Within 90 minutes of Young America’s Foundation calling for concerned citizens, U of M students, and Minnesota taxpayers to voice their disapproval over the school’s treatment of conservatives and Ben Shapiro, U of M President Eric Kaler tweeted a “full statement” on Ben Shapiro’s February 26 lecture.
https://twitter.com/PrezKaler/status/961290490036436992
As is par for the course from liberal administrators, this statement is thick with leftist doublespeak that Young America’s Foundation is happy to clear up:
Statement on Ben Shapiro’s Visit
Translation from liberal doublespeak provided by Young America’s Foundation
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
The University hosts a wide variety of events, welcoming tens of thousands of people to campus each and every day. The University hosts liberals speakers all the time without restrictions. We strive to meet the unique needs for each and every event, and the event scheduled for later this month is no different. The event scheduled for later this month is no different but we’ve chosen to shove it to a desolate corner of campus and limit attendance anyway. When working to accommodate a venue request, our top priority is and will always be the safety and security of our University community, and with that in mind the University works with organizers to determine a location that meets everyone’s needs to the best of our ability. Because we care about safety we’re going to punish conservatives, often the victims of violence and vandalism carried out by intolerant leftists, by hiding their events away so that we’re not forced to hold liberals accountable for any adverse reactions.
Student leaders with Students for a Conservative Voice and Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow worked with Student Activities staff and UMPD to determine a space that would accommodate the 400-500 attendance the group was planning for, and that would allow for the appropriate security for the event. Because we don’t want to worry about how our fragile liberal students will react, we’re going to limit attendance to 400, rather than allow the massive demand for conservative ideas to be met. Multiple options were reviewed, including the Mayo Auditorium, Willey Hall Auditorium and Ted Mann Concert Hall. Students asked for several centrally located venues with capacity between 800 and 1500, but we don’t care to secure a conservative event that’s visible to our campus community. For a variety of reasons, these venues were not available or suitable for the event and the St. Paul location was agreed to. Despite accommodating thousands of people in classrooms across campus every day, we are unable to find a “suitable” venue for a few hundred students to hear from a New York Times bestselling author. Assertions that the University is moving an event space for ideological reasons or that organizers were not involved in the discussions are patently false. How dare students, taxpayers, and concerned citizens call us out for attempting to stifle conservative expression.
President Kaler’s tweet sports an embarrassing ratio of 132 replies to 11 retweets at the time of publication, proving Twitter isn’t buying the double-speak excuses for discriminating against conservative speech. The replies to Kaler’s statement are brutal:
https://twitter.com/tonybarton34/status/961312331803308037
https://twitter.com/nlucas6102/status/961312789808713729
https://twitter.com/johnulzheimer/status/961335060157882368
https://twitter.com/ddwiese/status/961314360642568192
https://twitter.com/jjpackbrew/status/961316526816100352
https://twitter.com/MakeshiftMimic/status/961316096782622725
https://twitter.com/GeorgeLawler13/status/961314431039918080
https://twitter.com/CatieSienna/status/961318846031331328
https://twitter.com/sjacquemotte/status/961333994271989760
https://twitter.com/tomslick17/status/961328958380818432
https://twitter.com/LaffoonMonkey/status/961326173614682114
https://twitter.com/common_yet_rare/status/961321355919675393
https://twitter.com/gliz50/status/961320782013063169
https://twitter.com/PatedBears/status/961317900496732161
https://twitter.com/harperreginald1/status/961315881702887424
