Ann Coulter on Shout-Down: Cornell needs to “expel the disrupters and demand that they pay for the speech they prevented”
“People had driven for hours to attend my speech. Liberal students had come to hear what I had to say…. Unless Cornell expels the disrupters and demands that they pay for the speech they prevented, students have been given the green light to shut down any speech, waste everyone’s time and money, and make a joke of free speech at this allegedly world-class university. “
A week ago we covered how Cornell University “Apologizes” To Ann Coulter After Students Shouting “Your Words Are Violence” Shut Down Speech
The @AnnCoulter speaking event on Cornell campus (her alma mater) was successfully disrupted by protestor outbursts. Coulter became annoyed and left the venue in approximately twenty minutes. #twithaca pic.twitter.com/gTOUS34jfO
— Zach Winn (@WinnForMayor) November 10, 2022
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni issued the following statement, followed by Coulter’s statement:
The disruption of Ann Coulter’s speech and her subsequent deplatforming at Cornell University on November 9, 2022, is just the latest sign that diversity of thought is unwelcome on its campus. Cornell says it is committed to open inquiry and free expression, but, in reality, it suffers from a self-imposed monoculture that encourages self-censorship and conformity. The appropriate response to controversial speech is more speech, not disruptions and shoutdowns that prevent people from sharing their ideas.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) reached out to Ms. Coulter for her reaction to the incident. Her statement is printed in its entirety below. As she says, Cornell needs to recognize that the disruption of her speech is an attack on its very nature as a university and a violation of its promise to all Cornellians to provide a place where ideas can be freely and openly explored. Not just Ann Coulter, but other Cornellians have been wronged by these students’ actions, and the university itself has been embarrassed. ACTA has sent a letter to President Martha Pollack and Cornell’s Board of Trustees, urging the university to expel the students involved in accordance with Cornell’s Student Code of Conduct. The administration must send a clear and immediate message that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. University leaders should also take further steps, as outlined in ACTA’s Gold Standard for Freedom of Expression, to build a truly free and intellectually diverse campus worthy of Cornell’s great reputation. ACTA has launched an initiative at Cornell to encourage them to do so.
Statement by Ann Coulter:
In nearly 20 years of college speeches, I’ve never been prevented from speaking at any Ivy League school, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and—until now—Cornell. Even at Berkeley, where I spoke in 2019, despite several thousand Antifa protesters, the anti-free speech fascists weren’t students at the school.
At the better schools, you see, students have too much intellectual self-respect to scream and carry on. They want to beat you in Q&A.
In fact, two of my most controversial speeches ever (at the students’ request) were at Cornell—one on the Confederate flag and one on abortion. I did more than an hour of Q&A at both speeches, plus another hour afterward specifically with students who disagreed with me. (BLSA students and pro-choicers). A good time was had by all!
Last week’s speech was about the previous night’s election that had been a disaster for Republicans. The Left should have had a ball! But they couldn’t even listen to that, or merely stay away and allow others to listen.
It’s really amazing and dispiriting how things have changedat my beloved alma mater.
The students who prevented me from speaking were not engaging in fiery argument, or any kind of argument at all, but the most anti-intellectual response imaginable: whoopie cushions, screaming, and loud circus music—mocking the very purpose of a university.
And this behavior was enabled by Cornell.
The interruptions came one at a time, with each one causing a five-minute break in the proceedings, as we all waited for a college administrator to walk down the aisle and shuffle across to the student—whoopie cushion still blaring—in order to issue a “first warning.” Only if that specific student did it again would he be asked to leave.
Obviously, this tepid and time-consuming procedure merely encouraged the others. So, one after another, the interruptions continued until it became clear that it would not end. And it never will end, unless Cornell expels the students who wasted everyone’s time and prevented my speech. Odd, how sublimely confident they were that there would be no consequences for their actions.
People had driven for hours to attend my speech. Liberal students had come to hear what I had to say. Instead, Cornell treated the audience to more than 20 minutes of farting noises and screaming.
Unless Cornell expels the disrupters and demands that they pay for the speech they prevented, students have been given the green light to shut down any speech, waste everyone’s time and money, and make a joke of free speech at this allegedly world-class university.
But so far, nearly a week later, the best Cornell can do is say, “Cornell students among the disrupters will be referred for conduct violations.” Either you believe in free speech, or you don’t. Another “warning” or apology or “note on the student’s file” says, loud and clear, that you don’t.
The ACTA statement links to its Cornell Initiative, including this promotional video (watch the whole thing, there’s a nice cameo appearance):
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Comments
People behind this kind of thing probably do not have assets.
I propose that they raise money to pay restitution.
They should be placed in stocks and fruit and vegetables by freezing them followed by a week at room temperature, Then the resulting slurry should be placed in balloons. Those balloons should be sold to members of the public and be used to educate those in stocks 🙂
“People behind this kind of thing probably do not have assets.”
Do what the IRS does. When they pay next years tuition, deduct amounts due for penalties from prior years, then tell them have to ante up the deficit in their tuition payment before taking any classes.
It’s funny how Coulter is the only adult in the entire town who understands how this SHOULD be handled. Cornell and colleges like it must be run by the stupidest “adults” in the world.
Those so called “adults” agree with the protesters. They’re only playing at remorse.
As I have said before:
If the disruptors were students, they must be expelled.
If they are staff, they must be fired.
If they are neither, Cornell needs to get a court order prohibiting them from setting foot on the campus again, and have them prosecuted if they violate the order.
I’m glad that Coulter and ACTA is throwing down the gauntlet with the Cornell administration, and not just letting this fade into the distance.
But let’s be realistic. Cornell is a place that recently hired as its chief legal officer a person who was the utterly incompetent GC at Oberlin during le affaire Gibson. Expecting her to be the adult in the room, or to counsel for application of the rule of law to her fellow travelers, is like expecting Joe Biden to release the results of his latest mental competency tests. Not gonna happen.
Now, once Cornell does nothing more than give the disruptors a wink and a nod before giving them a “solemn warning,” what we also need is for someone to post a verified list of the names / faces of these miscreants, so that future prospective employers / grad schools know exactly who they will be getting if they select them . . . .
The timing of the disruptions and the “taking turns” suggests a level of organization and coordination. We have a special term for that behavior: conspiracy. In this case, it is a conspiracy to violate the civil rights of the speaker and attendees. Those that helped coordinate are just as guilty of conspiracy as those that had outbursts.
The university is rather accepting of this so far. Disciplinary actions with actual teeth are warranted. Expulsion would be appropriate, as a heckler’s veto is the anthesis of what a university stands for. Maybe something less would be warranted if the student cooperates by providing information on who and how the disruptions were coordinated. Cooperate with the prosecution and suspension might be OK. If this is not happening, it means the university is not serious about its mission and is approving of both the message and the behavior.
Another alternative would be those guilty of the conspiracy can pay for a repeat event (including speaker fee) as a form of damages. Cost would be split among all in the conspiracy. Give them a motive for ratting out the conspirators.
Until they sound like The Allman Brothers the punishment should continue.
“Sometimes I feel, like I been tied
to the whipping post…, tied to the whipping post
and good Lord I feel like I’m dying….”
Once they reach that level of despair and pain it will be time to consider whether to stop the punishment.
I haven’t thought of that song in many years.
Great song by a great band. Before my time though. I discovered them while attending College.
And this sort of behavior could have been stopped if only they had been spanked as children.
Meh, consistent enforcement of objective standards of behavior through application of negative consequences for failure is the key. Their Parents likely didn’t employ any methods to correct the behavior.
Take away a teenager’s phone and from their prospective the apocalypse has begun. Spanking isn’t always necessary. We only had to do so on four occasions with our Daughter all of which were before she was age 6.
Cornell will get right on that much like the thugs at the FBI and DoJ have done to Klantifa and BLM. Tick tock….
You can say that again.
Physical punishment. Horsewhip them.
Not everyone who attends or graduated from an Ivy is a fool. That said, there is no fool as foolish as an Ivy League fool.
The problem is sorting out the few who are not from those who are dyed-in-the-wool Progs.
“Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them.”
George Orwell
She ought to take the lead and sue.
Apparently, the speech of these leftist turds IS violence.
Good idea, but it will not happen.
1) This was a well-planned conspiracy. As expected, non-students took the lead in disruptions within the lecture room.
2) Cornell has the investigative resources to identify the campus groups that took a part in the conspiracy — many of which continue to receive student fee funding.
3) Because of the Cornell ticketing system, Cornell has a list of the people who signed up to attend the event.
4) The Cornell Sun reached out to the protestors for comment:
“Although a few students protested individually, some were organized by a coalition of Cornell campus groups and clubs, who wished to not be named. On Friday, the protesters shared a statement with The Sun, signed ‘Cornell students who stand against white supremacy.’
“’Ann Coulter is a racist, homophobic, White supremacist bigot who uses her platform to promote racism, abuse, and violence,” the students said in the statement. “Her rhetoric is an active denial of inclusion, diversity, and the essence of human rights and dignity. Why do we allow someone to come to speak on our campus whose rhetoric very bluntly stands in opposition to [Cornell’s motto]? Ann Coulter does not deserve a platform anywhere and that includes the Cornell campus.’”
If the Sun can track down the student groups who planned and incited the unlawful disruption, I am sure that Cornell authorities can as well. Hypothetically, if a fraternity were to organize an event where women were harassed and subject to demeaning disruptions of their event, you can bet that Cornell would suspend them in a minute. Here we have a campus group of women (NeW) who invited a role model of a successful woman Ann Coulter, to give a talk on the mid-term elections. A group of [non-fraternity] organizations harassed both Coulter and the NeW female students and disrupted their event. The same rules apply to fraternities and any other student organization. What steps is Cornell taking?
In contrast, just to change the subject, the Sun published two op-eds advocating the abolition of all fraternities because a few members of a few houses are alleged to be involved in a sexual assault.
I recall a story told about a university (don’t recall which one) where students decided, for some reason, to have a sit-in in the university president’s office to protest some horrible injustice to them or someone somewhere in the world. The president very kindly greeted them and asked for their names and when he had gotten everyone’s name he told them that he was going into his office and would come out in one hour. Anyone who was still there would be expelled from the university immediately.
Bravo.
Super Bravo from me. If anyone can identify the school and President in the above story I would appreciate having the information. It needs wide dissemination.
Cornell like most of its ilk is a hostile environment to free speech and dissent from the woke world view
Cornell, like all Ivy League schools, is now a religious institution, more concerned with indoctrination into the doctrine of the Progressive faith than with actual education to make people smarter, better informed, and wiser.
Why are the adults running the university so afraid of these children?
Perhaps I assume too much–namely, that the people running the university are functioning adults.
I was in attendance at this event. The organizers wisely took photographs of those disrupting, so identifying them will be aided as they were probably merely ejected, not “booked” or identified by Cornell. There were also security cameras behind the stage facing the audience, so if they were functioning the documentation will be superior to those filming from the audience. Thanks to Ann Coulter, and those providing security, for talking to me backstage and signing some books, particularly as I drove for several hours to get to Cornell.
Those protesters need to be expelled from school. The non-student protesters need to be sued for damages and the so-called school authorities need to be fired.
I’m an engineering alum. Show your disapproval with this behavior by withholding your dollars. The annual Cornell Fund. Your estate plan. Your collective lack of contributions will speak loudly inside Day Hall.