Marquette College Republicans Respond to Threat to Cancel Admission of Conservative Student

At the behest of a leftist mob, Marquette’s Admissions Office contacted Freshman admit Samantha Pfefferle over her supposed “discriminatory language” in social media posts.

Pfefferle had made it clear she supports Donald Trump, wants to end illegal immigration, and does not accept transgender ideology.

She was reminded she was “not a student” and subjected to a hostile interrogation concerning her political views.

The admissions office said they would “get back to her” in a couple of days, clearly implying her admission was now in doubt. But they did not get back to her. She went public on this blog, and after her situation was publicized on Milwaukee talk radio, Marquette (twelve days after the original interrogation) finally told her her admission had not been cancelled.

This threat to free speech and diversity of viewpoint has concerned a lot of people, but especially concerned have been the Marquette College Republicans. If conservative speech can be punished coming from a incoming freshman, are Marquette students who express similar views in danger? Pfefferle was a bit more vulnerable, having not begun classes, but intolerant leftist mobs routinely target conservative students.

Thus the Marquette College Republicans sent the following statement to Marquette officials.

The Marquette College Republicans want to commend our University for upholding their mission in the search of truth and discovery of knowledge by maintaining their decision regarding Samantha Pfefferle’s acceptance to Marquette this Fall. While, in the end, administrators made the correct decision, the way events transpired continues to concern our members. Our club has a standing offer that if people disagree with our points of view, they are welcome to attend any club meeting or event to discuss those disagreements. Instead of pursuing this appropriate course of action, emboldened upperclassmen (those meant to embody tolerance and maturity) mischaracterized and slandered one of our own. More concerning is the feeling that our school’s administration gave these schoolyard bullies legitimacy by forcing Samantha to defend conservative thought in an intimidating setting (outnumbered and answering trap questions) with the threat of university rejection looming. What transpired was unacceptable and must not be the procedure when conservative students share their views.

Marquette, as an institution of higher learning, has the responsibility of encouraging diversity of thought, not just skin color or ethnicity. It cannot endorse intellectual intolerance and certainly not partake in Cancel Culture. Our club members deserve the ability to share their views without the fear of an inquisition by our administration or threats of harm by fellow students. Marquette must stand strong against any threats of violence towards any student, including Samantha. We seek only equal treatment and equal respect. This affair highlights that too many people continue to misunderstand, willingly or unwillingly, our club’s intentions and opinions; but, while those who slander and threaten our members want us to retreat from our views, this matter will only strengthen our resolve and our mission. We believe great institutions like Marquette should be proud of diverse opinions, as well as people, and we hope our fellow students, faculty members, administrators and alumni feel the same way too.
-The Marquette University College Republicans

The College Republicans have asked for a meeting with Marquette officials. Hopefully, those officials will commit to free expression on campus.

And hopefully, they will live up to that commitment the next time the leftist mob gets mad.

Christian Schneider on Marquette Freshman Whose Admission to Marquette Was Threatened for Conservative Posts

Christian Schneider is a former student of ours, and a former opinion columnist for the Journal-Sentinel, who now writes for a variety of outlets, including National Review.

It seems the story of Samantha Pfefferle, whose admission to Marquette was thrown into doubt when the leftist mob discovered her politically incorrect social media posts, has made it to out-state Wisconsin markets. Schneider is here interviewed on WCLO in Janesville.

Marquette Freshman Whose Admission Was Threatened on Laura Ingraham

Marquette Freshman Trump Supporter Whose Admission Was Threatened Goes International

Her name is Samantha Pfefferle — we declined to name her at first, to protect her from additional harassment, but her name is now all over the place.

Intolerant leftist students, led by one Erin Cook, wrote Marquette demanding her admission to the school be revoked on the basis of certain politically incorrect opinions she held: opposition to illegal immigration and refusal to accept transgender ideology.

Marquette responded by subjecting her to a hostile interrogation, and then for 12 days holding over her the possibility that she would be kicked out of the freshman class.

We broke the story, and Milwaukee area talk radio quickly featured it.

Finally, on the morning of July 6, she got an e-mail from Brian Troyer, Dean of Admissions, assuring her that her admission was not in danger.

The College Fix Chimes In

Finally, on July 7, The College Fix ran a story on the issue.

Click on image to enlarge

This got picked up widely.

• In the UK, by the Daily Mail.
• By the New York Post.
• By Howie Carr on talk radio.
• Church Militant
• Duke Pesta Podcast — go to 11:40.
• The Dom Giordano Program.
• The Mix
• The Sun (U.K.)
• The Post Millennial

And many more.

Marquette’s Dishonest Response

Marquette tried to downplay the whole business by issuing a non-denial denial that rescinding her admission was ever under consideration. Marquette’s web page asserts:

Marquette University’s admissions decisions are made based on academic achievements and student involvement, not political views. Information publicly circulating that Marquette might rescind the admission of incoming freshman Samantha Pfefferle is false. Marquette has not rescinded, nor did it threaten to rescind, her admission.

But Marquette was clearly considering rescinding her admission.

In the first place, a form letter, distributed by on Erin Cook on Instagram clearly called for the rescinding of her admission. Presumably, a fair number of people sent it to Marquette.

Second, Marquette had recently rescinded the admission of another student over a politically incorrect social media post.

Third, the Admissions office subjected Pfefferle to an Inquisition over her social media posts. According to Pfefferle:

“They also asked me hypothetical questions regarding Dreamers,” she said. “How would I respond if a Dreamer who lived down the hall from me came up to me and told me she didn’t feel safe or comfortable with my views and me being on campus. They also asked me if they thought there was anything I could do to improve my image on campus. They proceeded to ask if I was comfortable with the reputation I have established for myself. The assistant dean asked if I put any thought into the response I would be getting from my videos.”

What would be the point of the interrogation unless they were considering rescinding her admission?

They told her she was “not a student,” and that they would “let her know something” in a couple of days.  “Know something” about what, if not whether she was to be booted?

Fourth, Admissions Dean Brian Troyer could have responded to this letter (which we e-mailed to him as well as posting on this blog) by simply saying that her admission was not in question. Other people wrote too. But he did not. Which clearly implies kicking her out was still under consideration.

Finally, after the hostile interrogation on June 24, Admissions waited until July 6 to finally inform her that her admission was not in question. Quite clearly, whether she would be admitted was under consideration that entire time.

“Discriminatory Language”

Marquette told the New York Post that “Concerns about this new student that were brought to the university’s attention were not based on political affiliation but on alleged use of discriminatory language.”

But what was the “discriminatory language?” Pfefferle made it clear that she did not accept transgender ideology, and further that was was opposed to illegal immigration. In the world of leftist (or merely opportunistic) bureaucrats, that’s “discriminatory.”

Conclusion

Marquette, quite simply, pandered to the leftist mob who wanted Pfefferle kicked out of the Freshman class, and seriously considered kicking her out. When she fought back, going public on this blog and on local talk radio, they decided that the backlash from kicking her out would be worse than the wrath of the leftist mob if they failed to.

But then, they issued intentionally misleading statements, implying that her admission was never in doubt. But their use of the term “discriminatory language” shows it clearly was, and that the “discriminatory language” was merely her espousing standard conservative political opinions.

Trump Supporting Student Will Not Be Cancelled From Marquette Freshman Class

It was an outrageous case of intolerant political correctness: a bunch of leftists, at least some of them Marquette students, tried to get the admission of one Samantha Pfefferle cancelled because of her support of Donald Trump, her rejection of open borders and unwillingness to accept transgender ideology.

This morning, she got the follow e-mail from the Marquette Dean of Admissions:

Dear Samantha,

Yes, I received the letter from your attorney after reaching out to you this morning. To confirm, your status as an incoming first-year student at Marquette has not changed. Our goal in a follow-up conversation was to check in with you, to discuss the additional threatening posts you have received, and to ensure you were clear that your status has not changed.

Sincerely,
Brian Troyer
Dean of Undergraduate Admission
Marquette University

It would be nice to believe that the Marquette Administration acted in good faith on this. Unfortunately, the fact that the Admissions office subjected her to a hostile interrogation when the demands from the leftist mob should have been summarily dismissed, and the fact that they took almost two weeks to inform her that she had not been kicked out, both suggest that they had their finger to the wind.

Did they view pandering to the hostility of the leftist mob as the safest course, or did they, once this issue blew up on conservative talk radio and Facebook, decide that blow back from kicking her out was more dangerous?

Hiring a lawyer is usually a good idea, but the above message sounds like Admissions reached out to her to tell her she had not been cancelled before getting the letter from the lawyer.

Regardless, her willingness to fight the forces of political correctness gave her a great victory.

Distinguished Emeritus Professor Reprimands Marquette Over Attempt to Cancel Admission of Trump Supporter

From Fr. William Kurz, commenting on this case.

This is unbelievably nasty. No matter what one’s political views, Marquette U. should be deluged with angry protests over apparently threatening to withhold admittance from an incoming freshman student who dared to openly support the current president of the United States. This is out-and-out fascism. Is Marquette not going to allow freedom of speech and opinion and dare to call themselves a Catholic University?

I taught at Marquette for over 40 years, won a university teaching award, am about to receive a Festschrift from international scholars honoring my scholarship, over 20,000 international scholars continue to download my scholarly articles. . . . Marquette has got to put a resounding stop to this and all other forms of censoring students’ political views, and the students (and possibly MU admissions personnel) involved should be disciplined.

Amen.

Admitted Marquette Freshman, Target of Leftist Mob, on Todd Starnes

Click arrow below picture to play.

Threatened Incoming Marquette Freshman Conservative: Letter to Admissions Dean

“Brian” here is Brian Troyer, Marquette Dean of Admissions.  Background on this is here.

---

Brian:
              You have, in recent days, been subjected to demands from a leftist mob that you cancel the admission to Marquette of a woman named Samantha.  She expressed some political opinions on social media to which the mob objected, and now they want to punish her.

              You, unfortunately, have encouraged this by cancelling another incoming freshman student who likewise made a social media post the mob found unacceptable.

              If you give the mob what it wants this time, you will face a situation where you will be swamped with demands that any conservative student who expressed his or her opinions on social media be cancelled.  It will spiral out of control.  It is time to draw the line.

              The mob, of course, will say it’s not any conservative opinion to which they object, but only “hate speech” directed at “marginalized groups.”  It should be obvious to you that these people are so immersed in identity politics that any conservative opinion is interpreted this way.  Oppose abortion, and you are “sexist.”  Oppose gay marriage and you are “homophobic.”  Oppose tearing down statues (even Lincoln and U.S. Grant) and you are favoring “white supremacy.”

              The mob is intolerant of any and all disagreement.

Your Interrogation

              Samantha says that, during the interrogation to which your office subjected her, she was told that someone with her political opinions on campus would make favored victim groups feel “unsafe.”

              This would be hilarious if it were not so outrageous.

              The mob is essentially taking the position that they feel “unsafe” merely because of the existence of people who disagree with them.  I’m sure you would have no sympathy for a business major who claimed to feel “unsafe” hearing the philosophy of Karl Marx, or a devout Catholic who claimed to feel “unsafe” hearing atheist arguments.

              But those are not politically correct victim groups.  Thus it is fine to subject them to arguments and viewpoints with which they disagree.   Indeed, that should be a key part of a college education.

              It is condescending and paternalistic to believe that favored victim groups should be protected from viewpoints with which they are presumed to disagree.

              Note that I say “presumed” since not all members of victim groups believe what white leftists think they are supposed to believe.  American Indians, for example, don’t mind the athletic nickname “Redskins,” according to a poll in the Washington Post.

              It would be one thing if Samantha had, for example, advocated beating up transgender people.  But she did no such thing.  She simply asserted that if somebody is a biological male, she refuses to believe that they are really female merely because they think they are female.

              She has science on her side.

              She also has the teachings of the Catholic Church on her side.  Pope Francis has spoken out on this.   Do you really want to cancel the admission of a student because she stands with Catholic teaching on gender?  Do you want to reinforce the narrative that says Marquette is no sort of “Catholic university” but just a secular politically correct one?

Unsafe?

              But the claims on behalf of favored victim groups that they feel “unsafe” are simply lies.  The worst thing they might face at Marquette is somebody who disagrees with them, and that happens far too little.

              But they know that claims of being “offended” and feeling “unsafe” are tactics they can use to shut up and stifle opinions of which they are intolerant.

              It speaks very badly of the Marquette administration when they accept – either through naïveté or unprincipled expediency – such claims.

              Ironically, Samantha has been subjected to posts promising or wanting physical violence against her.  So who is “unsafe?”

Litmus Test

              So this issue is a litmus test for the Marquette administration.  Does Marquette care about tolerance and diversity of opinion, or is it just a secular, politically correct reeducation camp, with a rigid orthodoxy.  And indeed an orthodoxy that is not merely heedless of Catholic teaching, but hostile to it.

              A huge amount of evidence supports that latter view.  Do you want to give students, potential students, alumni and the general public yet more evidence that it’s true?

John McAdams

Political Science

Marquette Warrior Blog

Warrior Blogger, Threatened Incoming Marquette Freshman Conservative on Steve Scaffidi

Samantha (the Student) Warrior Blogger

Threatened Incoming Marquette Freshman Conservative on Vicki McKenna

Belling Chews Out Marquette Over Threat to Incoming Freshman Conservative

Marquette Threatens to Cancel Acceptance of Conservative Student / Panders to Leftist Mob

What happens to you if you are a recent high school graduate, just admitted to Marquette, and you go on Tik Toc to boldly affirm that you are a supporter of Donald Trump?

The answer is: some leftist Marquette students demand your offer of admission be rescinded.

And how does Marquette respond to such demands? It calls in the student for an Inquisition about her political beliefs, and tells her she may be kicked out of the Freshman class.

As usual, Marquette panders to the leftist mob.

The Beginning

This particular student, whose identity we will not reveal, is quite outspoken in her support of Donald Trump. She posted on TikTok a video of herself over a hip-hop song with the letters on the screen saying “when people see that I support Trump, they start hating on me.” And further: “Then try to hate on me, and think I’ll change my views.”

The TikTok video was apparently noticed by one Erin Cook, who reposted it on Instagram, with the notation “Shits tacky. Pls watch out for this one, MU.” Yes, you really have to watch out for those Trump supporters.

We can tell how much Cook hates Trump from a meme she posted on Instagram:

The Campaign Begins

But Cook was not content with this. She wrote to Marquette’s Dean of Admissions, apparently demanding the student’s admissions be cancelled. We say “apparently,” since she did not post her message to Bryan Troyer. But she did post his response:

Cook also began a campaign to get fellow leftists to write Marquette. Her Instagram profile has a notation “Email Marquette Admin.” A down arrow leads to a PDF document that is supposed to be slightly customized and sent to a long list of Marquette officials. It outlines the supposed offenses of the student.

Click on Image to Enlarge

The Supposed Offenses

The document attacks the student for “posting her explicit political views.” Heaven help us if somebody should be “explicit” about their political views.

Further: “she is defending President Trump’s stance on immigration” — something that clearly should not be allowed — and “arguing that undocumented immigrants are ‘illegals’ and ‘only here to commit crime.’” Of course, they are here illegally,  and it’s dishonest to use “undocumented.”

And she in fact never said immigrants are “only here to commit crime.”  She did say that immigrants increase crime, but didn’t say they are more crime prone than other groups.

The student is further accused to mocking transgender individuals in a YouTube video where she is wondering around a thrift store. She points to a pair of of shoes that are a woman’s style, but a very large size. She says “those are cross-dressing shoes.”

This is supposedly an outrage, not withstanding that biological males who cross-dress do, in fact, have feet way larger than the typical woman.

Cook takes offense at another post by the student on transgenderism.

The irony here, of course, is that the student’s position is essentially that of the Catholic Church. Not that Marquette bureaucrats care about that in the least.

Feeling Unsafe

The document ends with the usual claim of the politically correct:  people will feel “unsafe” if allowed to hear political arguments they don’t like.

These comments create and perpetuate an unsafe space for the LGBTQ+ community, first generation students, and Dreamers at Marquette. . . . The University can and should make it their priority to ensure students (specifically LGBTQ+, immigrants, first gen [sic], and POC) feel safe, valued and appreciated on campus.

In the first place, anybody who is too cowardly to hear political arguments they don’t like doesn’t belong on a college campus.

But in the second place, it’s a lie. These leftist students simply don’t feel unsafe. But claiming to be  offended hearing arguments they don’t like, and feeling “unsafe” are claims used to bully into silence people with whom they disagree.

Student Harassed

The student began getting nasty messages and e-mail from leftists. We have included a sampling below.

There are a lot more.

Marquette Responds

Such messages are relatively minor, obviously from idiots, but much worse is what Marquette could do.

The student was subjected to an inquisition by officials from the Admissions Office. The point: was she really the evil conservative that the leftist students claimed.

According to the student:

It did not appear that they were placated. If anything the hostility with which they spoke was made apparent in their questioning as if nothing I said could liberate me from their judgments, only convict me further.

Of course, this being an Inquisition, there is no way to prove your innocence to the Inquisitors. If you are accused, you are guilty.

We will see what they will do. But given Marquette’s pandering to leftist students claiming to represent some victim group, we are not optimistic.

We queried Brian Troyer, Dean of Admissions, and he simply responded that “I cannot discuss matters under review involving future and/or continuing MU students.” We didn’t expect him to.

And we have pretty much given up expecting Marquette to care about free speech, a diversity of opinion, and Catholic thinking.

Or challenging students to consider ideas they might dislike. Unless they are conservative students. But there are going to be many fewer of those.

Update

New, recent messages posted about the student:

All of these, of course, show the deranged hatred leftist students at Marquette have for people who don’t share their political views.

Yet these are the sort of people to whom Marquette panders.

Undate: 7/11/2020

The nasty messages keep coming:

What Nations Are Worst Hit By Corona Virus?

From the New York Post and Statista, and obviously subject to change as the pandemic ebbs (hopefully) and some places, and waxes (probably) in others.

Click on image to enlarge

These data are worth seeing because the Trump-hating leftists want to blame COVID deaths on Trump. So of course they report that the US has the largest absolute number of deaths.

But that’s not relevant. Larger countries are going to have more cases, even if the probability of any random person getting the virus is the same. It’s cold comfort that fewer of your countrymen are getting the disease than Americans if more of the people you know are getting it. And if you have a greater chance of getting it.

So if Trump somehow could have reacted earlier and done something to reduce the death count, why didn’t leaders of these European nations act earlier and do something to reduce their death count?

The answer, of course, is that this is all Monday morning quarterbacking, and it took a while for politicians — Democrat and Republican, American and European — to realize the severity of what their countries faced.

These countries are all advanced industrial democracies, so one might ask about less developed nations. The simple answer is that the virus has spread in places with high population density, and places where there is a lot of travel with the outside world. That’s why New York was hit so early and so hard. It’s also why states in the northern Great Plains have been hit less hard.

And, of course, outside the politicized world of Trump hatred — and Trump support — the key decisions have been made by governors and mayors who imposed lock-downs, closed businesses, imposed rules on social distancing, and so on.

Whether those rules have been too strict in some cases — or indeed whether America is opening up too soon — will be a source of continual debate.

Marquette Law Professors Signed Letter Supporting Trump Impeachment

A total of three Marquette Law School Professors are among the (as of this writing) 854 such professors who have signed a letter calling for the impeachment and removal of President Trump.

The are:

• Ellis Atiba
• Murray Kali
• Michael Waxman, Emeritus

They are, of course, absolutely within their rights to do so.

But others have an equal right to decide they have let their partisan biases override their sober legal judgment.

Interestingly missing are at least a couple of the usual suspects among left-leaning Marquette law professors: Paul Secunda and Ed Fallone.

In Fallone’s case, it may be because he’s running for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice, and the latest Marquette Poll shows that only 40 percent of Wisconsinites favor impeachment and removal, while 52 percent oppose it.

Or perhaps either or both believe that the case against Trump is pretty thin, or alternatively that it’s a rather useless symbolic gesture given that the Senate will not convict.

Impeachment Telephone Game

“Deplorables:” The Bigotry Behind the Impeachment Attempt

Just Another Example: Intelligence Bureaucrats Spying on Trump

At the bottom of the first page of this memo (page 6 of the PDF document) Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Rod Rosenstein proposed wearing a recording device into the Oval Office to spy on President Trump, since “he was not searched when he entered the White House.”

This is Rosenstein’s conversation with Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.

Not that it hasn’t long been obvious, but government bureaucrats were doing all they could to undermine Trump.

The pretext was “Russian collusion,” but the real reason was the aversion of the “Deep State” to a candidate (and then president) who might upset a lot of apple carts.

Media Doubles Down on Trump/Charlottesville Lie

Hispanics Favor Census Citizenship Question, Deny Trump “Too Tough” on Immigration

For the left, anybody who wants to control the border must be a racist. And Donald Trump’s desire to ask about citizenship status on the 2020 Census is also racist.

Of course, white leftists pride themselves on being very sensitive to racism. But what do Hispanics, the “racial group” (actually not a racial group, but let’s play the game) think?

The Center for American Political Studies at Harvard asked them, in an online poll that included 2,182 respondents, including 282 Hispanics.

Not Very Politically Correct

Asked “Should the census be able to ask whether people living here are us citizens?” Sixty-seven percent of the entire sample said “yes,” and only 33% said “No.”

But even a majority of Hispanics said “yes:” 55% did, as opposed to 45% who said “No.”

Even More Politically Incorrect

The survey also asked “Do you think President Trump is too tough, too lenient or just right in dealing with illegal immigrants caught trying to cross the border?”

Among the entire sample, 42% said “too tough,” 24% said “too lenient,” and 34% said “just right.”

But among Hispanics, the results were very similar: 46% said “too tough,” 30% said “too lenient,” and 24% said “just right.”

Thus Hispanic opinion was a bit more polarized, with 4% more saying “too tough” but also 6% more saying “too lenient.”

Bottom Line

Taken at face value, both Hispanics and the entire sample show a majority favoring Trump’s policies, or policies even more strict.

But it is a well-known artifact in polling that, when given three alternatives, people tend to choose the middle option (“just right” in this case). It seems “safer.” But this only applies when people don’t have a strong, clear opinion.

If the nation’s Hispanics were convinced that Trump’s policies are too harsh, or that asking about citizenship is a racist attack on their group, nothing would prevent them from expressing that.

We have yet another case where the white Social Justice Warriors and their pet ethnic activists don’t represent the group they claim to.

Media Lie: Trump Called Klan Types “Good People”

Joe Biden announced his run for the presidency with a demonstrable lie--that President Trump called white supremacists in Charlottesville "very fine people." He didn't. He said the exact opposite. https://t.co/LqTHKUVVlv

— Dan O'Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) April 25, 2019