Disruptions started during the introduction and lasted all the way through the question and answer session. Despite repeatedly pledging to remove disruptors, campus security refused to do so during the lecture, arguing they did not have the manpower to escort them group out of the auditorium. Protestors chanted words such as “shame” whenever the senator said something with which they disagreed. Senator Santorum was unfazed by the attempts to silence him, even engaging with the leftists by stopping his lecture to call out their hypocrisy, “I suspect that [the protestors] walk around this campus and talk about tolerance, and all of them will tell you you have to celebrate what? Diversity. Celebrate diversity, preach tolerance, but when it comes to anybody who disagrees with them, there is no tolerance.” His point was cheered loudly by supporters in the audience. Shortly afterward, the situation continued to intensify to the point where a university representative felt compelled to interrupt the senator and re-read the school’s free speech policy in the hopes of calming the disruptors. Senator Santorum made the point of noting to the thousands of viewers on Young America’s Foundation’s live stream that the protestors were a “very small group.” In response, one protestor shouted back arguing they were in the majority. Laughing, Senator Santorum replied, “I think you need to work on your math.” YAF Program Officer for Chapter Services Lauren McCue, who helped the campus conservative club organize the lecture, remarked, “The officer in charge of security told me at one point. ‘We will shut down this event before removing protestors.’ I told him that was absolutely not going to happen, and we aren’t going to punish other students for the behavior of the few. It was extremely upsetting, since prior to the event I was told they would have no problem removing the protestors.” The senator graciously engaged with students during the question and answer session, energetically outlining the conservative ideas those in attendance rarely hear from their professors. Young America’s Foundation commends Senator Santorum and the students who worked so hard to organize his lecture for their efforts. Thanks to YAF, Senator Santorum, and Cornell’s student activists, hundreds of young people had the opportunity to hear unfiltered conservative ideas. That’s how you make real change. Watch Senator Santorum’s full lecture, which was sponsored by Young America’s Foundation’s Wendy P. McCaw Freedom Lecture Series, below. [tbc_video_embed url=”https://youtu.be/z_PhWQYCXfI”]
