At the Otay Ranch High School in Chula Vista, Calif., the school’s assistant principal and Title IX officer, Dean Nafarrete, tried to censor a conservative speaker by telling students to leave his speech.
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Ben Shapiro was speaking at an event put on by the high school’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter, and sponsored by the Young America’s Foundation.
During the Q&A session, Shapiro was cut off by Nafarrete. Apparently, he had “crossed a line” and students had to be “dismissed.”
The offending remarks:
Students can be heard reacting and commenting to each other though there are no audible calls for Shapiro to stop. His response did receive applause.
Nafarrete intervened before another student could ask a question to say he was “at a point right now, quite frankly, where I’m going to dismiss the students.” The students clearly still wanted to hear Shapiro speak, as are heard when Nafarrete dismissed them.
Nafarrete continued on to say that Shapiro’s “narrative” was “based on his opinions which he believes and what he wants to share with all of you.” While Nafarrete believed that Shapiro had provided a viewpoint, “what this is getting into now is starting to cross the line…” Students continuously reacted in surprise and disappointment, with some audibly saying “I want to stay.”
The students were given the option to stay. Half of them did.
Shapiro shared his take with YAF:
While the actions of Nafarrete were unnecessary, there may be a silver lining. The students should be rightly applauded for their standing up to his attempt of censorship. It’s refreshing to be able to commend rather than condemn students — in this age of over-the-top protests and constant calls for political correctness.
