Latest news with #CollegeRepublicansUnited
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP group is abhorrent. And ASU is right to let them be that way
College Republicans United have called me a 'low IQ ginger,' a 'ginger loser' and a 'creepy liberal ginger redhead.' That's OK. I don't like them either. They're not kind. Not smart. Not clever. Not principled. They aren't even conservative (in the Burkean or Buckley sense). But whatever their faults, CRU absolutely deserves a place at Arizona State University. They should be able to talk, and they should be able to express their politics. That's exactly what they recently did. CRU held an on campus event, manned by four college men, on Jan. 31 to promote the deportation of illegal immigrants by encouraging ASU students to 'report their criminal classmates to ICE for deportations.' They did this instead of going to class, playing intramural sports, studying, working, volunteering, dating or even drinking. The CRU event caused a stir (obviously). Attorney General Kris Mayes condemned the event ('this is abhorrent behavior'). So, too, did U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari ('misinformed and disgusting'). Arizona House Democrats wrote that the CRU created 'an atmosphere of intimidation and terror.' Even the official (and sane) College Republicans chapter of ASU condemned the event. Some went further and not only condemned the event, but said that it should be shut down. Phoenix councilman Carlos Galindo-Elvira wrote, 'I call on the ASU administration to halt this conduct.' The co-chair of the Arizona Green Party, Zakir Siddiqi, posted, 'I'm ashamed that my alma mater allows bigotry on our campus.' Despite the exhortations of these two and many other social media commenters, ASU did not shut down the event. ASU's decision was right on the law (ASU is a public university, and the First Amendment applies on campus). It was right for the development of students, and it was right for the health of civil society. Too many universities think it is now their role to coddle and protect students. Opinion: 'Snitch on classmates' event is sickening Some professors at my current home — Harvard University — canceled classes after Donald Trump won because students had 'a bunch of emotions.' Similarly, many universities have created 'safe spaces' where students can go to avoid any contentious or upsetting ideas. The New York Times described one such safe space at Brown University as a 'room equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubble, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies.' This is poor preparation for life. Famous social scientist Jonathan Haidt has written extensively about this 'Coddling of the American Mind,' going so far as to link the rise in 'trigger warnings' and safety space-ism to mental illness, emotional fragility and overwhelming anxiety among young Americans. Other universities have gone even further than safety spaces and have allowed for the cancelation of bothersome ideas. In the newly published book, 'Lawless: The Miseducation of America's Elites,' legal scholar Ilya Shapiro chronicles how in recent years universities have canceled the speech of a federal judge because of the judge's views on LGBTQ+ issues (Stanford), suspended the employment of faculty because of an in-your-face tweet about affirmative action (Georgetown), and escorted a speaker away from violent students because of a position on transgenderism (Yale). The world we live in is challenging. We won't agree with everyone. And sometimes ideas can be so noxious that they can strike at our gut or heart. The College Republicans United event recently reminded many ASU students of that. But in civil society, we must learn to coexist with those ideas. And in college — the great forge of minds — students shouldn't be shielded from potentially hurtful ideas; they should be invited to challenge them. That's what ASU students did. Instead of banning the event or physically attacking the CRU, students rallied thousands to sign an opposition letter and showed up in the hundreds to counter-program the CRU event. In doing so, these students allowed civil society to work. They sharpened their own ideas, and they developed that all important emotional grit. Over the next four years, ASU, and especially President Michael Crow, will face immense pressure to cancel or censor inflammatory or unpopular speech. It will be hard, but other than prohibiting unlawful acts (such as speech that incites violence or protests that bar students from getting to class), ASU should take a hands-off approach. Doing so will strengthen ASU students, and it will strengthen civil society. In other words, ASU should let idiots — like the students at CRU — be idiots. Stephen Richer is a former Maricopa County recorder. He is now a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and CEO of Republic Affairs. Reach him on X, formerly Twitter, @stephen_richer. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU is smart to let its students press for deportation | Opinion
USA Today
31-01-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Over 700 protesters at ASU drown out GOP student event seeking to report classmates to ICE
Over 700 protesters at ASU drown out GOP student event seeking to report classmates to ICE Show Caption Hide Caption Planned Trump deportations force immigrants to learn their rights Puente Arizona teaches immigrants their rights in case they are questioned by ICE in response to the mass deportations planned by the Trump administration. College Republicans United, a group with ties to white supremacy, held an event at ASU encouraging students to report classmates to ICE. Over 700 people protested the event. ASU officials disagreed with the event but upheld the group's right to free speech. The event drew heavy criticism from elected officials, advocacy groups, and another GOP group on ASU's campus. A conservative student group with ties to white supremacy was allowed to host an event on Arizona State University's campus as scheduled on Friday, encouraging classmates to report their peers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The lone table sat outside Hayden Library with a pair of students from College Republicans United brandishing signs directing students to report classmates on ICE's tip website. They were opposed by over 700 people, who protested by marching in a circle around them and led chants in support of the immigrant community. In a statement two days after the event was announced, ASU said Friday morning it disagreed with the event but would protect free speech. The university said its dean of students and the school's police department were available to help any students who were threatened or harassed. 'Encouraging ASU students to make indiscriminate complaints to law enforcement about fellow students is not in keeping with the principles which underlie our academic community,' the statement read. 'We are here to teach and learn — not to engage in self-aggrandizing conduct meant solely to generate as much media attention and controversy as possible. But we must also recognize that we live in a country that protects individual free speech, even speech that is hurtful.' University officials approached the students tabling saying that while they were welcome to be here, they were not allowed to have a physical table set up. The students with College Republicans United left after an hour of tabling, talking to only a handful of students. What is College Republicans United? College Republicans United has several chapters across the country and pushes for 'America First' ideology. The group opposes immigration and multiculturalism. Isaiah Alvarado, the president of the ASU chapter of College Republicans United, did note Trump's early action on immigration and his unprecedented attempt to end birthright citizenship, which was temporarily blocked by a federal judge. But Alvarado said it hasn't been enough. "America is America," he said. "We don't want America to be India, China, Mexico. We don't want it to be Russia. We don't want it to be Germany." Alvarado went on to say that the group's goal is to prevent other cultures and ethnicities from having a large presence in the U.S. The ASU chapter has faced backlash in the past. Local Republican politicians distanced themselves from the group after it planned a 2023 event to host Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist commentator. The Friday event was met by heavy criticism by elected officials, advocacy groups, and another GOP group on ASU's campus.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Report your illegal classmates.' ASU group's snitch event is sickening
Donald Trump's drive to rid America of the 'dangerous criminal aliens' among us continues on Friday, with a group of Republican students setting up a snitch booth at Arizona State University 'Come report your illegal classmates and DACA to ICE,' invites a flyer from Republicans United of Arizona. Who knew the campus was teeming with dangerous criminal aliens? College Republicans United is what we used to call a fringe group, what with its commitment to white Christian nationalism and its 'opposition to immigration and multiculturalism.' When we last checked in with these fine young scholars, it was 2023 and they were invitingwhite nationalist Nick Fuentes to deliver the keynote address at their second annual national convention. Now, they're asking their fellow students to drop a dime on 'Dreamers.' 'At a rate of 7,000 deportations per day, it would take four years to remove just the ten million who entered under Biden,' the group lamented on social media on Wednesday evening. 'So far, Trump's administration is averaging only about 1,000 per day — far below what's needed. 'However, mass deportation isn't unprecedented; Eisenhower oversaw the removal of 1.5 million in a single year. There are also many DACA recipients who should be sent back.' Surely, ASU students who have protected status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are a far cry from the murderers and sex offenders we all want off the streets and out of our country. The ones who supposedly are the target of Trump's mass deportation program. Aren't they? Yet here come the cocky College Republicans United, bold as brass and ready to unleash the ugly on Friday. Opinion: Force governor to deport migrants? That's almost funny 'We will be tabling on campus asking fellow students to report their criminal classmates to ICE for deportation,' the group announced on Wednesday. These self-appointed immigration cops have even printed T-shirts identifying themselves as 'ICE VOLUNTEER,' right above the seal of the Department of Homeland Security. Step right this way to rat out your fellow Sun Devils. Given their obvious expertise in rooting out their 'criminal classmates,' I wonder: How do they actually know if someone is here illegally? Is it a matter of guilty until proven innocent if you are of a certain color or ethnicity? What harm befalls these college Republicans from their fellow students — the ones who were brought here illegally as children and now have temporary protection from deportation in this, the only country many of them have ever known? And finally, are these young Republicans offering a bounty for each undocumented student who is shackled and sent off to the gulag? Or is it just that warm, fuzzy feeling they get from embracing their inner Gestapo? Reach Roberts at Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @ Subscribe to today. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU doesn't need 'ICE volunteers' reporting classmates | Opinion
