Upon further review of the Student Organization Speaker Review procedures, it has been determined that the procedures were incorrectly followed in the case of the DePaul Young Americans for Freedom (DYAF) speaker application for Steven Crowder. No member of DYAF was invited to attend the February 2nd Student Organization Speaker Review Board meeting to discuss the Crowder application. Therefore, the decision to not approve DYAF’s request for Steven Crowder to speak at DePaul has been rescinded and the Board will reconsider the DYAF Crowder application at its next meeting on Friday, March 9th from 9:00-10:30 a.m.
Therefore, DYAF is invited to meet with the Student Organization Speaker Review Board to discuss both the Steven Crowder application and the James O’Keefe application.
I will send you the exact room location as soon as it is determined.
Thank you for your patience with this matter.
Sincerely,
Peggy Burke, Ph.D.
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs
DePaul University
*************** DePaul University has denied a request by the DePaul Young Americans for Freedom chapter to host Steven Crowder, once again displaying their lack of ideological diversity and anti-conservative bias. The “preemptive ban” was issued because Crowder’s “style does not ‘align’ with DePaul’s ‘educational mission,'” reported the Daily Wire. “I had no idea I was even being considered as a speaker on campus. Thanks, guys (and girls, and zis),” said Crowder in a statement to YAF responding to DePaul’s intolerance. “But now that I know they’ve banned me, it seems that one way or another, I HAVE to visit DePaul, right? I mean, what choice do I have?” Crowder also responded to questions about his show, Louder with Crowder:“As far as my ‘videos,’ listen, I’m a late-night comic. I host a late-night show. We do PLENTY of bits that will offend people of all different stripes. I make no apologies. That’s not our primary intent however. On the flip-side, you can go watch several HOURS of my ‘Change My Mind’ segments on YouTube, in which I engage strangers and/or students in civil disagreements, unedited, sometimes for hours at a time. Nobody else in the history of news commentary has done that. I will respectfully engage with ANYONE willing to have a productive, reasonable dialogue. If the faculty and students of DePaul are too weak-minded to do the same, then I feel sorry for them and hope to see full refunds issued to parents who were under the false impression they were paying for a proper education.”
DePaul’s decision to ban a prominent conservative is unfortunately nothing new. In 2016, Ben Shapiro was banned from campus as well. When Shapiro tried to join Christina Hoff Sommers during her lecture at DePaul, Shapiro was threatened with arrest if he set foot on campus. Clearly, DePaul isn’t interested in providing its student body with a well-rounded education, and would rather expend resources to enforce bans on conservative speakers rather than support ideological diversity. YAF just brought ‘Louder with Crowder’ to Virginia Tech where a standing room only audience engaged in a free and open exchange of ideas with Crowder–if you want to bring Steven and ‘Louder with Crowder’ to your campus, submit a request here.
