Conservative YouTuber Speaks at Marquette: Draws Protests, Protester with Knives

It’s pretty common: anytime a conservative speaker comes to a campus leftists turn out to protest. What is uncommon is that one of them brings a weapon. But it happened at Marquette. From the Marquette Wire:

A Marquette student was arrested for disorderly conduct while armed in the Wehr Chemistry lobby at approximately 7:15 p.m. Nov. 12, Marquette University Police Department assistant chief Jeff Kranz said.

. . .

MUPD arrested the student following a report from another student saying that they saw an individual wearing a mask and carrying two knives at a Young Americans for Freedom event in Wehr Chemistry, Kranz said. The event featured John Doyle, a conservative YouTuber.

“It was a bandana style face covering so it covered (the student’s) nose and mouth,” Iona McPeake, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences who attended the event as a protestor, said.

Prior to the event, students stood outside and protested because they found some of Doyle’s tweets and YouTube videos offensive and not in line with Marquette’s values.

McPeake was a part of the group of protesters. She said the individual with the mask was not affiliated with the group protesting.

There is more information here. We can’t know if the individual actually intended any violence, but between the mask (typical of the violent thugs of Antifa) and a knife there is certainly an implied threat.

Campus leftists have a history of intolerant response to Young Americans for Freedom and their speakers. When the group invited Rachael Campos-Duffy to campus, they went around tearing down posters advertising the event.

On the other hand, a large group of leftists showed up at the event, and listened to Campos-Duffy without incident. They asked critical questions of her during the Q&A session, and listened in a civil way as she responded.

Who is John Doyle

We had never heard of John Doyle, but he’s a very young fellow who has gotten a considerable following as a YouTuber. In one recent video, he actually discusses the Marquette incident.



His final point: that conservatives can prevail if they just refuse to be intimidated by the left, is a good one. Doyle was willing (see the video) to flatly say that transgenderism is a mental illness. Rejecting this notion is a prime example of mindless political correctness. Transgenders claim to need to “transition” with massive doses of hormones and surgical reconfiguration of their genitals. But how could you need that unless something was wrong before?

A large part, and maybe most, of the toxic politically correct atmosphere on college campuses these days is (at least on most campuses) the result of the left being willing to bully and intimidate anybody who dissents.

Kudos to Young Americans for Freedom of bring speakers like Campos-Duffy and Doyle to campus.

Doing that breaks the spiral of silence and emboldens people to challenge politically correct intolerance.

Marquette: Intolerant Leftist Tearing Down Posters for Conservative Speaker

Campus leftists at Marquette, like their cohorts on virtually every other campus in the nation, can’t tolerate views with which they disagree, so when the Young Americans for Freedom invited conservative spokeswoman Rachael Campos-Duffy to campus, what happened was not surprising.

Members of the organization posted flyers advertising the event all around campus. This is the flyer:


Nobody familiar with the campus political scene will be surprised with what happened next. At least one campus leftist went around tearing down the posters, and then went on Instagram to brag about it.

Click Image to Enlarge

The person in the Instagram post is unidentified, but we hope someone is able to identify him, and report him to Student Affairs.

Unfortunately, Student Affairs has a record of very lenient dealings with leftist students who vandalize things.

When members of the feminist group Empowerment vandalized an anti-abortion display mounted by Marquette Students for Life, the vandals received a mere slap on the wrist. The guilty students were required to write a three page paper explaining how they had how they had “acted irresponsibly.” One student on the panel refused to do that, saying “it’s finals week.” So did one other student. Both were put on university probation for a semester. Not suspension, but mere probation.

We will see what comes of this, but the odds are that campus bureaucrats don’t think ripping down a poster advertising a conservative speaker is a big deal. Had the speaker been a leftist, it would play out very differently.

Taking Provost Myers to Task: Young Americans for Freedom

From The New Guard: An essay about Marquette Provost Dan Myers, whose bureaucrats have arranged an absurdly biased program of speakers on racial issues, and then hypocritically wrote an op-ed opposing the one conservative speaker who has been on campus this year:

Last week, the Young Americans for Freedom at Marquette held a wildly successful talk featuring Ben Shapiro. Two lecture halls were filled beyond capacity, even as Marquette staff attempted to sabotage the event behind the scenes.

The first time any Marquette administrator publicly addressed students about the Shapiro talk was in an editorial in the campus newspaper on February 14. Provost Dan Myers —who once carried a sign that labeled conservatives as homophobic, transphobic & biphobic—penned an op-ed pleading for “critical thinking” when considering conservative speakers like Shapiro.

His message was simple: the conservatives who came to hear from Ben Shapiro failed to think critically.

According to Myers, Shapiro’s visit “produced some controversy.” In reality, it was university staff that ginned up the controversy. Myers argues that campuses “should not avoid controversy.” Instead, he wants the campus to challenge “controversial” views. Myers, as the second in command at Marquette, has made it his duty to challenge exclusively conservative views the few times they are allowed to be heard on campus.

Interestingly, Myers did not even attend Shapiro’s lecture, but this did not prevent Myers from responding (presumably, he watched the video provided by YAF).

In his contradictions of Shapiro’s assertions, Myers leans heavily on fallacies. When Shapiro remarked that “institutional racism” is no longer the norm, Myers wrote that targeting “legacy” students is racist. He continued, asking whether the legacy advantage “replicate[s] that racism in the next generation.” That is, Myers believes recruiting students who are more likely to attend Marquette because of a prior family connection is racist. Surprisingly, Myers never mentions Marquette’s expressed desire to slant the admissions process in favor of Hispanic students, despite the fact that he himself supports a policy which would require Marquette’s racial demographic to reach at least 25% of all enrollments.

A quick recap of Myers logic reveals a troubling conclusion:

To recruit legacy students, those whose parent or sibling attended Marquette University before them (regardless of race), is institutional racism. But to set a goal of creating a Marquette where 25% of the population is Hispanic (potentially at the expense of other qualified minority students) in order to seek federal funds is not institutional racism.

That’s right Marquette alumni: The provost of your alma mater does not want to recruit your kid, younger sibling, or grandkid in the name of some warped version of Jesuit social justice.

Marquette’s desire to welcome more Hispanics is laudable – but not through this scheme. Skewing numbers to fleece the feds and pander to progressive pieties will throw off other diversity metrics, including socioeconomic status, religion, sex, and many more. Note that intellectual diversity is never part of any initiative promoting inclusion on the campus of Marquette University.

Doubling down on his accusations, Myers argues that Ben’s promotion of the Brookings Institution’s Three Simple Rules to Join the Middle Class is also racist: Graduate from high school, avoid early pregnancy, and get a job. Myers says not all races have equal opportunities to finish high school, get into college, or, evidently, avoid unwanted pregnancies.

Myers offers no solutions to address this broad institutional charge of racism. For decades, conservatives have advocated school choice that would benefit minority students. Yet progressives dramatically opposed Betsy DeVos for the Department of Education, despite her plan to expand to expand choice for impoverished children.

Milwaukee Public Schools (serving the residents who live around Marquette) have been run into the ground by progressive unions for decades. Perhaps left wing unions are the example of institutional racism Myers was seeking?

Myers writes, “Healthy skepticism is at the very foundation of active learning.” If Myers is genuinely interested in interaction with active learning, perhaps the Young Americans for Freedom might bring Shapiro back for a debate.

In fact, Young America’s Foundation has a strong reputation of supporting dialogue on Marquette’s campus. The Foundation has sponsored Attorney General John Ashcroft, Speaker Newt Gingrich, John Stossel, Michelle Malkin, S.E. Cupp, Allen West, Steve Forbes, Herman Cain, Christopher Horner, and many more.

Additionally, the Foundation has sponsored two debates at Marquette. Marquette’s own liberal theologian Dan Maguire backed out of a debate on pro-life issues with conservative Mike Adams.

The Foundation also paid for Liz Cheney to debate Howard Dean prior to the 2012 election. Marquette was one of only a handful of campuses to host such a debate. The Foundation paid for both speakers.

Non-progressives are left to wonder if Myers is planning to write a similarly scathing op-ed after Shaun King appeared on campus this week, or well-known domestic terrorist Angela Davis appears next month. We won’t hold our breath. As Myers pointed out in his op-ed, a “variety of speakers” were on campus last week. Myers singled out the conservative.

What does it say that, on the Marquette campus, it is usually conservatives who arrange debates, but the Marquette administration arranges only one-sided programs? It must mean that, deep down, the people running Marquette sense that they would be at a disadvantage in an open, balanced debate.

If they were confident of their views, they would welcome having those views be shown to be superior in head-to-head competition.

No doubt they are confident of their moral righteousness. But somewhere deep down they know that there are things they don’t want aired, else people start having doubts about the “social justice” agenda.

[Update from YAF]

YAF-Marquette chairman and adviser reached out to Provost Myers for a meeting. Through his chief of staff, Myers denied the request because he was too busy. Myers’ office said they could direct the YAF chapter to another person on campus. At this point, Myers is unwilling to defend his actions directly to conservative students.

We can’t imagine Myers refusing to meet with representatives of any politically correct victim group. But he refuses dialogue with conservative students. That’s the Marquette version of “inclusion.”

Ben Shapiro Talk at Marquette

Compare what Shapiro said at Marquette to the deranged, bigoted politically correct version of his views in a letter circulated by the campus feminist group Empowerment.

Stunning Success: Ben Shapiro at Marquette

It was an event the campus left hated: Ben Shapiro, an actual conservative speaker at Marquette.

Not only did a staffer from the Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies attempt to sabotage the event by advising leftists to get tickets and not show up (depriving a student who wanted to see the speech of admittance), but the campus feminist group Empowerment circulated a deranged letter accusing Shapiro of racism, xenophobia and hateful rhetoric.

But in fact, the event went off without a hitch.

Given the history of leftist mobs disrupting Shapiro events, it seemed that extra security would be needed. Initially, Marquette suggested that the Young Americans for Freedom, the group staging the event, would have to pay for the extra security. A terrible idea, this tactic (often used by universities hostile to conservative speech) amounts to a tax on any speech the campus left dislikes. Happily, Marquette backed down.

There were private security people at the event (paid by Marquette) and several of the campus police. Further, Shapiro has his own body guard. And the security people were instructed to remove anybody who caused any major disruption — in marked contrast to many universities where leftists are allowed to shut down events with impunity.

So far, two news outlets have published stories on the talk:

• Marquette Wire
• Channel 6 Milwaukee

Shapiro addressed various bogus liberal themes. For example, poverty. If you don’t want to be in poverty, he said, do three things: (1) don’t have babies until you are married, (2) finish high school, and (3) get a job. Sound social science, but not things the left wants to hear.

But according to Shapiro “facts don’t care about your feelings.”

Invited Questions from Leftists

Shapiro answered questions for an extended period, and especially invited questions from leftists. Several leftists challenged him, all in a civil way. And Shapiro, who is often caustic in his speeches, responded in an earnest and respectful way.

In an epic exchange, one leftist challenged Shapiro about “institutional racism.” Shapiro responded by demanding to know what that means, and offered to fight it, if the questioner could specify exactly what should be fought. The questioner could not, an implicit admission that he had accepted vague rhetoric in the absence hard facts or analysis.

To his credit, this same leftist told Channel 6 that “By the end of the back and forth, I think we both had been respectful. I think we both learned something.”

Extremely gracious, Shapiro accepted requests from questioners to shake his hand and even to have a selfie made with him.

Conclusion

All this, of course, is exactly the sort of discourse that ought to take place on a college campus. But it is significant that a conservative student group, and not the Marquette administration, arranged it.

All that the Marquette administration has produced is the dour, race baiting moralists.

The contrast is stunning.

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.

Empowerment: Intolerant Marquette Feminists Demand Ben Shapiro Be Shut Down

Empowerment is the Marquette feminist group that believed it had the right to vandalize an anti-abortion display on campus. Their Facebook page, and their page on Collegelink, show them to be the kind of stereotypical shrill leftists that have given feminism a (justified) bad name.

So it is not surprising that they want to ban conservative speaker Ben Shapiro, who is coming to speak on campus this coming Wednesday. A leftist staffer from Marquette’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies has already been conspiring (under the guidance of a “director of diversity”) to have leftist students get tickets to the event in order to deny them to students who might want to hear Shapiro, and then not show up for the event, leaving empty seats.

Thus is is not surprising to find Empowerment circulating a letter demanding that President Lovell ban Shapiro from campus. The letter reads as follows:

President Lovell:

As we are sure you are aware, Ben Shapiro is scheduled to speak on campus on February 8, 2017. Shapiro is a well-known political commentator who has built a career around perpetuating racism and xenophobia and actively fighting against human dignity, a core principle of Marquette University. Not only does the presence of Shapiro at our university threaten the values we strive to uphold, but it also undermines the theme of this year’s Mission Week, “Racial Justice: Black, White and the Call of the Church” as well as Black History Month, both of which are interrupted by Shapiro’s talk.

While we recognize and respect the variety of political opinions at Marquette, we also recognize that this is not a political issue: it is an issue of basic human rights and dignity. The Marquette University Mission Statement states, “Precisely because Catholicism at its best seeks to be inclusive, we are open to all who share our mission and seek the truth about God and the world,” and continues to say, “We welcome and benefit enormously from the diversity of seekers within our ranks, even as we freely choose and celebrate our own Catholic identity.” The allowance of Shapiro and his hateful rhetoric on campus tells us, Marquette students of all races, genders, ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds, that we are not important and that our differences make us undeserving of respect and care.

Ben Shapiro believes Muslim people should not be able to immigrate or seek asylum in the United States. How will you explain to Muslim students that their religion does not disqualify them from deserving a safe and secure place to live?

Ben Shapiro believes racism is no longer an issue for People of Color. How will you explain to Students of Color that the discrimination and microaggressions they experience daily is not an illusion?

Ben Shapiro believes that the plague of sexual assault is a political scam. How will you explain to Survivors on campus that their experiences are not a sign of a personal flaw but of a larger systemic issue?

Ben Shapiro believes that the killings of many Black People by police are justified because they are criminals. How will you explain to Black students that walking or sitting in your car does not make you deserving of being shot seventeen times?

Ben Shapiro questions the truth that every person is deserving of dignity and respect. How will you maintain the values of Marquette University while hateful rhetoric against certain students is being perpetuated at University-sanctioned events?

The current social landscape in the United States calls each of us to a renewed sense of duty to work for the common human dignity of all individuals despite the fear and hatemongering of those who would wish to continue a cycle of oppression. We hope you, as President of Marquette University, will use your position to stand up for those who are marginalized. It is not enough to claim to be the difference.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,

_______________________

Members of Marquette Empowerment Executive Board composed these words with the hope that you would take action to voice your views and demand our university take responsibility. Feel free to sign your name and deliver this message to our administrators. We also hope our words empower you to discover your own and share your story and your voice, without fear.

In solidarity and love.

One leader of a student organization which has no political agenda, but was nonetheless urged to sign on to the statement, responded with a rather testy e-mail explaining that he or she had no intention of signing on. Indeed, the leader promised legal action if an anti-Shapiro protest disrupted their own meeting, held nearby.  The response, from an officer of Empowerment, was as follows:

SHOW ME YOU HAVE 0.00004% OF THE RESPECT, PASSION, CONCERN, AND CARE FOR THE REAL LIVES OF MY BLACK, UNDOCUMENTED, MUSLIM, TRANS, AND NONBINARY FAMILY WHO FACE THE ALL TOO REAL VIOLENCE AND ACTION BEHIND THE WORDS AND IDEOLOGIES OF BEN SHAPIRO AS YOU DO FOR [redacted], AND THEN WE’LL TALK, HOW BOW DAH?

REALITY/HUMANITY CHECK:
A WORLD WHERE THE COMFORT OF THE PRIVILEGED IS VALUED MORE THAN THE LIVES OF THE OPPRESSED SHOULD ALREADY FEEL LIKE A CRISIS! IF IT DOESN’T, YOU ARE GROSSLY OUT OF TOUCH AND YOUR SILENCE ON THE MATTER IS VIOLENT.

P.S. I’ve never received a more presumptuous and patronizing email. I acknowledge your concern for [redacted] at your meeting if students are to gather in protest of this event, but you have misdirected that concern. Before you try to delegitimize and silence my voice because of my use of CAPS, or because of my tone, or language, remember that ANGER has always had a place in this conversation, whether overt or under the thin guise of passive aggression and legal threat. It has a place during a “Racial Justice” themed Mission Week.

Thus, when informed that the leader of a non-political group did not want to sign a political statement, the officer of Empowerment turned abusive.

Empowerment, and the faculty who mentor and nurture them in their intolerance, are part of the Axis of Grievance at Marquette. With no respect for any opinions that differ from their own, they feel free to shut up people with whom they disagree.

Unfortunately, they are not the only intolerant people at Marquette. A small army of staff with “diversity” or “inclusion” or “multicultural” in their titles feels the same way.

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.

Ben Shapiro At Marquette

An announcement from the Young Americans for Freedom:

On February 8th Young Americans for Freedom - (YAF Marquette) will be hosting Ben Shapiro, a prominent conservative lawyer, editor, talk show host, and speaker. Mr. Shapiro will be adressing campus culture, campus leftism, and will give his viewpoints on recent events on Marquette University's and other campuses. There will also be time for Q&A at the end.

There are a limited number of tickets available to the general public. You must regester for a ticket, and show proof of identification:

https://www.eventbrite.com/

We encourage attendance from all political affiliations and hope that those we disagree remain respectful to Mr. Shapiro. We especially encourage those who disagree with his views to ask questions during the Q&A session at the end of the lecture.

Doors open at 6:00 pm.

Funding for the Shapiro speech came from Young Americans for Freedom, but with contributions from Marquette Student Government and the Marquette Residence Hall Association.

Shapiro is an articulate conservative. In other words, the sort of person the campus left hates, and on various campuses the Social Justice Warriors have tried to shut him up. It will be interesting to see how Marquette leftists, who fully believe they have the right to suppress speech with which they disagree, react.

Update

Tickets for the general public are now all gone. But there is a possibility that Young Americans for Freedom will get a bigger venue, and people can put their name on a waiting list to get tickets if this happens.

Any Discipline for Students Who Vandalized Anti-Abortion Display?

It was an outrage. A bunch of feminist students, members of the campus group Empowerment vandalized an anti-abortion display on campus.

Even worse, in a huge display of chutzpah, two students bragged about doing it on Facebook, one in her own post, and another in comments to a post from the Young Americans for Freedom. One of the students admitted to a reporter that she had “tagged along” with members of Empowerment when they trashed the display.

Both the College Democrats, and the group Empowerment came out with statements supporting the vandalism.

Had any conservative group supported the vandalism of any leftist display on campus, the group would have been quickly suspended.

But what about the students who actually did the vandalism? Were they punished in any way? We have been trying to find out, and have been stonewalled by Marquette.

Starting on October 24, we have sent three e-mails to Xavier Cole, Vice President for Student Affairs, within whose bureaucracy discipline would be administered. We also sent him one Tweet, and sent an e-mail to Brian Dorrington, Marquette’s official spokesman.

From: John McAdams
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2016 2:52 PM
To: Cole, Xavier
Subject: Investigation of Vandalizing of Anti-Abortion Display

Hi, Xavier,

I’m wondering whether you can tell me anything about the progress of the investigation into the vandalizing of the anti-abortion display of Marquette for Life.

I’m sure you are aware of two students who have confessed to (actually bragged about) taking part in it. And further that one of those students told a local reporter that she “tagged along” with members of Empowerment, who did the vandalizing.

Regardless of whether you can comment on the investigation, I’m assuming you can answer a question of policy: will Marquette announce the results of the investigation and what punishment has been meted out to the guilty parties?

On the record (unless you tell me otherwise).

John McAdams
Political Science
Marquette Warrior Blog

@DrXavierCole Are students who vandalized the anti-abortion display being disciplined in any way?

— jmcadams (@jmcadams) November 18, 2016

From: John McAdams
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2016 4:15 PM
To: Cole, Xavier
Subject: RE: Investigation of Vandalizing of Anti-Abortion Display

Hi, Xavier,

I haven’t heard from you on this, perhaps because when you got it, there was no actual information you could share.

But now, I’m assuming that the case has progressed.

I’m particularly interested in knowing whether any discipline has been imposed on the students who engaged in the vandalism.

I would also be interested in knowing whether the student group whose members engaged in the vandalism (Empowerment) and a student group which explicitly endorsed the vandalism (College Democrats) have faced any consequences.

Again, on the record unless you tell me otherwise. I’ll most certainly be blogging about this.
John McAdams
Marquette Warrior Blog

Tue 12/6/2016 4:13 PM
From: John McAdams
To: Brian Dorrington

Hi, Brian,

Can you give me an official statement as to whether any discipline was imposed on the Marquette students who vandalized an anti-abortion display on campus?

I’m sure you are aware that Marquette’s silence on this will necessarily lead to the conclusion that nothing was done, and Marquette implicitly condoned the vandalism.

Interestingly, Penn State does take vandalism of a political display seriously.

https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=8468

John McAdams
Political Science
Marquette Warrior Blog

12/14/16
From: John McAdams To: Xavier Cole

Xavier,

I still haven’t heard from you on this.

I’m sure you know that, in the absence of any comment from Marquette to the contrary, it has to be assumed that the students in question were not disciplined at all.

Some universities take attacks on speech seriously.

http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/12/05/penn-state-students-fined-for-destroying-pro-trump-signs/

I hope to hear from you by the end of the day.

John McAdams
Political Science
Marquette Warrior Blog

Marquette has failed to provide any response.

The inference is obvious: the students have gotten off scott-free. Even if Marquette refused to reveal the identity of the students, they could explain what punishment has been meted out. But apparently, none has been.

Marquette has been pandering mightily to the campus leftists. One particularly egregious example was when both Michael Lovell (President) and Daniel J. Myers (Provost) demonstrated with students in support of the bullies at the University of Missouri.

As the links above show, Penn State was willing to discipline students who tore up Donald Trump signs. It’s ironic that Marquette, apparently, is unwilling to defend free expression on campus, and even to defend expression of the Catholic position on abortion.

Update

The vandals in fact received a minor, “slap on the wrist” punishment.

Marquette Student Activist on the Intolerant Left, Campus Free Speech

Again, it’s Allison Kazalski, President of the Marquette Chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom, discussing intolerance in academia, and especially the vandalizing of an anti-abortion display on campus. This from the Vicki McKenna show on WIBA, Madison.

Vandalized Anti-Abortion Display at Marquette: Student Activist Speaks

On the Mitch Henck show out of Madison: Allison Kazalski, President of the Marquette Chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom, discussing the recent vandalism of an anti-abortion display on campus.

Vandalized Pro-Life Display: Student Group Speaks Out

Reacting to the defacing of an anti-abortion display on campus, a campus student group (Young Americans for Freedom) has issued this statement:

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Self-proclaimed Feminist Students Deface Pro-Life Memorial at Marquette

College Democrats of Marquette condone act, Conservative students respond

Milwaukee, WI - Self-proclaimed feminist students sabotaged a display on Marquette University’s campus memorializing the millions of babies killed through abortion. The culprits placed several signs covering the information about the memorial. The signs stated things such as: “My Body, My Freedom”, “Stop the hypocrisy, care for women’s reproductive rights”, “68,000 women die from unsafe abortions every year”, and other variations of pro-choice arguments. Coat hangers were also scattered around the memorial.

The Young Americans for Freedom chapter at Marquette responded with the following statement: Young Americans for Freedom at Marquette University is extremely saddened that the Students for Life memorial was defaced by certain students intolerant of an opinion that they do not agree with. It is extremely hypocritical to claim that you are exercising your free speech rights through defacement while simultaneously trying to shut down the free speech of a student organization.

The act was so egregious, Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Xavier Cole, sent an email to the Marquette community condemning the defacement. He wrote, “Let me be extremely clear. Defacement is not dialogue.” He then goes on to say that Marquette values all opinions on specific matters, but that there needs to be dialogue and productive discussion on such differences.

For its part, the Catholic university refused to defend the pro-life students and the dignity of the unborn. As Dr. Cole wrote, Marquette’s mission requires the respect and dignity of all individuals. The Young Americans for Freedom – Marquette call on President Michael Lovell and the University to stand up to both the vandalism and the unborn. With this act, liberals made clear: conservatives and the unborn are not safe in the space of a university.

While many students are upset over the defacement of the memorial and infringement of Marquette for Life’s freedom of speech, a student organization took to social media to praise the vandalism committed by the students. Marquette University College Democrats tweeted and posted on their Facebook page that they were proud of the feminists. “We love and support you!” they wrote.

# # #
About the pro-life memorial:

Every year, Marquette for Life celebrates “pro-life week” by creating a memorial for the millions of the unborn killed in America each year. Flags are planted in the ground to represent the lives lost through abortion every year (1 flag = 1,000 babies aborted). The memorial was approved by the school. On Thursday, students defaced the memorial by vandalizing the sign which explains what the flags represent.

Contact:

Young Americans for Freedom at Marquette University
Youngamericans4freedom@gmail.com

Anti-Abortion Display Defaced at Marquette

It’s the sort of thing we have seen on a lot of campuses, and now it has come to Marquette. An anti-abortion display, approved by Marquette Student Affairs officials, has been defaced. From Facebook:



The Marquette Wire (official student online paper) covered the story here.

Notice a blatant example of journalistic bias: a defacing of a display is described as a “counter demonstration.”

Marquette issued a statement condemning the defacing of the display. It says (in part):

Let me be extremely clear. Defacement is not dialogue.

Respectful discussion and even dissent is best done face to face. Our issue does not lie in the expression of varying viewpoints, but rather in the way that this was handled. Our mission is grounded in respecting the dignity of all individuals and being inclusive of multiple perspectives. Inclusivity by its very nature begins with respect.

The Marquette For Life group’s display was submitted and approved in advance, as is standard procedure for any display that appears on university property. We are working with our students to make sure their promotions on campus continue.

Brazen Intolerance

What is stunning about this is not merely that it was done (which is bad enough), but that campus leftists are bragging about having done it, and voicing their approval on Facebook.

One student (in Political Science) posted an apparent confession, calling it “our response” to the display, and lauding her “feminist peers.” At the moment, her post has 88 “likes.”

Worse, the College Democrats approved of the vandalism, saying “Keep fighting the good fight, Marquette feminists.”

But the issue is: will Marquette discipline the students who did this?

Given the craven way that Marquette has reacted to the Social Justice Warriors in the past, we have our doubts. The people who did this have probably calculated, correctly, that they will receive a slap on the wrist, at most. But this is a direct attack on free expression on campus.

Conservative Campus Speaker Censored / Case 11205

We don’t actually know it’s case 11205, but you get the point. From the Alliance Defending Freedom:

LOS ANGELES – Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Monday on behalf of a student group to California State University, Los Angeles, for charging the group unconstitutional fees in order to exercise its freedom of speech. The university president responded immediately by cancelling the event, having “decided that it will be best” to include the speaker in a “more inclusive event” featuring “a group of speakers with differing viewpoints on diversity.” The student organization, Young Americans for Freedom, is now considering a lawsuit against the university.

University officials charged YAF $621.50 for security officers because it deemed an event that the group is sponsoring “controversial.” The university has broad guidelines for such a designation and leaves it to the whim of officials, a practice that the U.S. Supreme Court has found to be unconstitutional in other cases. After the university received the ADF letter explaining this, CSU–Los Angeles President William Covino sent an e-mail to the student group to inform them that its event has been cancelled.

“Public universities should encourage, not stifle, the free exchange of ideas,” said ADF Senior Counsel David Hacker. “YAF has every bit as much right to hold its event as any other student group does, and the university can’t stop that because it prefers to water down the speaker’s message with other viewpoints that officials find more palatable to their own political views. The courts have made it clear that university officials cannot deem an event ‘controversial’ and then weigh down students with burdensome fees to engage in constitutionally protected free speech just because some people consider it controversial, but it’s even worse to take that a step further and try to silence the speech altogether.”

YAF is a chapter affiliate of Young America’s Foundation and a registered student organization at the university. YAF followed the university’s policies and procedures for planning an event Thursday in the U-SU Theatre on campus with conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro. YAF has been promoting it through social media and fliers for several weeks.

In reaction, some university students and staff commented on the social media posts and called the YAF chapter “intolerant” and “racists.” In particular, University Associate Professor of Sociology Robert Weide called the YAF students “white supremacists” and invited the YAF students to fight him in the U-SU gym. On Feb. 18, the university told YAF that it must hire three security officers and one university police officer for the event at a cost of $621.50 because “Mr. Shapiro’s topics and views are controversial.” ADF attorneys pointed out in their letter that the U.S. Supreme Court has already invalidated that rationale and asked that the university “immediately rescind the security fees assessed to YAF for the February 25 event.”

In an e-mail to YAF late Monday, Covino wrote, “After careful consideration, I have decided that it will be best for our campus community if we reschedule Ben Shapiro’s appearance for a later date, so that we can arrange for him to appear as part of a group of speakers with differing viewpoints on diversity…. We will be happy to work with Mr. Shapiro to schedule the more inclusive event that I have in mind. I have informed the university staff involved in facilitating the February 25 event that it will be rescheduled and reconfigured for a later date.”

“The First Amendment does not require YAF to consolidate its viewpoint with others,” Hacker noted. “The number of events on university campuses with speakers who have different viewpoints from Mr. Shapiro’s and YAF’s are plentiful. No need or legitimate basis exists for cancelling YAF’s event.”

Demanding that a group pay for “security” when they bring a conservative speaker to campus is a common tactic used by university bureaucrats.  The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee tried it when a speaker was invited to campus whom Palestinian students disliked.

This, of course, gives a “heckler’s veto” to the most intolerant groups on campus, those that will explicitly or implicitly threaten violence and disorder.

And of course, rewarding this kind of behavior results in more of it, as the intolerant campus left learns they can successfully shut up speech they don’t like.

Demanding “differing viewpoints” and an “inclusive event” are likewise merely ploys to burden the expression of speech of which the left doesn’t disapproves. It’s shame the YAF gave in on this. Often, conservative students are simply too nice.

That’s not to say that debates with diverse points of view are a bad idea. They are a very good idea, but the campus left doesn’t seem to understand that until somebody wants to bring a conservative to campus.

Update

The administration at CSU-LA backed down, and allowed the speech. But leftist protesters blocked the entrance to the venue, preventing some students from entering, and tried to disrupt the speech by setting off a fire alarm. Police had to escort Shapiro out to insure his safety.

Campus Debate: Howard Dean vs. Liz Cheney

Note Update Below.

From an e-mail from Young Americans for Freedom:

Former DNC chairman and Presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean will be debating Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney and former State Department official. The topic: the Role of Government in a Free Society. This event will be moderated by Kent Wainscott from WISN 12 News in the Weasler Auditorium at 7 p.m. on October 30th.

You can register for tickets (they cost nothing) here.

The Young Americans for Freedom is a conservative organization which has scheduled a debate featuring both a very prominent conservative speaker, and an equally prominent liberal speaker.

Kudos to them for that.

[Update]

Hurricane Sandy Delays the Great Debate at Marquette University

Liz Cheney and Howard Dean debate moved to Thursday

Milwaukee – As Hurricane Sandy dumps inches of rain and strong winds on the east coast, a debate scheduled for Tuesday is postponed. The daughter of a former Vice President and a former DNC Chairman will take on the issues in a debate sponsored by the Young Americans for Freedom - Marquette University on Thursday, November 1st at 7:00 pm instead. Liz Cheney and Howard Dean will jab over the “Role of Government in a Free Society.”

Hurricane Sandy has grounded almost all air traffic to and from the Nation’s capital making it impossible for the policy heavyweights to make their scheduled joint appearance.

A venue change has also been made to Marquette’s Marquette Hall Room 300 located at 1217 W. Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee.

The event is free and open to the public; however, printed tickets are required. Tickets can be reserved at www.yafmarquette.com. Parking is available in the Wells Street Structure located at the corner of 13th Street and Wells.

For attendees with reserved tickets, those tickets are still valid and notifications have been sent.

[Further Update]

The location has been moved to the Alumni Memorial Union, particularly the Ballrooms upstairs.

Conservative Student Conference in Milwaukee

Students who are interested can apply to attend here. In fact, there is plenty of capacity, and all who apply will be accomodated.

John Stossel At Marquette