By: Andrew Breschard
Two faculty members at Clemson University attempted to block students from attending a conservative event by fraudulently reserving tickets to the event using multiple email accounts and encouraging their friends to do the same.
On April 8, 2021, students at the university hosted an event featuring Tomi Lahren, Brandon Tatum, and Graham Allen on campus. In order to attend the event, students and other community members needed to reserve free tickets online which were limited in number due to capacity restrictions at the venue.
YAF’s Campus Bias Tip Line received an anonymous submission featuring screenshots of a post made by Amy Burke, a financial aid counselor at Clemson. Burke boasts about reserving at least eight tickets to the event with no intention of being in attendance.
In the comments, Sharetta Bufford–assistant director of recruitment and inclusive excellence–shares that she had reserved ten tickets of her own, sarcastically suggesting that she might show up to the event.
Clemson University did not respond to YAF’s request for a comment regarding this event.
In addition to reserving tickets themselves, the faculty members encouraged others, such as friends with no affiliation to the university, to reserve tickets as well without intending to use them. Ms. Burke even shared a petition to have the event shut down entirely.
This behavior is wholly anti-free speech, and cuts against the idea that college campuses should be a space to foster discourse and a free exchange of ideas. YAF’s Campus Bias Tip Line will continue to expose these tyrannical administrators and hold schools accountable.
Andrew Breschard is the chapter chairman of Gettysburg College YAF and serves as a William & Berniece Grewcock Intern Scholar at Young America’s Foundation this summer.
