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CSULA President Cancels Ben Shapiro Lecture Citing Need for "Diversity"
RESTON, VA– On Monday evening, the president of California State University Los Angeles (CSULA) officially canceled CSULA Young Americans for Freedom's (YAF) lecture by Ben Shapiro, which was scheduled to take place on Thursday, February 25, citing the need to organize a more “inclusive” event.
This is a clear violation of student rights. Thus Shapiro and YAF plan to appear on campus, along with a camera crew, at the originally scheduled time of 2:00 PM PST at the USU Theater and the university can use its security force to force conservatives to shut up if they feel so threatened by the free exchange of ideas. Shapiro told YAF, “This is what the climate of campus fascism has wrought: jackbooted students who believe they can strong-arm the administration into shutting down dissent, and an administration willing to shut down that dissent to kowtow to these precious snowflakes. The campus left are not just cowards, they’re totalitarians. We’re not going to stand for it.”
In an email to the chairman of CSULA YAF, university president William 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.”
Covino continued, “Such an event will better represent our university’s dedication to the free exchange of ideas and the value of considering multiple viewpoints.”
Contrary to Covino’s newfound love for the “free exchange of ideas” and the consideration of “multiple viewpoints,” his university has hosted a wide variety of radical liberal speakers without ever bothering to ensure the conservative worldview was represented.
For convenience, we’ve sampled a few choice examples from recent years below:
• Dr. Cornel West addressed “Post Racialism”
• Alia al-Saji spoke on "Cultural Racism: Muslim Veiling, Embodiment, and the Nature of Culture”
• Kimberlé Crenshaw addressed "Racing to Post Racialism: Critical Race Theory, Constitutional Law, and Sustaining Communities"
• Serene Khader lectured on the topic, "Do Muslim Women Really Need Freedom?"
• Angela Davis and Tim Wise will address in a video lecture “Exploring Whiteness” this Wednesday
Did Covino go out of his way to ensure students attending any one of these events had the opportunity to “consider multiple viewpoints?” Has he ever canceled other events for failing to meet his standard of “inclusivity?”
This is a clear violation of student rights. Thus Shapiro and YAF plan to appear on campus, along with a camera crew, at the originally scheduled time of 2:00 PM PST at the USU Theater and the university can use its security force to force conservatives to shut up if they feel so threatened by the free exchange of ideas. Shapiro told YAF, “This is what the climate of campus fascism has wrought: jackbooted students who believe they can strong-arm the administration into shutting down dissent, and an administration willing to shut down that dissent to kowtow to these precious snowflakes. The campus left are not just cowards, they’re totalitarians. We’re not going to stand for it.”
In an email to the chairman of CSULA YAF, university president William 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.”
Covino continued, “Such an event will better represent our university’s dedication to the free exchange of ideas and the value of considering multiple viewpoints.”
Contrary to Covino’s newfound love for the “free exchange of ideas” and the consideration of “multiple viewpoints,” his university has hosted a wide variety of radical liberal speakers without ever bothering to ensure the conservative worldview was represented.
For convenience, we’ve sampled a few choice examples from recent years below:
• Dr. Cornel West addressed “Post Racialism”
• Alia al-Saji spoke on "Cultural Racism: Muslim Veiling, Embodiment, and the Nature of Culture”
• Kimberlé Crenshaw addressed "Racing to Post Racialism: Critical Race Theory, Constitutional Law, and Sustaining Communities"
• Serene Khader lectured on the topic, "Do Muslim Women Really Need Freedom?"
• Angela Davis and Tim Wise will address in a video lecture “Exploring Whiteness” this Wednesday
Did Covino go out of his way to ensure students attending any one of these events had the opportunity to “consider multiple viewpoints?” Has he ever canceled other events for failing to meet his standard of “inclusivity?”
full: http://www.yaf.org/csula-president-cancels-shapiro-lecture.aspx
Here's a poster promoting this event that I found on the CSULA YAF Facebook page.
I wonder what kind of valuable speech is being threatened by what activists like the ones at Missouri are looking for. Sure there was that incident with Melissa Click threatening student journalists, there's one OK example. But any real academic inquiry that is really meaningful to enriching your mind, being censored (and please don't say "Bell Curve"!) by Black Lives Matter and such?
