In recent days, Minster, a freshman and vice president of the DePaul College Republicans, has become accustomed to other labels: “racist,” “white supremacist.”
The group drew the fury of activists after they invited the conservative online writer Milo Yiannopoulos to speak on May 24. Protesters stormed the stage, ultimately forcing Yiannopoulos and his hosts to abandon the student center’s auditorium, the first time current college administrators could recall such an ending to a campus event.
Students who attended were furious that security didn’t give the protesters the boot, while others were enraged that Yiannopoulos — who delights in mocking feminists and civil rights activists, among others — was allowed to speak on campus at all.
In a June 2 email to the entire university community, DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider wrote: “I am deeply sorry for the harm that was unleashed by a speaker whose intent was to ignite racial tensions and demean those most marginalized, both in our society and at DePaul.”
Holtschneider noted concerns from earlier in the year of black students “growing weary of the racism they found at DePaul.” But the president, promising to put together a task force to look at speech on campus, said “the bar on free speech is extremely high at a university.”
In its May 31 edition, The DePaulia student newspaper devoted eight of nine news pages to the Yiannopoulos event and the fallout from it, with the paper’s editor in chief, Matthew Paras, describing it as the biggest breaking news story on campus during his five years at the publication.
The incident has dramatically raised the profile of an organization that sometimes has difficulty filling a small college classroom for its weekly meetings.
“We typically get a lot of people who come in and out,” Minster, who is studying economics, said during a chat at the student center.
“Or they just don’t want to be seen with us,” joked Nicole Been, 21, president of the Republican group.
Perhaps even less so now.
Been, who is from Orland Park and calls herself a strong Donald Trump supporter, said she’s been getting a lot of “mean looks” on campus.
“Just a few days ago, me and my friend were walking . . . and people started following us and yelling, ‘white supremacist,’ ‘racist,’ ” said Been, an education major. “People started following me to the quad. I was not looking my best that day, and I was surprised they recognized me.”
Been and Minster said they expected protesters when their group invited Yiannopoulos to speak. At the DePaul event, after the protesters, mostly African-Americans, took over the stage, Yiannopoulos, who is gay, said: “I worked out why there are so many black girls here. I think it’s because I f—– their brothers.”
But Minster and Been expected the campus security to remove the protesters, which didn’t happened.
The DePaul Republicans say they chose Yiannopoulos, in part, because they’d had limited success with past on-campus events.
“People would come, but they’d be on their phones,” Been said. “They weren’t real excited about it.”
Former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum drew about 100 people last week. About 550 people came to hear Yiannopoulos, Minster said.
“We don’t support racism, period,” Minster said. “But we do support interesting arguments that sort of challenge the norms that people think about every day at this school. DePaul prides itself on social justice, diversity and multiculturalism and all those things. So we thought it would be interesting to bring someone who is directly against all those things.”
Mario Morrow Jr., president of DePaul’s Black Student Union, said Yiannopolous clearly crosses the line: “He is promoting hate speech, making it seem OK to everyone that this is acceptable language to use, especially on a college campus built on diversity.”
Neither Minster nor Been said they plan to avoid controversial speakers for future events. They do plan to make sure they have sufficient security.
Does either have regrets about attending a college where perhaps a majority of the students don’t share their political leanings?
Both say no. They have opportunities at DePaul that they might not have at a more traditionally conservative school.
“Gov. Rauner’s people came to me and we’re like, we need to start this thing up and get him elected,” Been said. “[U.S. Sen.] Mark Kirk’s people have been reaching out to us. Opportunities are endless here because there are so few of us. So everything is at our fingertips.”
Said Minster: “I’m not looking to go to a school that might tell me exactly what I might already know. I would prefer if DePaul had a little bit more of a conservative lean than where we are now.”
“Or even just like a moderate lean,” Been added.
In recent days, Minster, a freshman and vice president of the DePaul College Republicans, has become accustomed to other labels: “racist,” “white supremacist.”
The group drew the fury of activists after they invited the conservative online writer Milo Yiannopoulos to speak on May 24. Protesters stormed the stage, ultimately forcing Yiannopoulos and his hosts to abandon the student center’s auditorium, the first time current college administrators could recall such an ending to a campus event.
Students who attended were furious that security didn’t give the protesters the boot, while others were enraged that Yiannopoulos — who delights in mocking feminists and civil rights activists, among others — was allowed to speak on campus at all.
In a June 2 email to the entire university community, DePaul President Dennis Holtschneider wrote: “I am deeply sorry for the harm that was unleashed by a speaker whose intent was to ignite racial tensions and demean those most marginalized, both in our society and at DePaul.”
Holtschneider noted concerns from earlier in the year of black students “growing weary of the racism they found at DePaul.” But the president, promising to put together a task force to look at speech on campus, said “the bar on free speech is extremely high at a university.”
In its May 31 edition, The DePaulia student newspaper devoted eight of nine news pages to the Yiannopoulos event and the fallout from it, with the paper’s editor in chief, Matthew Paras, describing it as the biggest breaking news story on campus during his five years at the publication.
The incident has dramatically raised the profile of an organization that sometimes has difficulty filling a small college classroom for its weekly meetings.
“We typically get a lot of people who come in and out,” Minster, who is studying economics, said during a chat at the student center.
“Or they just don’t want to be seen with us,” joked Nicole Been, 21, president of the Republican group.
Perhaps even less so now.
Been, who is from Orland Park and calls herself a strong Donald Trump supporter, said she’s been getting a lot of “mean looks” on campus.
“Just a few days ago, me and my friend were walking . . . and people started following us and yelling, ‘white supremacist,’ ‘racist,’ ” said Been, an education major. “People started following me to the quad. I was not looking my best that day, and I was surprised they recognized me.”
Been and Minster said they expected protesters when their group invited Yiannopoulos to speak. At the DePaul event, after the protesters, mostly African-Americans, took over the stage, Yiannopoulos, who is gay, said: “I worked out why there are so many black girls here. I think it’s because I f—– their brothers.”
But Minster and Been expected the campus security to remove the protesters, which didn’t happened.
The DePaul Republicans say they chose Yiannopoulos, in part, because they’d had limited success with past on-campus events.
“People would come, but they’d be on their phones,” Been said. “They weren’t real excited about it.”
Former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum drew about 100 people last week. About 550 people came to hear Yiannopoulos, Minster said.
“We don’t support racism, period,” Minster said. “But we do support interesting arguments that sort of challenge the norms that people think about every day at this school. DePaul prides itself on social justice, diversity and multiculturalism and all those things. So we thought it would be interesting to bring someone who is directly against all those things.”
Mario Morrow Jr., president of DePaul’s Black Student Union, said Yiannopolous clearly crosses the line: “He is promoting hate speech, making it seem OK to everyone that this is acceptable language to use, especially on a college campus built on diversity.”
Neither Minster nor Been said they plan to avoid controversial speakers for future events. They do plan to make sure they have sufficient security.
Does either have regrets about attending a college where perhaps a majority of the students don’t share their political leanings?
Both say no. They have opportunities at DePaul that they might not have at a more traditionally conservative school.
“Gov. Rauner’s people came to me and we’re like, we need to start this thing up and get him elected,” Been said. “[U.S. Sen.] Mark Kirk’s people have been reaching out to us. Opportunities are endless here because there are so few of us. So everything is at our fingertips.”
Said Minster: “I’m not looking to go to a school that might tell me exactly what I might already know. I would prefer if DePaul had a little bit more of a conservative lean than where we are now.”
“Or even just like a moderate lean,” Been added.
Above is from: http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/depaul-republicans-spotlight-controversial-speaker/
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Dear DePaul Alumni,
Yesterday, I informed the Board of Trustees that I would be stepping down as president of DePaul University at the end of the 2016-17 academic year. You are a key part of the DePaul family, and I wanted to write you as well.
My twelve years at DePaul have been blessed ones. Much of what we set out to do more than a decade ago has been accomplished. We have built or renovated facilities for all ten of DePaul's colleges, our library and many of our athletic teams. We have established over 75 new academic programs, including new colleges of Communication and Science/Health, as well as schools of hospitality and film. Every year, DePaul is becoming more of a national university instead of a regional one. Through all the change, we have stayed true to our mission of assisting those of modest means to access a life-changing education.
While there is always more to do, the current strategic plan is coming to an end. All of the buildings on the master plan have been built or are currently in construction. The campaign to fund these plans was concluded successfully. 2017 will be a natural moment in the university's life to seek new leadership and define the next set of ambitions, so I have decided to step aside so this transition can happen now.
While there has been some speculation in the press that the timing of my announcement was related to a controversial speaker that was on campus at the end of the spring quarter, in fact, my religious superior approved this decision in January, the board leadership was informed in early March and a search firm was contracted in early May. The two are entirely unrelated.
I know I will look back on my years leading DePaul with overflowing gratitude. It has been my privilege to meet thousands of alumni, and I am continually impressed with your passion for and dedication to DePaul. As an important university constituency, alumni will have an opportunity to express their views as to the desired qualities of DePaul's next president. Graduates may contribute their thoughts to the following dedicated email account: presidentsearch@depaul.edu. In your message, please indicate that you are an alumnus/a.
For more information, please see the press release issued by our board chair (http://depaulne.ws/pres). Thank you for all you have done for the university and will continue to do in the years to come. We are a stronger university because you, our alumni, love this university and support us in so many ways.
God bless you,
Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M.
President
