buttons and posters to the ground, and flipping the table.
“Pack this s*** up. It’s time to go,” she says, grabbing and tossing property from the table.
As a conservative student wearing a gray and red sweater places new objects on the table, the activist grabs them and throws them to the ground. “Pack this s*** up. Let’s go. Let’s go,” she repeats, once again flipping the table.
Another activist wearing a black jacket with a brown fur collar asks a conservative student: “Do you want to suck my d*** now or later?” She then leans in toward him, repeating, “That’s my question. That’s my question. That’s my question.”
The same activist then screams at Kestecher: “Look at you shaking, you little b****! That s*** is f***ing crazy!”
Yet another activist tells the conservative students: “I just want to say that the fact that y’all are comfortable to even do this means that we’re not doing enough – and every single time [they try this s***], we’re packing it up. Period!”
“So you’re never gonna be able to table again,” adds a person wearing a blue beanie.
When a campus security officer comes over, and begins asking the activists if material was being torn up and thrown to the ground, the activists appear to deny that they were participating in such activity – even the woman who had previously flipped the table.
The officer then states that he just wants to make sure everyone is “safe.” At this, the activists blow up, and begin screaming at him.
The activist wearing the black jacket with fur then approaches Kestecher, and says: “Why are you shaking still?! Why are you shaking still?! Look at you laugh! Why are you shaking still?!”
She then tells Kestecher that she’s a “f***ing p****!”
When two other female activists walk over and begin to encroach upon Kestecher, a State University Police Officer intervenes, stepping between the women.
An activist wearing a bright blue jacket asks the officer: “Why are you protecting her?!”
At various points, members of the mob start chanting: “F*** Trump,” and “No justice, no peace. No racist police.”
At the very end of the recording, an Asian woman with salmon-colored hair engages in the following exchange with a man who’s off camera:
<blockquote>WOMAN: Who are they protecting?! People like you?
MAN: You don’t even know me. You know nothing about me.
WOMAN: You’re white!</blockquote>
The man then told the salmon-haired woman that she was an “idiot” and a “fool” because she would define him by his skin color alone.
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_X2-96gt9MI" width="720" height="385" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
According to Restuccia and Lizak, the State University Police advised that the situation was becoming dangerous, and that they should leave.
Lizak told The Daily Wire: “We followed the police into a building, then we went down to the basement, which led to a garage. Then a couple cars pulled up, we got into them, and they drove us to the other side of campus.”
Lacey Kestecher said the experience was troubling. “I was extremely worried for my safety. I was extremely uncomfortable as well,” she said.
A male activist even grabbed Kestecher’s hat from off of her head, and tossed it away.
While Restuccia and Lizak were taken away in vehicles by the police officers, Kestecher went a separate way because she had to go back to her dorm. She and a male friend walked on the “outskirts, hood up” in order to make sure they weren’t being followed.
The College Democrats have issued a statement placing the blame for the near-riot on the conservative students, and calling for the suspension of the College Republicans, and the banning of TPUSA entirely.
Their statement reads:
<blockquote>Binghamton University College Democrats condemns Turning Point USA and College Republicans’ joint affair yesterday on campus advocating for gun rights only three hours after a school shooting in Santa Clarita. It was a tasteless demonstration, and we are in full support of the protesters that stood up against the blatant disrespect of the Student Association’s rules and student safety.
We call on Binghamton University’s Student Association to take the following steps to ensure students’ safety and that all chartered organizations follow the rules set in place by the Student Association:
1. Immediately suspend Binghamton University College Republicans for putting the lives of students in danger and violating the SA rules by tabling with a non-chartered group as per the following from the SA chartering document:
“As a non-chartered group, you cannot reserve a space on campus, but you can use public university spaces or, in many cases, rooms that have not been booked and are unlocked. If you choose to meet in the dining hall or other public university spaces, your meetings cannot be obstructing traffic, nor can they interfere with the employees who work in those areas.”
2. Enforce a ban on Turning Point USA to prevent them from tabling in the future.
We also condemn the actions of University Police. Rather than removing the organizations in violation of these rules, they chose to not only let them remain on the spine, but protected them over the protesters. Allowing College Republicans and Turning Point USA to remain on the spine during the protest created a more hostile environment and further endangered the protesters.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B45axQkgJkQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
&nbsp;
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div>
</div>
</div>
&nbsp;
<a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B45axQkgJkQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Yesterday&#8217;s events on campus warranted a response from our club, so as an Executive Board, here is our official statement.</a>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" href="https://www.instagram.com/bingcollegedems/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Bing U College Democrats</a> (@bingcollegedems) on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2019-11-15T19:04:57+00:00">Nov 15, 2019 at 11:04am PST</time>
</div>
</blockquote>
According to Jon Lizak, the “gun rights” claim coming from the College Democrats is a false narrative. He told The Daily Wire that TPUSA, which represented only one of the two organizations tabling, had “a couple of pro-gun posters” on display, and that there were other posters at the table as well.
John Restuccia told The Daily Wire that TPUSA was simply “promoting their organization,” and the College Republicans were promoting economist Dr. Arthur Laffer.

Binghamton University Activists.

SHOCKING VIDEO: Conservative Students Harassed And Intimidated By Leftist Student Mob

Leftism

Turning Point USA

On Wednesday’s episode of “The Michael Knowles Show,” the host breaks down a new study that shows IQ levels are dropping and where this trend is coming from. Video and partial transcript below.
A 2018 study that came out of Norway showed that IQ is not just dropping across all of society uniformly or on average, it&#8217;s dropping specifically within individual families. Over the course of generations within the same family, IQ is dropping. That takes out the possibility that it&#8217;s just stupid people having more kids, and it takes out the possibility that you can blame immigrants from poor countries for the average intelligence going down.
Why is it really happening? One theory that seems likely is the Internet. Now because we have the sum total of human knowledge allegedly in our pockets, we don&#8217;t need to memorize anything, and we don&#8217;t need to really study anything. I was taught this in school, that you don&#8217;t really need to learn these facts and these historical dates and these people who did certain things, and you don&#8217;t need to memorize that because you can just look it up when you need it. You don&#8217;t really need to figure out how to do advanced calculus or even basic arithmetic because we have computers and you can just look it up. You don&#8217;t need to memorize those things. The end goal of this would be to say just learn broad narratives and just learn the kind of the ideological narratives that we tell you.
The thing is you can&#8217;t learn broad trends really unless you have the data that go into those trends. Otherwise, you&#8217;re just taking somebody&#8217;s word for it. For instance, if I said in the United States race relations have improved over the last 200 years, you might say I don&#8217;t believe you, Michael. I&#8217;d say no, I can prove it because in 1860 we had slavery, in 1865, we had the abolition of slavery, then we had Jim Crow but then we got rid of Jim Crow, and then we had segregation laws and we kept black people out of certain neighborhoods, and then we got rid of those laws. Then we elected a black president in 2008. I&#8217;ve got all these data points, and I can see the trend that the races are coming together in the United States.
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R00gPgstYWg" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
Now, plenty of students could be told, as they are in public schools all around the country, that race relations haven&#8217;t really improved, it&#8217;s all a lie and things are just as bad today as they were 100 years ago. And if you don&#8217;t have all of those facts, you might have the broad trend, but you wouldn&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s true. You&#8217;d be ignorant and you wouldn&#8217;t even know to look it up. You wouldn&#8217;t even know to Google it because you don&#8217;t know what you don&#8217;t know.
Donald Rumsfeld, when he was secretary of defense 10 years ago, he said there are known knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. There are things that you know that you know that you know, and then there are things that you know that you don&#8217;t know. For instance, I don&#8217;t know much about the reign of Charlemagne. I know that Charlemagne existed, and I know he was a historical figure, but I just don&#8217;t actually know the specifics. And then there are certain things that you don&#8217;t know. Increasingly that category is expanding, and I think that&#8217;s a big part in why we&#8217;re all getting stupider.
There are other theories as well. A bunch of left-wingers are blaming it on global warming. They&#8217;re saying that because of global warming, somehow food is getting less nutritious and it&#8217;s killing our brains and the smog and the sun monster&#8230; And of course, there&#8217;s no evidence for any of this. Really, we don&#8217;t know for certain.
I really like this story for a couple of reasons. One, because it does cut against the premise of progressivism. What conservatives like to point out is that history doesn&#8217;t go in a straight line. Sometimes things get better; sometimes things get worse. Sometimes things get better in one place but worse in another place. History is kind of like a big zigzag, and the individual actions of men and communities and nations really matter. What the progressives want to say is, &#8220;old-time bad, modern time good, old people stupid, modern people smart.&#8221;
That&#8217;s what they like to tell us. So, this is why we scoff at our own history. It&#8217;s why we want to rename the Thomas Jefferson dinners because we say all that is a bad old guy; he owned slaves, he&#8217;s bad; we are good because we&#8217;re modern and we live in the modern age, which is much better. This obviously cuts against that premise. We are not smarter than our forebears, at least our forebears 20 years ago; they had a higher average intelligence than we do.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-michael-knowles-show/id1266577963?mt=2">Listen to &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; on iTunes.</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/michael-knowles-show">Subscribe to watch &#8220;The Michael Knowles Show&#8221; on-demand.</a>

KNOWLES: The Real Reasons IQs Are Dropping

On Wednesday&#8217;s episode of &#8220;The Andrew Klavan Show,&#8221; host Andrew Klavan discusses his recent speech at Stanford University before which some members of the faculty and administration expressed their dismay about him speaking on campus. Partial transcript and video below.
You know I want to say I&#8217;m still here in San Francisco Hotel Airport because I gave a speech at Stanford last night. I had a really good time. The kids, as always, were just&#8230; these conservative groups are so dedicated and so under the gun. They&#8217;re being persecuted by the administration. I told you yesterday that these two women in the administration, this is incredible. Normally this kind of stuff starts with some activist group protesting my appearance, or the speaker&#8217;s appearance, or whoever. But this time it was pretty quiet. I usually don&#8217;t attract many of the people, you know hysterics, because I&#8217;m calm, I listen to people, I want to hear what other people have to say, I don&#8217;t hate the left, I disagree with them. It just makes me a harder target for them to hit.
But this time, the administration went out of their way. Susie Brubaker-Cole, the Vice Provost of Student Affairs and Tiffany Steinwert, the Dean for Religious Life, put out this letter, I told you yesterday, not a letter, I guess a newsletter, that said they were so deeply disturbed that I was showing and that it was unacceptable the way this had been advertised. And they basically portrayed me as an anti-Muslim bigot. And they used that satire video J is for Jihad where I make fun of the idea that Jihad is actually a spiritual thing, not a violent thing, where in the Quran it is actually always about fighting the unbelievers. So I made fun of that in that. And that&#8217;s what they used to pin me as a Muslim hater basically.
And so I stood up and I just said, &#8220;Screw you, ladies.&#8221; I mean those were those my words. I said, &#8220;Screw you.&#8221; Because you know to paraphrase Elton John, &#8220;You can call me an old crank, but you can&#8217;t lie about me.&#8221; And I think when you call me a bigot when you say I&#8217;m a bigot, you&#8217;ve lost all right to civility, you&#8217;ve lost all right to conversation. I didn&#8217;t know that the two ladies were actually in the audience, I&#8217;ve now heard they were in the audience. I wish I had known because I would have happily said it directly to their face. I wish they&#8217;d stayed and spoken to me afterwards. But I was just explaining that there&#8217;s only free speech and speech allowed by power because once you start defining speech as hateful or unacceptable, it&#8217;s the powerful people that make those decisions. And the powerful people are going to protect their point of view and their positions of power. And that&#8217;s what these ladies were doing and it&#8217;s just wrong. 
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZnB_ql8Od-U?start=317" width="560"></iframe></div>
It is just wrong to deprive. To me it&#8217;s just like child abuse. Obviously, college kids aren&#8217;t kids anymore, they&#8217;re young adults. But still, a kind of abuse of young people, to teach them that conversation is off limits. When you&#8217;re in college you should be talking until 3 or 4 o&#8217;clock in the morning, you should be arguing everything, and that they&#8217;re stripping them of this right is just shameful. It is just shameful. I am ashamed of these women. I am ashamed of them for them. Because I know they&#8217;re not ashamed.
And there was some, they started this, incited this, there&#8217;s no questions about it. The Left, whenever you criticize the Left, they say &#8220;oh you&#8217;re inciting violence.&#8221; I don&#8217;t mind being criticized; I don&#8217;t mind being argued with. But what I mind was the tone of this newsletter that said it was unacceptable. They had a right to do it, but it wasn&#8217;t right to do it. And I was really ticked off about it, I got to be honest with you. I was really annoyed. And I don&#8217;t get really annoyed all that often. But I really was.
And so anyway, I just want to repeat: Screw you ,ladies, and this administration should be cleaned out of people like that. They should all be tossed out on their ear, and free speech should be allowed to thrive. Especially at a place like Stanford that is supposedly a high-level institution.
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/andrew-klavan-show&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1558013551610000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGhdEvAekC9GEXJVbwhmZLNN5YvEg" href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch more of The Andrew Klavan Show here</a>.
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-andrew-klavan-show/id1045171376?mt%3D2&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1558013551610000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGmE-Ifg7yAd4jkvdhh5pQQnFhLEg" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-andrew-klavan-show/id1045171376?mt=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Listen to more of The Andrew Klavan Show on iTunes here.</a>

KLAVAN: Stanford Administration Lied About Me

Andrew Klavan

First Amendment

Stanford

Trump Administration

Over the past few weeks, the Amherst College Republicans (ACR) have been facing immense pressure from their fellow students over an incident involving messages in their club&#8217;s group chat by people who had never attended a meeting.
The controversy was sparked after Amherst College&#8217;s &#8220;Common Language Document&#8221; was released last month. The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44910/amherst-college-releases-insane-common-language-kassy-dillon">reported</a> that the document was distributed by the college&#8217;s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The document laid out definitions about words from &#8220;capitalism&#8221; to &#8220;legal/illegal.&#8221; The college later removed the document from the school&#8217;s website, claiming that it was not vetted properly.
Following the release, ACR provided a statement to The Daily Wire about the document.
&#8220;While we appreciate the Office of Diversity and Inclusion&#8217;s efforts to make all feel comfortable on campus, we believe they failed to reach their lofty goals today,&#8221; the club said. &#8220;We believe in Capitalism and we believe in American Exceptionalism, yet, on the school&#8217;s website, these terms are attacked with derision. We believe in the sanctity of the rule of law, yet, on the school&#8217;s website, we are told this is &#8216;highly racialized,'&#8221; the statement said.
Soon after, messages from the club&#8217;s GroupMe were leaked and shared around campus, causing outrage. The messages were from several people making fun of the school&#8217;s Queer Resource Center, transgenderism, and the Common Language Document (pictured below).
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;45333&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot &#8220;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;The Daily Wire&#8221;},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;2&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot &#8220;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;The Daily Wire&#8221;}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;alt&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot &#8220;,&#8221;title&#8221;:&#8221;The Daily Wire&#8221;,&#8221;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;2&#8243;}}]]
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;45336&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;The Daily Wire&#8221;},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;5&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;The Daily Wire&#8221;}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;alt&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;title&#8221;:&#8221;The Daily Wire&#8221;,&#8221;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;5&#8243;}}]]
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;45335&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;The Daily Wire&#8221;},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;4&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;The Daily Wire&#8221;}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;alt&#8221;:&#8221;Screenshot&#8221;,&#8221;title&#8221;:&#8221;The Daily Wire&#8221;,&#8221;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;4&#8243;}}]]
In a statement to The Daily Wire, ACR said they had over 120 people in the GroupMe but only 20 to 30 people actually show up to meetings and are active members. They claim that anyone who signed up to join the club was in the group chat, and the students who posted the messages in question have never been to a meeting.
On April 2, the student judicial council reached out to the executive board notifying them that the Association of Amherst Students filed a complaint against the club. 
&#8220;They find ACR&#8217;s recently circulated GroupMe activity to be in violation of the AAS Budgetary Committee&#8217;s Nondiscrimination Policy. It reads: &#8216;All students and organizations receiving full or partial funding from the AAS may not discriminate in any manner based on arbitrary criteria, including, but not limited to, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, ability, economic status, nationality, or ethnic origin. Special exceptions may be made by a majority vote of the Senate,'&#8221; the email said.
The council explained that the hearing would be private and provided the date and time for a hearing, adding that &#8220;it is required that you send at least one and up to three representatives at the hearing.&#8221;
At the hearing, attendees voiced their concerns, and some even called for defunding ACR, and giving their funds to the Queer Resource Center, according to the <a href="https://amherststudent.com/article/aas-judiciary-council-reprimand-acr-">student paper</a>.
On April 8, the student judicial council sent an email announcing their unanimous determination that the club violated the <a href="https://www.amherst.edu/offices/student-affairs/community-standards/college-standards/honor-code?shib_redir=2088469866">Student Honor Code</a> and that the executive board failed to uphold the Association of Amherst Students Constitution.
&#8220;Therefore, we have taken the following steps to ensure our Student Honor Code and AAS constitution is followed and respected,&#8221; the email said, listing steps such as reporting the club to the Office of Community Standards, and amending the AAS constitution to require &#8220;sensitivity training&#8221; for all executive board members of student clubs.
To punish the club, the council ruled that all members of the ACR executive board &#8220;must step down from their positions and will not be permitted to hold an E-board position in any [registered student organization] for the remainder of their time at Amherst.&#8221; They also demanded that if the club wanted to continue to be recognized as a student organization, they &#8220;must release a statement in the Amherst Student affirming that they condemn hate speech specifically with regards to the widely circulated incident from their GroupMe before the end of the Academic Year.&#8221;
The student newspaper&#8217;s <a href="https://amherststudent.com/article/the-judiciary-council">editorial board</a> applauded the decision, writing, &#8220;The sanctions on ACR create potential for genuine growth and learning from harmful, bigoted behavior. This punishment is neither too much nor too little.&#8221;
In response, the ACR released a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AmherstRepublicans/posts/2787402494633434">statement</a> saying they found issue with the ruling and that their executive board members would not step down for the actions of people who had never attended a meeting.
&#8220;We also have a number of issues with some procedural elements of the JC hearing: that it was held in private, that the ruling applied to people not present or able to defend themselves, and that the defendants were not given the requisite 48 hours notice prior to the hearing,&#8221; the College Republicans stated. &#8220;We believe that the fact that AAS served as both prosecutor and judge, in this case, is a clear conflict of interest. In addition, we worry about the effect that the ruling would have on other clubs at this school whose executive boards also contain members of the ACR executive board.&#8221;
&#8220;Finally, we find it improper for JC to condemn the entire club for the actions of two people (neither of whom had attended a single meeting this entire year),&#8221; the club added.
Amherst&#8217;s president, Carolyn &#8220;Biddy&#8221; Martin, chimed in on the matter in a student-wide email. 
&#8220;Neither curiosity nor respect were in evidence in the GroupMe chat among some members of the Amherst College Republicans when their posts were widely shared last week,&#8221; Biddy wrote. &#8220;The posts ridicule not only the Common Language Guide but also particular members of our staff. Once public, the mocking and derision did harm to those who were targeted and to the entire community&#8212;as we are seeing.&#8221;
Biddy added that she wished &#8220;those who exchanged the posts had immediately expressed regret for the hurt that the now-public posts inevitably caused and are still causing.&#8221;
In regards to the judicial council ruling, Biddy wrote that she has concerns:
&#8220;The student government, in its attempt to rebuke the inexcusable behavior of some individuals in the club, has condemned the entire Republican club, further escalating the situation. The Judiciary Council, for its part, has announced punitive measures against the leadership and the next e-board of the club. I have several concerns about the council&#8217;s decisions that my colleagues in student affairs have made available. Karu Kozuma has asked the Senate <a href="https://amherststudent.com/article/open-letter-to-the-senators-of-the-association-of-amherst-students">to review those concerns</a>.&#8221;
Biddy added that the council does not have the authority to make decisions based off of the Student Code of Conduct, but only the Office of Community Standards does.
A member of ACR told The Daily Wire that they believe the ruling by the judiciary council was an attempt to dissolve their club because &#8220;if enforced, [it] would require the resignation of the entire executive board and any would-be appointees,&#8221; the student said. &#8220;Because the majority of our active members fall into one of these categories, this would leave the club without any leadership for the foreseeable future, and, in effect, the club would cease to exist.&#8221;
The student also said that their club will be forcibly dissolved if they do not comply with the ruling.

Amherst College Republican Leaders Asked To Step Down After Messages From Other People In Their Group Chat Leaked

Last week, Amherst College&#8217;s Office of Diversity and Inclusion sent out a campus-wide email sharing their &#8220;Common Language Document.&#8221; Now, the college&#8217;s president is apologizing for the controversial document.
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44910/amherst-college-releases-insane-common-language-kassy-dillon">reported</a> that the document attempted to &#8220;define&#8221; several words including &#8220;capitalism,&#8221; which it called an &#8220;economic and political system in which a country&#8217;s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state. This system leads to exploitative labor practices, which affect marginalized groups disproportionately.&#8221;
Shortly after the controversy, the document was removed from the website and Amherst College&#8217;s president Carolyn &#8220;Biddy&#8221; Martin claimed the document &#8220;takes a very problematic approach.&#8221;
&#8220;The job of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion is to support students in their academic aspirations by helping create a welcoming environment, one in which members of the community understand and respect one another&#8217;s backgrounds and perspectives,&#8221; Martin said. &#8220;But when the approach assumes campus-wide agreement about the meaning of terms and about social, economic, and political matters, it runs counter to the core academic values of freedom of thought and expression.&#8221;
Martin concluded by claiming that &#8220;prescribing a particular language and point of view is anathema.&#8221;
Following Martin&#8217;s statement, fliers of the statement appeared around campus with it crossed out in red marker. 
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;44527&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Amherst College Republicans &#8220;},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;2&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Amherst College Republicans &#8220;}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;title&#8221;:&#8221;Amherst College Republicans &#8220;,&#8221;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;2&#8243;}}]]
One flyer had &#8220;#NotMyPresident&#8221; written across it.
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;44526&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Photo of Flier&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Amherst College Republicans &#8220;},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;3&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Photo of Flier&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Amherst College Republicans &#8220;}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;alt&#8221;:&#8221;Photo of Flier&#8221;,&#8221;title&#8221;:&#8221;Amherst College Republicans &#8220;,&#8221;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;3&#8243;}}]]
Several copies of the language guide were also seen posted around campus. 
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;44528&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Response to President&#8217;s Statement about controversial language guide &#8220;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Amherst College Republicans &#8220;},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;4&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Response to President&#8217;s Statement about controversial language guide &#8220;,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:&#8221;Amherst College Republicans &#8220;}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;alt&#8221;:&#8221;Response to President&#8217;s Statement about controversial language guide &#8220;,&#8221;title&#8221;:&#8221;Amherst College Republicans &#8220;,&#8221;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;4&#8243;}}]]
In a second <a href="https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/president/statements/node/739937">statement</a> to the student body, Martin called the conversations sparked by the document &#8220;ample proof that we do not need an executive order to ensure freedom of speech or diversity of viewpoints on our campus,&#8221; referring to the executive order President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44956/trump-signs-executive-order-preserve-free-speech-emily-zanotti">signed last week</a> regarding free speech on campus.
Martin said the document was sent out to the entire campus &#8220;without proper vetting and without approval to be circulated,&#8221; adding that the document is &#8220;not an official college guide.&#8221;
While Martin said she appreciated those who made the document, she said the document did not &#8220;protect freedom of expression&#8221; or &#8220;promote differences of perspectives&#8221; because it was in an &#8220;absolute and declarative tone.&#8221;
Martin also said the controversy over the document displays political polarization because of the media coverage over the document, &#8220;with some sites cheering our removal of the document from the website as a win for conservatives and a loss for &#8216;biased liberals.&#8217;&#8221;
&#8220;Mistakes will be made, as they are made everywhere&#8212;on campuses and off,&#8221; Martin added. &#8220;All we can do is acknowledge missteps and work to do better. I hope everyone on our campus will renew efforts to learn more about one another&#8217;s histories, circumstances, and points of view.&#8221;
In a statement to The Daily Wire, the Amherst College Republicans said they were invited to meet with the school&#8217;s administration following the circulation of the document. 
&#8220;We appreciate the administration&#8217;s willingness to listen to our concerns and we look forward to working with them to ensure those with a conservative viewpoint have a voice on campus,&#8221; the statement said. &#8220;As for the fliers posted, it only confirms what we already know, that some students at the college who proclaim to have inclusion as their ultimate goal are in actuality opposed to such a thing for those who believe differently than they do.&#8221;

Menu