by Eric Lendrum
Acampus speech by Reagan Administration economist Arthur “Art” Laffer was shut down by violent far-left protesters on Monday at Binghamton University in New York, the Washington Times reports.
Dozens of protesters stormed the auditorium where Laffer was speaking and began standing on the desks and shouting in protest, with one using a bullhorn to disrupt the speech. Officers intervened to arrest the person with the bullhorn, and video shows one of the protesters jumping off a desk and lunging towards the front of the room where Laffer was standing before being stopped by one of the students hosting the event.
I’m disgusted by the chaos we’ve witnessed erupt across the @binghamtonu campus over the past several days. Our college campuses should be places where ideas and peaceful discourse can be shared freely by all individuals, no matter their differing politics or opinions. pic.twitter.com/75QENYMlRv
— Fred Akshar (@fredakshar) November 19, 2019
It was further reported that “hundreds” of additional protesters stood outside the venue wearing masks, intimidating those who were trying to access the event. Police ultimately arrested two of the protesters.
The university later released a statement condemning the protesters for “infringing on the expressive activity of others and preventing those who wished to hear the speaker from doing so.” The university also stated that there would be an “investigation of student organizations and individual students who encouraged or participated in any activity that violated applicable law and University policies.”
The disruption came just days after another incident on the same campus, when hundreds of far-left students surrounded a tabling display by the same conservative group on campus. In a video that has since gone viral, the assailants eventually began grabbing and throwing their items on the ground, flipping over the tables, and physically intimidating and yelling at the students, including a female freshman student who was filming. Police eventually arrived on the scene but did nothing to arrest the agitators.
The speech was hosted by the school’s chapter of the College Republicans, in conjunction with the center-right organization Young America’s Foundation, which primarily hosts campus speeches by staff members of Ben Shapiro’s website The Daily Wire. Laffer is another name on the organization’s list of speakers that student groups can bring to campus for a price.
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Eric Lendrum graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was the Secretary of the College Republicans and the founding chairman of the school’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter. He has interned for Young America’s Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, and the White House, and has worked for numerous campaigns including the 2018 re-election of Congressman Devin Nunes (CA-22).
Photo “Art Laffer Protesters” by Senator Fred Akshar.
