This only happens to conservative speakers on campus. It’s not a coincidence, it’s political.
The College Fix reports:
Steven Crowder event at UPenn canceled due to ‘security hurdles’Steven Crowder withdrew from a scheduled debate Friday at the University of Pennsylvania, alleging roadblocks put up by school officials.The conservative commentator says the school would not let his team livestream the event, as previously agreed to, nor allow his own security the proper access for their normal safety checks.“We’ve just heard from Penn Live Arts and have been informed that we would not be able to livestream due to ‘safety’ concerns,” Crowder’s staffers wrote in an email to his debate opponent, Professor Jonathan Zimmerman.“However, the on site security team has also informed our personal security that we would not be able to undertake many of our routine safety measures which makes us seriously doubt their reasoning,” the team wrote in an email obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian.Zimmerman (pictured, right) criticized the administration in comments to the student newspaper.“I don’t think that the people who run this University are evil people. I understand their concerns that, with a livestream, there would be some sort of flash mob,” he said. “But I think this is a bad decision.”He said that livestreaming the event could keep it safer, by allowing people to watch it without coming in person.“If it’s being livestreamed, there’s less incentive to go down to Annenberg [the auditorium],” he said. “I think it’s just as plausible that saying you can’t livestream would actually create precisely the sort of flash mob or chaos that they’re worried about.”The history professor, who has been critical of the state of free speech on college campuses, said this incident does not reflect well on the university.“I want it, and I’m trying to live it, but do we want it?” Zimmerman said. “I think one way to read this entire episode is that actually we don’t.”Prior to the Tuesday cancelation, Crowder had pledged to go ahead with the event and bring his own team to livestream, as The College Fix reported yesterday.
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