Vol. 127, No. 112 Thursday, March 22, 2018
OPINION
SPORTS
A&C
ASCSU DOESN’T REPRESENT US
SHOULD SCHOLARSHIP ALTHLETES PLAY REC SPORTS?
TED TALKS COMING TO CSU
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PAGE 10
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Students, community members and activists gather outside of the Cristol Chemistry and Biochemistry buildings on CU Boulder’s campus to protest Turning Point USA’s guest speaker Ann Coulter. PHOTO BY DAVIS BONNER COLLEGIAN
Students protest, walk out of Ann Coulter event at CU Boulder By Erin Douglas & Meagan Stackpool @CSUCollegian
BOULDER - In fear, in anger and in hope for change on campus, students outside a University of Colorado, Boulder chemistry building protested the presence of a conservative speaker on campus Wednesday night, while others supported her speech inside. About 500 students gathered to either listen or leave the talk by Ann Coulter, a popular and well-known right-wing political commentator. About 20 minutes into her speech, between 75-100
students walked out in protest. The event was hosted by Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit with an aim to organize students on college campuses to promote conservative policies. Turning Point USA hosted Charlie Kirk at CSU, which sparked fights between white nationalists and antifa, a little over a month ago. Though CU’s administration and police force heavily prepared for the event, including by scouting Coulter’s previous event in California, the protesters and Coulter supporters only interacted for a few brief moments after the event let out, and the two
groups did not become violent. Though tense, the crowd quickly de-escalated when the main group of protesters moved to a different location on campus. Students said they came to protest Coulter’s speech because her rhetoric is racist and hurts marginalized groups. “We’re here to symbolize that free speech does not equal hate speech,” said Percy Suchanek, a freshman CU student protester. “Ann Coulter just spreads hate speech and we don’t feel safe having her on our campus.” A handful of CSU students attended the event, either to see
Coulter or to protest her. The CSU chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America attended the event to show solidarity with CU’s chapter and to protest rising fascism and bigotry, members said. “I think any critically thinking person who listens to her rhetoric would see that it’s not only absurdly racist, but also she’s basically parroting the minds of whatever the Trump administration is spouting at that point,” said Larson Ross, a senior political science CSU student and YDSA Member. “She is vehemently anti-feminist. All of
these things really undermine any point she could possibly make.” The walkout was organized by The Collective, a new CU student group on campus focused on changing campus climate around racism, in coordination with other groups. The group chose to stage a walkout in order to perform a protest that was safe and non-disruptive, said Berkeley Mccarthy, one organizer with The Collective. Mccarthy was disappointed in CU’s handling of the event, but said Turning Point USA had a right to host a speaker.
see COULTER on page 7 >>