The Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) student group at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, says an event featuring author and black diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) critic Vince Ellison canceled after demands from an administrator.
The speaking event scheduled for Tuesday was “abruptly canceled” by the school’s Vice President for Student Affairs Gina Vance, according to a press release published by Young Americans for Freedom.
The organization is accusing Vance of imposing a number of restrictions on the event featuring Ellison, who is known for speaking out against DEI, abortion, and transgender propaganda.
The restrictions included requirements for ID checks and limitations on who could attend, the organization said in its press release.
“Vance insisted that only Westminster students and faculty would be allowed to attend, even going so far as to exclude non-faculty staff and emeritus professors,” YAF explained. “This decision was a clear attempt to minimize the event’s audience size.”
The organization added that the vice president for Student Affairs cited security concerns as her alleged reason for establishing last-minute “countless arbitrary hurdles.”
With regards to event safety, Vance allegedly told the faculty advisor for Westminster College’s YAF chapter that securing the event would be solely her responsibility and that the conservative student group was not allowed to hire actual security professionals, the organization said.
Thus, the faculty advisor became uncomfortable with the bizarre mandate, and therefore passed her advisor role onto a new faculty member, YAF added.
After that, Vance ended up sending an email to the entire student body, stating, “The College has rescinded approval of the event scheduled for Tuesday, April 30. The event has been canceled,” YAF noted.
“I’ve just been censored at Westminster College in Pittsburgh,” Ellison reacted in a Monday X/Twitter post. “The liberal Democrat cowards feared a debate with me so they canceled me. I won’t be silenced!! This has invigorated me.”
I’ve just been censored at Westminster College in Pittsburgh. I was scheduled to speak there tomorrow. The liberal Democrat cowards feared a debate with me so they canceled me. I won’t be silenced!! This has invigorated me. https://t.co/Z9GmXyYKd1
— Vince Everett Ellison (@VinceEEllison) April 29, 2024
“It’s clear that the administration wants to stop our chapter’s activism, but we won’t let that happen,” Dylan Kresak, chairman of Westminster College’s YAF student group, added.
Young America’s Foundation says it is now working with the students in the school’s YAF chapter to appeal the administrators’ decision to cancel the event, and get it rescheduled for next semester.
“I am in receipt of your message directly informing us of your breach of contract,” Madison Hahn, a staff attorney for Young America’s Foundation, wrote in response to Vance’s cancelation of the event.
“You should be ashamed of your failure to respect the independent thinking of conservative students,” Hahn added. “In doing so, you incur liability for Westminster College, and you sabotage the marketplace of ideas that used to make the American college a bastion of free thought.”
This is not the first time school administrators appeared to hinder a conservative event on campus.
As Breitbart News reported in March, University of Memphis administrators tried to sabotage a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) event featuring Kyle Rittenhouse by issuing last-minute demands in order for the event to proceed, and then leaked private information to protesters, according to the organization.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
