Administrators at U. Wisconsin-Superior Help Students Plan Matt Walsh Protest
“One administrator encourages protestors to ‘sit down’ if there are threats against them, to draw a scene and cause police to come and assist”
Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire is becoming as triggering for liberals in higher ed as Ann Coulter. Still, you don’t expect this kind of behavior from administrators.
The College Fix reports:
VIDEO: Wisconsin university officials help plan Matt Walsh protest
Administrators with the University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Gender Equity Resource Center held a strategy session ahead of a conservative commentator’s speech, according to video obtained by Young America’s Foundation.
Officials can be seen on video with students figuring out if they can move Matt Walsh’s event off of campus. Walsh is a commentator with the Daily Wire and regularly speaks about topics such as abortion and gender ideology.
One person said an off-campus event would feel less “targeted.” Walsh spoke on the campus last night.
Another administrator asks students for any questions they have about their protest plans and gives them tips on how to have a peaceful protest.
“One administrator encourages protestors to ‘sit down’ if there are threats against them, to draw a scene and cause police to come and assist,” YAF reported.
“This has become one of the most exhausting experiences of my entire life,” a student told administrators. “It is exhausting,” the student says, after he said he would rather pay “thousands of dollars” to go to another school instead of being at a campus that allows Walsh.
“It is exhausting, with racism, homophobia, transphobia, and nobody cares,” the student said. He said that while the university “genuinely…want[s] to block hatred toward the students here, but these actions reflect that you want hatred.”
Take a look below:
“I think the power that you all have is within yourselves.”
One administrator encourages protestors to “sit down” if there are threats against them, to draw a scene and cause police to come and assist. pic.twitter.com/H3lc0NFeB7
— YAF (@yaf) April 26, 2022
A UW-Superior administrator is seen asking “what questions” students have about protesting the event.
One student declares her fear for violence by conservatives attending the event, despite no evidence of any such claims. pic.twitter.com/IoTQx5pAk6
— YAF (@yaf) April 26, 2022
“I think the power that you all have is within yourselves.”
One administrator encourages protestors to “sit down” if there are threats against them, to draw a scene and cause police to come and assist. pic.twitter.com/H3lc0NFeB7
— YAF (@yaf) April 26, 2022
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Comments
“Still, you don’t expect this kind of behavior from administrators.”
I don’t?
This should be filed under “It used to be.”
It used to be icecream cones were a nickel. It used to be you didn’t expect this kind of behavior from administrators.
“You must do everything I demand, because I’M AFWAID!”
If anything goes wrong, it seems that the administrators have painted legal targets on their backs. They have actively encouraged the protests, using University facilities in the process. They may have slandered or libeled the speaker in some of these meetings, which no doubt were recorded.
If the protestors become violent, or anyone gets injured, the University and its administrators will become juicy targets for lawsuits. It seems reckless for the University to take one side of a political discussion, encourage disruptive protest, and expose itself to liability if anything happens in the protest. (Ask Oberlin about that.)
The involved administrators and the president should be fired.
This is one more reason why flooding the universities with money was a terrible idea. Too many administrators.
And usually this sort of behavior doesn’t even get noticed, let alone punished.
I do not the context of the advice. Is the administrator advocating a “sit in” to block the speaker’s acess to the room or is he saying that if the back and forth between the speaker and the audience, or the contents of the speaker’s presentation makes an audience member “feel unsafe” just sit down in your chair and wait for the event to finish? Personally, I think the second context is excellent advice.
There are many times in life when views to which you disagree will be presented. Rather than get angry or try to “solve the problem yourself” you can hope that the authorities can gain control of the situation and allow the speech to continue.
The best advice would have been, “Look, this is an institution of higher learning. We don’t cancel anyone and we go out of our way to bring you a wide variety of viewpoints. If you have the urge to cancel people, you don’t belong in our school.”