Last week, a Young Americans for Freedom activist at Iowa State University was punched before having his sign stolen and vandalized during a pro-life tabling event.
On September 3, ISU YAF held a tabling event in which they sought to discuss abortion with their peers. According to Kyle Poen, chairman of YAF at the university, the tabling demonstration was going well, until a crazed leftist assaulted a YAF member and stole their “Abortion = Murder” sign.
“Twenty minutes into the tabling event, one student ran up to the member of the club who was holding the sign and proceeded to punch through the sign into the club member,” Poen told Young America’s Foundation. “This student then ran away with the sign while trying to break it before disposing of it into a waste bin,” he continued.
After committing assault and criminal mischief, the student returned to explain himself. According to Poen, he claimed “The act was a form of protest that did not intend or cause any bodily harm.”
The student then called campus police on himself. The YAF chapter told the responding officer that they did not want to press charges, instead asking for an apology from the student.
“The student proved our point that many students are not able to handle a simple dissenting opinion,” Poen said.
The assaulted student, Thomas King, agreed, telling YAF “People don’t know how to react or hold a discussion in a polite manor when discussing abortion.”
According to King, “this did not take away from our experience. I along with other YAF members had great conversations with people on both sides of the issue and we thoroughly challenged people’s opinion and beliefs.”
Both inside and outside the classroom, conflicting viewpoints are being ostracized. Students face the threat of physical harm for simply stating their opinion. It’s no wonder that a whopping 46% of conservative students reported self-censoring in the classroom, according to a 2019 poll conducted by YAF’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Free Enterprise partnered with Echelon Insights, a nationally renowned firm with expertise in digital and data-driven polling. Freedom of speech is a necessary component of democracy, and we must continue to protect that freedom on our nation’s college campuses.
