Alexa Schwerha
Daily Caller News Foundation
San Francisco State University (SFSU) issued a “trigger warning” ahead of a conservative speaker event that was held off-campus after officials revoked a room reservation from the organizing group, according to Twitter posts.
The Turning Point USA chapter invited TPUSA Faith contributor Jon Root to speak about “How Wokeness Is Destroying America” on Wednesday evening, but university officials revoked the room reservation two days before the event and informed organizers that it would be considered unapproved, TPUSA reported. While the event was moved to an off-campus location, university officials put up a sign on campus that warned students they may encounter speech they find offensive.
WND is now on Trump's Truth Social! Follow us @WNDNews
“There could be a congestion in the quad and you may want to detour around the area,” the sign read, according to a photo posted to Root’s Twitter. “You may see people with viewpoints you agree or don’t agree with. Please remember, you have a choice to engage or not engage with them.”
The sign reaffirmed that the event was not sponsored by SFSU and that there could be a larger police presence “to ensure public safety on campus,” according to the post. Photos of the event show that it was held off-campus at a nearby reservoir after a local park was closed for “inclement weather,” according to Root’s Twitter.
A few protesters attended the speech holding signs in support of transgender people, according to Root’s Twitter. They used a portable speaker to try and drown out Root, but he said he was “glad they were there.”
“These people need the truth & I gave it to them,” he tweeted.
Wednesday’s event came weeks after Riley Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer and women’s sports advocate, was assaulted on campus and barricaded in a classroom after protesters disrupted her on-campus speech also hosted by the TPUSA chapter. University President Lynn Mahoney said in a statement to the campus community that the event was “deeply traumatic” for the transgender community and praised students for “peacefully” protesting.
Mahoney asked students not to disrupt Root’s event in a message to the campus community posted on Tuesday, accordingto the university website. She alleged that speakers and organizers “hope to elicit negative responses on college campuses” to gain media attention and that students may find Root’s speech “abhorrent.”
“I urge us all to defy the expectations of media and others who want to see us react negatively and instead use this moment to amplify values of inclusion and not values or speakers we find objectionable,” Mahoney wrote, using bolded words in the statement. “Just as we are an exemplar for social justice, I urge us to become an exemplar for allowing freedom of expression and avoiding the conflicts that some who politicize free speech would like to see occur here. There is no ultimate gain to shouting down or threatening speakers with whom we disagree. I applaud the many faculty, staff and students who have and are actively designing alternative events, hosting teach-ins, and promoting silent and nonviolent means of protest.”
Disrupting the event “will amplify divisive speech and messages and empower speakers with whom you disagree,” Mahoney said.
SFSU officials revoked the TPUSA chapter’s reservation after they learned that the event had 800 RSVPs, Root previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Officials reportedly promised to find an alternative venue, but later walked back approval.
The Gaines event was not listed as a reason for revoking the reservation, but “but since SFSU never condemned the assault of Riley, and even praised the protestors, we’re inclined to believe the two events are connected,” Root told the DCNF.
“When we mentioned safety concerns for this upcoming event, we were met with two options, host a Zoom event or cancel all together,” he continued.
The TPUSA chapter and SFSU did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Although millions of American parents send their precious children off to public school every day, imagining their kids' days will be filled with reading, writing, arithmetic, science, history, sports and music, they're not only in for a shock – but for total BETRAYAL. Today's "public" (government) schools have become far-left ideological, political and religious indoctrination centers aimed at reprogramming and transforming America's children.
Kids are being taught to HATE their own country and to see themselves and their parents as racists – or victims of racists. They are sexualized and corrupted, and many are groomed into the dark LGBT world, with almost 6,000 schools prohibiting parents from even hearing about their child's transgender "transition." In between all the far-left indoctrination and sexual corruption, teachers take time to scare children to death about the near-term end of life on earth due to "catastrophic climate change." Another lie. But it's all classic Marxism/communism, with even the "3 R's" – reading, writing and arithmetic – now being corrupted with "woke," "1984"-style madness.
Perhaps never has the true threat of today's U.S. public school system been exposed as in the sensational April issue of WND's critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled "THE GREATEST BETRAYAL: How Marxism and madness have taken over America's public school system." Whistleblower is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.
SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!
The post University warns students they may experience different viewpoints appeared first on WND.
