[caption id=”attachment_153475″ align=”aligncenter” width=”579″]Image via Twitter
[/caption]
Last month, college students at California State University – Los Angeles (CSULA) decried conservative speaker, Ben Shapiro, having a platform to speak on their campus. The administration at CSULA caved in to such cry babies and canceled the event earlier this week, claiming it “lacked diversity.”
After backlash, the university reversed their decision, and Shapiro spoke Thursday afternoon 5 pm EST, with a live stream available from YAF, the organization hosting the event. Shapiro spoke as part of the Fred R. Allen campus lecture series, on “When Diversity Becomes a Problem.”
While the event drew many excited students, it also drew Black Lives Matter protesters, who later threatened the safety of Shapiro and attendees.
On Thursday afternoon, YAF announced that the university “has has caved to our demands and reversed its decision to cancel CSULA Young Americans for Freedom’s lecture with Ben Shapiro, scheduled for today at 5:00 PM EST.”
While YAF said they were “pleased” to make such an announcement, they had strong words for the university’s initial decision:
The fact that the president of the university ever made the decision to apply the ridiculous double standard of allowing Shapiro to speak only if a leftist was around to counter his beliefs is a tragic indication of how dire the state of censorship against conservatives has gotten on campuses around the country.
The statement also spoke to how liberal students and administrators are anything but tolerant and understanding:
In closing, the statement says “Covino is cultivating a culture of hostility towards conservative views,” and adds that they “continue to be disgusted” by such actions.
YAF had more cause for concern however, once the event ended. The protesters “essentially… held hostage” students and staff a statement said, as they were blocking the exits. Police needed to escort Shapiro out for his safety, as he confirmed in tweet messages.
We had to be escorted by a full police cordon as well as a motorcade thanks to safety concerns.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 25, 2016
We are safely out. The police informed us they could not guarantee our safety or that of the student attendees if we went into the crowd.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 25, 2016
The decision to allow a conservative speaker to have a platform on campus has thrust the campus into predictable chaos.
Protesters used to getting their way have occupied Covino’s office and are now calling for his resignation, as ABC7 reported. They also lamented how “Covino had thrust them into a tense confrontation with supporters of Shapiro and then showed a lack of support afterwards.” What irony and hypocrisy. If anyone was shown such disrespect, it was student attendees interested in what Shapiro had to say.
