- In the United States,
the land of freedom,
every individual has the right to speak
his or her mind freely.
Our Constitution forbids government
and the institutions it controls
from violating people's free speech.
This is a sacred American tradition.
It's something all
Americans can get behind.
Just kidding.
Millions of people, particularly
on college campuses,
now only support free
speech that they agree with.
But of course the only
speech that needs protecting
is speech that those in
authority disagree with
and try to shut down.
And on college campuses,
lots of people don't agree
with conservative speech.
Conservative, as in: limited
government, individual freedom,
traditional values, free enterprise.
Scary topics, right?
Well in February 2016
on the campus of California
State University, Los Angeles,
or CSULA,
a well-respected
conservative student group
called Young America's Foundation, or YAF,
was planning to host me for a speech
that would be free for
all students to attend.
The topic of my speech was
"When Diversity Becomes a Problem."
I speak often on college campuses,
not just to conservatives
but to students of all
political backgrounds.
On every campus I answer
students' questions
and give preference to
those who disagree with me.
But on CSULA's campus, trouble was brewing
long before I ever stepped foot on campus.
Professors and a handful of students
saw flyers for my upcoming
appearance and were furious.
How could an inclusive place like CSULA
allow someone to speak whose
views they find offensive?
Some activists tore down
flyers promoting the speech.
Others threatened violence
if the speech went forward.
One professor even went so far
as challenging the student
organizers to a fight.
A few days before the speech
school administrators informed the YAF
that although the school has police,
whose job includes providing
security for speeches,
YAF would have to pay an
additional security fee
because I have views
they deem controversial.
The university had over-broad guidelines
that left it to the whim of officials
to decide who had to pay
the fee based on viewpoint,
a practice the U.S. Supreme Court
has repeatedly found
to be unconstitutional.
When YAF objected,
school president William
Covino wrote the group
explaining that he was
canceling the speech,
but would be open to
allowing a future event
that would be more inclusive
and would feature speakers
with different viewpoints on diversity.
In other words, on the campus of CSULA,
which is a publicly funded university
school officials believed
they could cancel students'
free speech rights,
just because they didn't like their views.
This not only deprives speakers
of their constitutional rights
it deprives individuals on campus,
regardless of their political views,
of the chance to learn and hear new ideas.
Nevertheless, we went forward
with the speech as planned.
When it became clear that YAF
and I would not back down,
far-left student protesters
threatened disruption and violence.
On February 25th, I came to CSULA
to the excitement of many people
who were looking forward to the speech.
But before I started speaking,
a mob of angry students --
I mean, it really was
a mob -- and professors
barricaded the entrance to the auditorium.
"No violence," they were
shouting, ironically enough.
Sadly, campus police did nothing
as the crowd blocked and even
pushed and shoved students
who tried to get in, violating
their First Amendment rights
and threatening their
safety at the same time.
Despite the mob's best efforts
to bar anyone from hearing me
a handful of students
managed to sneak their way in
through a rear fire exit,
but the outraged mob wasn't done.
Someone pulled the fire alarm,
because in the mind of
some people on the left,
when a conservative
speaks it's an emergency.
CSULA is by no means the exception.
At campuses across the country,
far-left administrators,
professors, student activists
try to shut down speech
they disagree with.
Why?
Because they feel threatened
when someone challenges
their stronghold over campus thought.
For its gross violation
of First Amendment rights.
YAF and I with the assistance
of Alliance Defending Freedom
fought back, suing CSULA for
its discriminatory behavior.
The result: CSULA quickly backed down,
agreeing to abandon its practice
of imposing security fees
for events based on the
speaker's viewpoint,
to forbid viewpoint-based
scheduling decisions,
and to ensure that mobs won't
ever be able to block access
or otherwise to disturb
approved on-campus events again.
You may be asking why a university
would bother to violate
its students' rights
if only to back down
after being challenged.
The hard truth is that on many
campuses, no one fights back
and those students lose their rights.
The lesson is that if Americans
want to keep their rights,
they need to fight for them and
never take them for granted.
- [Mob] No hate speech! No hate speech!
- Okay, I'll tell them that.
Yeah, that's right, okay.
- [Mob] No hate speech! No violence!
- And there it is gang, guess what?
[Fire alarm ringing]
- They're not going to stop us.
[Cheering]
