A counter protest by the CSU Fullerton Republicans against a No Ban No Wall protest held by the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter of the school escalated quickly when a professor assaulted a member of the College Republicans.
Eyewitnesses described a man who approached the display held by the College Republicans, and identified himself as a professor. The professor was later revealed to be Professor Eric Canin, an adjunct faculty member teaching anthropology part-time at Fullerton.
Canin began to chide the College Republicans for not having a professor with them, and accused them of being “ignorant” and “uneducated.” The exchange later devolved into vulgarities, and after attempting to steal a sign from one of the members of the College Republicans, Canin proceeded to punch Bryce Ingalls, another member of the College Republicans.
Christopher Boyle, the president of the Fullerton College Republicans, restrained Canin after the assault, and proceeded to restrain him until campus police were able to apprehend Canin. They also reported the incident using their official Twitter account.
Amanda McGuire, the Vice President of the chapter, expressed her disappointment in the lack of civility from the professor.
“This is yet another example of the left trying to stop free speech and the spread of any ideas that alternate from the leftist orthodoxy on campus,” McGuire remarked. “The CSUF College Republicans is an organization that allows students with marginalized conservative views to participate in the political conversation on campus.”
After the protest and the counter-protest ended, chapter chair Chris Boyle proceeded to go to the police station, and filed a police report under the charging Canin with battery.
“We will be working with the campus police to make sure the professor is held accountable for his actions, and we will be pressing charges,” Boyle stated. “We want College Republicans on campus to know that they have a voice, and that they should be able to express that voice freely and safely on campus.”
Though the police department has been very helpful and cooperative in the situation, the College Republicans do not feel as though the administrators at Fullerton feel the same way.
“The school is eager to dismiss the issue and is hesitant to place the professor in custody,” explained Boyle.
Jeffrey D. Cook. the Chief Communications Officer at Cal State Fullerton, initially condemned the attack, claiming that the university “prizes and promotes free and open expression,” and that “any violent incident, however isolated, cannot be tolerated and is unacceptable.”
However, hours later, the CSUF Republican club reported that the school will not be punishing Canin.
This incident from Canin, who expressed support for turning CSU Fullerton into a sanctuary campus, has become part of a larger trend on campus where conservative students are being faced with violence for expressing their views.
Last week, the Berkeley College Republicans faced violence and arson attacks because of their decision to host Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos on campus, and this week, they are expecting further harassment this week. Conservative students at NYU faced similar attacks when hosting a lecture by conservative comedian Gavin McInnes.
By choosing to look past violent attacks on its campus, especially from its own faculty, schools are sending a message that violence is an answer in politics, and they will continue making physical attacks on conservatives on campus mainstream. It will be interesting to see whether CSU Fullerton stands by its initial decision and contributes to this problem, or chooses to take a stand and discipline Canin for his attack.
