In the News: Marquette Staffers Plot to Sabotage Ben Shapiro Speech

We have already blogged about media coverage of a plot, by a staffer in the Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies, and an (unidentified) “director of diversity” to sabotage a speech on campus by Ben Shapiro by having leftists each grab one of the limited number of tickets, and then not show up, depriving an interested student of an opportunity to see the speech.

It seems the issue continues to have “legs.”

A search of Google News now turns up the following stories:

• Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. The article notes, with irony, “They told me if Donald Trump were elected, voices of dissent would be shut down by fascist mobs. And they were right.”
• Washington Times.
• PJ Media. Notes: “Students at Marquette University really don’t want conservative Ben Shapiro to speak at the school later this month. Really, they don’t want conservatives to be allowed to speak anytime, anywhere — but since it’s February, they’re going with “no opposing viewpoints during Black History Month.”
• The College Fix.
• MacIver Institute. The author notes the irony of a statement from Marquette President Michael Lovell who said the university “welcomes and benefits from the diversity of seekers within our ranks.”
• Accuracy in Academia.
• Independent Journal Review.
• National Review.
• Fox6Now. Good (but short) interviews with Mark Seeberg of the Young Americans for Freedom, and Ethan Hollenberger (advisor to the group).
• Marquette Wire.
• The College Fix.
• Heat Street.
• Marquette Wire. Opinon piece seems to come down in favor of free speech, asking “If we start taking away people’s ability to have an audience for their opinions, like, for example, the controversy with the Ben Shapiro event being hosted at Marquette this week, then how can compromise or the exchange of ideas ever happen?”
• Watchdog.org. James Wigderson established that one staffer will be “reprimanded.” Yes, that’s all. Just reprimanded.

Of course, these are all conservative outlets. Why aren’t liberal outlets interested? One explanation is that they don’t like publishing stuff that makes the left look bad. But it may be worse. A lot of mainstream media people, in their hearts and hearts, don’t really, really mind having conservatives shut up.

Mere “Reprimand” for Marquette Staffer Who Encouraged Fraud to Undermine Ben Shapiro Speech

It is yet another example of intolerant political correctness at Marquette: a staffer of the Center for Gender and Sexualities Studies encouraged fellow leftists to go online and get tickets to the upcoming Ben Shapiro speech, and then fail to show up, to “take away a seat from a student that would be interested in going.”

In fact, she encouraged people to lie about their student status, since “they can’t tell, quite honestly.” This was after the staffer had talked to a “director of diversity” who recommended that tactic.

The Young Americans for Freedom, who sponsored the talk, found out about this on Thursday, January 26, and brought it to the attention of Corey Lansing of the Office of Student Development. Neither Lansing nor anybody else in the Marquette administration did anything about it until Young Americans for Freedom went public this past Monday.  Thus, Marquette allowed the post, urging fraud to sabotage an approved event, to remain up for four days.

Marquette finally went into damage control mode, with Brian Dorrington (Marquette PR guy) issuing a statement claiming “We have addressed this issue internally and will work to make sure that interested attendees have an opportunity to see Ben Shapiro on February 8.”

Slap on the Wrist

James Wigderson, a reporter for Wisconsin Watchdog, got a statement from Angelique Harris, director of the Center for Gender and Sexualities Studies:

“She [the staffer] does not at all speak for the center or for the university,” Angelique Harris, the director of the center where Nelson is employed, told Wisconsin Watchdog. “That is not at all what we’re doing at the university because we do feel and do believe in freedom of speech, etc. And so she’s being reprimanded and we’re dealing with her internally.”

That’s right. Reprimanded. Not fired. Not suspended or expelled from Marquette. Just reprimanded.

This is no surprise, given the absurdly light punishment given to members of the feminist group Empowerment when they vandalized an anti-abortion display on campus. They were required to write a three page paper confessing how they had acted “irresponsibly” in vandalizing the display. Two members who flatly refused were given probation (not suspension) for a semester.

Marquette’s failure to impose any significant punishment on people who sabotage and undermine free expression on campus speaks volumes. The university is unwilling to hold the forces of intolerant political correctness accountable when they attack free expression. How much of this is rooted in fear of leftist faculty and students, and how much flows from the fact that a lot of campus bureaucrats share the intolerance of the left is unclear. But the results are perfectly clear.

Apparently, the “director of diversity” who suggested the scheme has gotten off scot-free. At least, Harris claimed that she “had ‘no idea’ who gave Nelson the idea.”

Really?

Marquette ought to know. But if they do, don’t expect them to admit it.

Center of Intolerance

In spite of Harris’ pious words about free speech, the Center she runs has been a source of intolerance on campus. Not only was the staffer involved in this scandal working for the Center, but a student who vandalized the anti-abortion display was on the staff of the Center during the 2015-2016 school year. Even more scary is that this staffer, who bragged about her vandalism on Facebook and to a faculty “workshop” on racial issues was on the Presidents Taskforce for Diversity and Inclusion.

That’s right. “Diversity” and “inclusion” at Marquette means shutting up speech you dislike.

Thus the Center for Gender and Sexualities Studies is part of a large infrastructure of politically correct intolerance at Marquette, as the Administration adds more and more offices and staff to pursue identity politics, pandering to each and every group with a claim to victimization.

Marquette may be no worse than a lot of other universities. But it is also no better. And any notion that Marquette is a “Catholic university” is a transparent, fraudulent marketing ploy.

Legs: Story of Marquette Bureaucrats Attempt to Sabotage Ben Shapiro Speech

The attempt of at least two Marquette bureaucrats (and quite possibly more) to sabotage a speech on the Marquette campus by conservative Ben Shapiro was revealed Monday by the campus Young Americans for Freedom.

It resulted in media stories in:

• National Review
• Heat Street
• The College Fix
• Marquette Wire

It also got attention of local talk radio, being discussed by Jay Weber, Dan O’Donnell and Vicki McKenna. McKenna interviewed Young Americans for Freedom Chairman Mark Seeberg. Here is the audio of that interview.

Marquette Bureaucrats Conspire to Undermine Ben Shapiro Speech, Encourage Fraud

It just broke.

Of course campus leftists don’t like the fact that conservative Ben Shapiro is speaking on campus. But how far are they willing to go to undermine him?

And are Marquette officials willing to conspire to encourage fraudulent activity to undermine him? The answer is “yes.”

A leftist staffer from Marquette’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies found out about Shapiro’s talk, and phoned “one of the directors of diversity on campus.” She was told to reserve a seat online, and then not go to the talk, in order to “take a seat away from someone who actually would go.”

The same staffer responded to a comment by Susannah Bartlow (who was fired in 2015 from her Marquette job for approving a mural honoring a black militant cop killer in a Marquette office), noting that someone who is not a student could register as a student and take a seat from somebody who might want to come since “they can’t tell, quite honestly.”

Marquette’s Motivation

One might at least credit Marquette for allowing Shapiro to speak (but how much “credit” should a university get for allowing free speech on campus?), but in fact the Facebook post asserts that Marquette let him speak “because of the backlash DePaul University had with not allowing it.”

In other words, Marquette bureaucrats, in their hearts of hearts, would have liked to forbid Shapiro speaking, but were worried about the “backlash.” Simply wanting diverse opinions to be heard was not something they much cared about.

Young Americans for Freedom

Young Americans for Freedom, the student group sponsoring the event, knew about this last Thursday, but held off publicizing it, instead taking it to Corey Lansing of the Office of Student Development. That office has not responded.

Lansing did not respond to an e-mail from us asking what the status of the case is.

Marquette employees (the staffer from Marquette’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies and “one of the directors of diversity on campus”) should be fired for encouraging fraudulent behavior in order to sabotage a campus speaker.

But given Marquette’s tolerance of assaults on free speech from the left, we don’t expect that to happen.