‘YAF Is Not A Suitable Platform’: Bellarmine University Administrator Blocks YAF Chapter

Conservative students at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, were recently blocked in their attempts to form a chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, the chapter affiliate of Young America’s Foundation. In an email to the student activists, Bellarmine University’s Director of Student Activities and Orientation Jessica Lynch repeatedly proclaimed her dislike for YAF. “My concerns for this organization are based on reviewing the organization’s website [YAF.org]. I do not support this organization forming on Bellarmine’s campus,” she writes. “I do not support the idea that a person’s beliefs/values are better or “right” compared to another’s. That is what I find concerning about Young Americans for Freedom.” I’d hate to hear this administrator’s take on President Reagan’s ‘Evil Empire’ speech. Whose ideas, then, does she choose to defend against YAF’s claim that conservative ideas—freedom’s principles—are better? Why Joseph Stalin, Angela Davis, and Karl Marx of course! Lynch attached a photo of a poster created by YAF for students to use on their campuses to call out the lack of ideological diversity in higher education as an example that is “concerning” to her. The administrator apparently takes issue with YAF’s “comments in regards to others’ beliefs being wrong, corrupt, or immoral.” Her main hangup is “the messaging from the national organization itself. I do not think this creates a space for all students to feel welcomed.” Apparently, in the eyes of this administrator, it’s not inclusive to point out the evils of communism—never mind the fact that communism is responsible for the death of 100 million people worldwide. If that’s not “wrong, corrupt, or immoral,” I don’t think anyone should be taking guidance from Lynch. Lynch continues by claiming that “YAF is not a suitable platform” for the conservative students to educate their peers on conservative ideas, pointing to YAF’s Funeral For Halloween and GPA Redistribution Contest as problematic. When a university becomes a place where absolute truth is ignored and one is barred from pointing out clear evils, highlighting the failures of the Left’s ideologies, or boldly advocating for conservative ideas, it calls into question the institution’s purpose for existence.