Northwestern University Lets Jeff Sessions Protestors Off The Hook With A Minimal Fine, Slap On The Wrist

Students who protested Young America’s Foundation’s Jeff Sessions lecture at Northwestern University last month are, unsurprisingly, facing no disciplinary action for disrupting the event and harassing police officers. According to a statement released by Northwestern, a “small number of individuals” were issued citations by campus police for “disorderly conduct and interfering with the duties of a police officer.” The kicker? These citations allow for a MAXIMUM fine of $125, and don’t go on any sort of criminal record. The disorderly conduct citations were given for the protestors’ conduct “directed toward police, such as pushing, grabbing or kicking police officers as they attempted to perform their duties and secure the building,” according to the university statement. Students should be held accountable for targeting police officers, but they should also face consequences for disrupting speech. As captured on video by Young America’s Foundation, dozens of protestors attempted to disrupt the lecture, screaming, chanting, and hurling expletives at event attendees and police who tried to control the situation, with one student even breaking a window at the venue. The fine levied on protestors is akin to a speeding ticket in the community of Evanston, Illinois–showing just how uncommitted the university is to enforcing the law with these disruptors. Until universities take a stand for free speech and signal to their students that intolerance and disruptions will not be tolerated, these tyrants-in-training will proceed down a path of destruction and continue their attempts to hijack free speech on their campuses.