Columbia University College Republicans group stoking controversy on campus
A proper Columbia University semester is not complete without at least one controversial speaker visiting campus. This semester, the Columbia community will get the chance to hear two.
Anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson spoke on Oct. 10 and will soon be followed by Alt-Right media personality Mike Cernovich, who is set to deliver a speech on campus on Oct. 30. The small Columbia University College Republicans (CUCR) group organized the events.
In past years, CUCR served as a group where conservatives on campus could exchange ideas and meet with other individuals sharing conservative beliefs. “Last year and the year before that, we were tilted toward club meetings,” said a sophomore board member. This year, the club’s goals are different. “We are tilted more toward speakers. We don’t want to retreat into a little conservative bubble,” the board member said.
The group has certainly not retreated into a bubble, as the Tommy Robinson event sparked a protest outside the venue. Five student groups — Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Barnard Columbia Solidarity Network, Barnard Columbia Socialists, Student-Worker Solidarity, and Columbia Muslim Students’ Association — organized the initial protest outside of Lerner Hall auditorium at Columbia University. That could have been expected, since Robinson has made a name for himself with incendiary rhetoric directed at Muslims. But what followed was less-than-typical.
Between 25 and 30 protesters gained entry to the event and chanted while Robinson attempted to speak to the audience. According to CUCR, 150 people attended the talk. But those 25 to 30 students prevented Robinson from using the fully allotted time to speak.
The protest and disruption of Robinson’s speech arose in the larger context over the debate around free speech on college campuses. Milo Yiannapolous and Richard Spencer have typically stolen headlines regarding their planned appearances at UC Berkeley’s campus, but the controversy surrounding the Tommy Robinson event, in addition to the anticipated controversy expected on October 30 for the Mike Cernovich talk have thrust Columbia headfirst into this debate.
For the club members, just under 20 students, the invitation of speakers is part of this effort to reach out to the Columbia community. “We want Columbia students to hear a broad range of conservative speakers and then make up their minds,” he said, continuing, “We do not believe controversy has to be avoided.”
Certainly, controversy is not being avoided. Since the Robinson event, posters with the Antifa logo have been springing up on campus, each one listing a name and a headshot of specific CUCR members.
Additionally, the repercussions of the event were felt at the highest levels of the university administration. Executive Vice President for University Life Suzanne B. Goldberg sent out an email in anticipation of the events, writing that “These kinds of [white supremacist and derogatory] messages, as you know, contradict Columbia’s core commitment to the value of all members of our community and to diversity among our students, faculty and staff,” but that “having University officials decide which ideas outside speakers can express on campus also poses serious risks to academic freedom.”
Goldberg followed up a week later, writing on Oct. 16 that disruption of speakers requires that she “investigate the incident and inform those whose conduct is being investigated, and then dismiss a complaint, informally resolve a complaint, or file charges with the University Judicial Board.”
Students involved in disrupting the Tommy Robinson speech have reported receiving official notices from the administration regarding the allegations of violation of school rules. Sanctions can be as severe as a semester-long suspension.
Ari Cohn, director of the Individual Rights Defense Program at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education applauded the decision. “I’m encouraged to see that Columbia not only reaffirmed the right to invite speakers who others may find offensive, but that the ones who disrupted the speakers may face consequences,” he said.
Officials from other outside organizations monitoring the events have had mixed reactions. Lecia Brooks, outreach director at Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization focusing on civil rights, initially said that the CU Republicans group may have received what she believes to be misinformation about Robinson. “Speakers like Tommy Robinson seek out groups that identify as conservatives and get them to host them,” she said. But then upon being informed that the group also plans on hosting Mike Cernovich for an event, she responded that she can no longer give the group the “benefit of the doubt. They’re purposely trying to create somewhat of a spectacle. It’s not about diversifying the political discourse on the campus because those kinds of speakers don’t lend themselves to discourse.”
Brooks added: “We support the right of students to non-violently protest. But we support the first amendment too. We don’t support people shutting down free speech. It has the potential to bring more attention to the speaker that is saying things that folks find offensive.”
Cohn would not comment on the rhetoric of the speakers, but was firm in his defense of the right to invite them to campus. “The motivation for bringing a particular speaker isn’t a concern. If it’s protected expression, it’s protected expression,” he said.
Recently, that type of expression was protected, as the CUCR hosted former 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain on Oct. 17, with his speech proceeding without interruption. The group, working together with Columbia University officials, upgraded security at the event, banning bags and warning that disruption of Cain’s speech could lead to disciplinary action. Despite the question and answer period including dissenting questions from audience members, Cain could speak.
