Gonzaga University Won't Let Ben Shapiro Speak on Campus
"Events policy requires us to consider whether an event would pose substantial risk to the safety of any member of our campus community."
Gonzaga University will not allow its chapter of the College Republicans to host conservative pundit Ben Shapiro.
An administrator of the private, Catholic school in Spokane, Washington, cited safety concerns and the potential for Shapiro's visit to create a "hostile environment" on campus.
"Gonzaga's events policy requires us to consider whether an event would pose substantial risk to the safety of any member of our campus community," wrote Judi Biggs Garbuio, according to Campus Reform.
It's not clear whose safety Biggs Garbuio believes is threatened by Shapiro's presence. Her message to the College Republicans seems to suggest concern about both disruptive leftist protesters and what Shapiro might say. Neither are good reasons to deny students a chance to hear from Shapiro: One gives veto power to the mob, the other conflates words with violence.
Gonzaga is a private university and can do as it pleases, of course. I will note, however, that Gonzaga's broad conception of public safety is selective. Concerns about a hostile environment and unspecified risks to members of the community did not stop the administration from hiring former Mizzou professor Melissa Click.
