Far-left Arizona State University’s Barrett Honors College has fired two of its faculty members for organizing an event earlier this year with conservative speakers Charlie Kirk, Dennis Prager and Robert Kiyosaki.
Recall, The Gateway Pundit reported in February that 37+ members of the radical left faculty at the Barrett Honors College organized a petition against the event featuring Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki, best-selling author and PragerU founder Dennis Prager, and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. Barrett Honors College Dean Tara Williams later began censoring marketing for the “Health, Wealth and Happiness” event with conservative speakers and promoted an opposition event organized by rogue Barrett Faculty led by Professor April Miller.
Radical left leadership at the school is leading it down the wrong path.
Read the full letter petitioning the “Health, Wealth and Happiness” event and the names of signatories from an early copy drafted by ASU Barrett faculty here.
This is the same University where students protested the Nation of Israel, calling for a violent invasion on campus.
This is also the same University that allowed a group of students to hold a nearly violent protest against Kyle Rittenhouse’s admission to the school. Students were holding “Death to America” signs and attempting to break into the office building of ASU President Michael Crow. ASU Police needed to hold building doors closed as faculty hid in their private offices for protection.
And it’s the same University where radical anti-white women approached two young white men in the so-called “multicultural center” and started screaming at them in public while they were studying. They did this until the white male students left the center and continued studying elsewhere.
In an OP-ED titled, “I Paid for Free Speech at Arizona State,” Atkinson details ASU’s decision to fire her “for organizing an event featuring Charlie Kirk and Dennis Prager.” Ann writes, “The message to students was clear: Nuance is impossible in the presence of ‘wrongthink’; the offender must either comply or face sweeping castigation.”
I Paid for Free Speech at @ASU by Ann Atkinson
“The university is firing me for organizing an event featuring @charliekirk11 and @DennisPrager.”https://t.co/BFs8P7MnMg via @WSJopinion
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) June 20, 2023
Despite the pushback and threats from ASU faculty and the potential threat of violent radical students on campus, encouraged by faculty, Atkinson writes that the event was a “resounding success” with 1,500 people attending in person and 24,000 online.
However, “many students told me they were intimidated by professors into not attending,” writes Ann, detailing how students were afraid to be seen at the event and requested for the cameras to not face the audience in fear they would face academic penalties.
Dennis Prager ultimately received death threats for his involvement in the event, “forcing municipal and campus police to enact extensive security measures,” Atkinson writes.
The event further led to the termination of ASU Gammage Theater’s events operations manager Lin Blake, who reportedly told Ann she was “berated by ASU Gammage leadership for coordinating an event that did not align with the values of ASU Gammage.”
An excerpt from Wall Street Journal:
I thought that Arizona State University, my alma mater and employer, was different from other schools when it came to free speech. In 2011 the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression awarded ASU a “green light” rating for its written policies on freedom of expression. The university happily complied when FIRE suggested it adopt the Chicago Principles and protect the “free, robust and uninhibited sharing of ideas among all members of the University’s community.” The ASU Barrett Honors College has even been home to heterodox initiatives like the T.W. Lewis Center for Personal Development, where I served as executive director for the last two years.
But beneath ASU’s written commitment to intellectual diversity lies a deep hostility toward divergent views. The latest trouble started in February when the Lewis Center hosted Robert Kiyosaki, Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk for an event on “Health, Wealth, and Happiness.” This nonpartisan program was part of a popular speaker series focused on connecting students with professionals who can offer career and life advice.
At the names of Messrs. Prager and Kirk, the faculty of ASU’s honors college were outraged. Thirty-nine of its 47 faculty signed a letter to the dean condemning the event on grounds that the speakers are “purveyors of hate who have publicly attacked women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, [and] institutions of our democracy.” The signers decried ASU “platforming and legitimating” their views, describing Messrs. Prager and Kirk as “white nationalist provocateurs” whose comments would undermine the value of democratic exchange by marginalizing the school’s most vulnerable students.
The faculty protests extended beyond the letter. Professors spent precious class time denouncing the program. On Twitter they lamented the university’s willingness to allow donor input on campus events. Mr. Prager received a death threat, forcing municipal and campus police to enact extensive security measures.
Maricopa County Young Republicans Chairman Luke Mosiman shared a heartfelt email signoff from Atkinson notifying students, “Barrett Dean Tara Williams decided to dismantle the Lewis Center and terminate my position, effective June 30.”
🚨BREAKING🚨 ASU disbands Lewis Center after an event with @DennisPrager and @charliekirk11 pic.twitter.com/4gRZs367si
— Luke Mosiman (@Luke_Mosiman) June 20, 2023
ASU alumni Clay Robinson also slammed the University for their opposition to free speech on campus.
Say what you want about the event itself, but to fire an employee (for doing their job) and to dismantle an entire center because of a mildly controversial event? Unacceptable.
— Clay Robinson (@claynrobinson) June 20, 2023
The Gateway Pundit will provide updates on this developing story.
This story originally appeared on TheGateWayPundit
