In an inexplicable turn of events proving the University of Minnesota’s anti-conservative bias, the U of M’s Women’s Center and several leftist organizations on campus have just announced a counter event to Young America’s Foundation’s February 26 lecture featuring Ben Shapiro, titled “White Supremacy in the Age of Trump: An Anti-Racist Teach-In.”
Unbelievably, the University of Minnesota approved this event to take place in Humphrey Forum, in the middle of the school’s main Minneapolis campus, just blocks from the larger, more accessible venues conservative students were barred from using to host Ben Shapiro.
The description for the apparently university-sanctioned counter event is lacking in its connection to reality. It accuses Ben Shapiro of espousing “#FakeNews conservatism” before launching into a ridiculous statement that betrays the frailty of the Left’s arguments:
“A conservative political commentator whose racist indifference toward the pain and suffering of Black and Brown people is well-documented, Mr. Shapiro has been invited by the Young America’s Foundation to spread his divisive views in a campus-wide lecture on February 26th. Join a multi-racial coalition of UMN students, faculty, and staff as we reaffirm the importance of racial justice to American democracy.”
Their event also refers to a Washington Post report that “white extremists plan to focus their 2018 outreach and recruitment efforts on Midwestern colleges and universities like the University of Minnesota,” falling into the same trap of leftists at UC Berkeley and other schools around the country who will make up literally unbelievable claims about Shapiro in attempts to shut down his events.
Unlike YAF’s lecture with Ben Shapiro where students who disagree with Shapiro are given priority during Q&A, this ridiculous teach-in will do nothing to create a free and open exchange of ideas. If leftists–in the student body and administration–at the University of Minnesota truly believed in the merit of their ideas, they wouldn’t need to push Ben Shapiro and conservative students miles away while hosting an echo-chamber event in the middle of campus to feel safe in their flawed ideologies.
In addition to the University’s Women’s Center, this exercise in futility is also sponsored by the Humphrey Students of Color Association; Gender, Sex, and Policy Event Committee; Association of Multicultural Scientists; Public Affairs Student Association; Noel Gordon Jr.; and Emma Chi Olson.
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For further information or to cover this story contact YAF Spokesman Spencer Brown via phone (800-872-1776) or email (sbrown@yaf.org).