A Young America’s Foundation lecture at Johns Hopkins University devolved into chaos due to leftist disruptors earlier this week. The event, which featured Mark Krikorian, an expert on illegal immigration issues, was cut short due to the combination of the leftists’ rude and rowdy behavior and the spineless JHU administration’s unwillingness to intervene.
The disruptions began when the auditorium’s doors, which had been tampered with and locked before the event, delayed entry for attendees for at least 30 minutes. About 15 minutes into the talk, the protestors began their disruptions, which included blasting loud music, setting off alarms on their phones, and shouting profanities from across the room. Some even pretended to take phone calls in an obvious attempt to create a distraction. These masked disruptors have been identified as members of the “Hopkins Justice Collective,” a socialist pro-Hamas group that was behind last school year’s encampments. As the chaos continued, the room became filled with a pungent odor that was later identified as “stink spray.”
Despite the clear and escalating violations of free speech and the university’s policies, campus security and administrators from the student affairs office, including the associate vice provost, failed to intervene beyond verbally reminding the crowd that they were in violation of the school’s policies.
The student organizers were presented with two unacceptable options: either allow the disruption to continue or end the event half-way through.
The administration ultimately allowed the protestors to win by enabling the disruption to continue. Krikorian managed to maintain his composure throughout the bizarre ordeal, even conducting an impromptu Q&A session outside for students after the auditorium became unusable due to the stink spray.
“This situation was unfair and infringed upon our right to engage with the event,” JHU College Republicans Chair Aneesh told Young America’s Foundation’s New Guard. “I will be bringing this up and advocating for student affairs to change this ridiculous policy that only and always vindicates the loudest, most rambunctious liberals on our campus — as we saw with encampments last year. It is one thing to posture about free expression and another to enforce it,” he added.
The protestors have since taken to social media to openly boast about their disruptive and immature actions.
This situation closely mirrors another recent YAF lecture that was derailed by intolerant protestors and complicit administrators and campus police. When University of Utah YAFers tried to host a screening of the documentary “Damaged,” which stars YAF speaker and detransitioner Chloe Cole, disruptions ensued, and campus leadership did nothing to stop them.
While universities may claim to be welcoming to free speech and expression, the true test is whether or not they actually follow through on those promises. Clearly, Johns Hopkins couldn’t care less about its duty to uphold these fundamental American rights.
