On Tuesday, during an event, featuring Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk, left-wing and LGBTQ activists at UC Davis, were arrested after vandalizing university property. The violence by protesters arrived on the heels of UC Davis chancellor Gary S. May, releasing a video in which he referred to Kirk as a “proponent of hate”. He also falsely claimed the Turning Point USA founder has “advocated for violence against transgender individuals.”
Carrying banners that read, “Queers Bash Back,” and, “Bash Fash,” protestors were seen on video, smashing glass windows, while police officers tried to fend them off. The activists were also seen carrying banners that read, “Protect Trans Kids,” and, “Fascists Off Campus.” Additional footage showed police outside taking down masked protesters who appeared to be carrying spray paint cans.
Police clashed with banner-wielding protesters who were chanting, “fight back!” as they tried to advance toward the building where the Turning Point USA event was being held. A spokesperson for UC Davis campus police reportedly said that-
“two people were arrested after spray painting the outside of the building.”… “I’m not sure what the exact charges are, but that’s what they were doing,”
-UC Davis Campus Police Spokesperson
Further, the spokesperson for police, stated that he did not have information on the identities of those arrested. He also indicated that no arrests, as yet, have been made in connection with the smashed glass windows on the university’s campus doors, as seen in the above video.
According to the Sacramento Bee-
“About 100 protesters picketed and clashed with police Tuesday evening at the University of California, Davis, in a demonstration against a far-right radio show host speaking on campus at a conservative student group event. The event — organized by the UC Davis chapter of Turning Point USA — featured keynote speaker Charlie Kirk with his thoughts on “American values,” according to information posted online by the group.”
“Turning Point USA is a nationwide nonprofit that advocates for conservatism on higher education campuses. The Sacramento Bee was not given access to listen to the speech by Kirk — who founded and leads Turning Point, a nationwide group of 250,000 student members — but in previous talks he has discussed the challenges faced by conservative youth attending college and has criticized universities that he argues have been taken over by the “totalitarian left.”
- Sacramento Bee
In seemingly supporting the protest, while helpless to quash TPUSA’s First Amendment rights, UC Davis Chancellor, May, also declared that while the university-
“can’t control how these groups [TPUSA] operate,” the campus community can “work together to neutralize and negate their influence.”
-UC Davis Chancellor Gary S. May
Sadly the left is totally intolerant to anyone, much less Kirk, who is willing to bring an open dialogue on the issues that face America’s youth. That TPUSA stayed despite the ruckus, supported by campus police is commendable. Why the University Chancellor is free to stir up the “campus community” (I.e. the student body) to “neutralize and negate” anyone needs scrutiny. This is exactly Kirk’s point. Freedom of Speech on America’s University campuses is literally at stake. This event only proves it.
“Freedom of speech is essential to freedom of thought; it is essential to democratic self-governance; and the alternative-- government censorship and control of ideas-- has always led to disaster.” “Words can cause real harm and interfere with a person's education.”
-Erwin Chemerinsky