The Biden administration has been noticeably mum in regards to the indignant mob that harassed former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines at San Francisco State University, and House Republicans aren’t keen to let it slide.
The House Education and Workforce Committee Republicans fired off a letter Friday to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona demanding that he clarify what the division is doing to “protect free speech and intellectual discourse on college campuses” after the SFSU incident.
“We are appalled at the treatment swimmer Riley Gaines received on April 6, 2023, as an invited speaker at San Francisco State University (‘SFSU’) – a recipient of approximately $58 million in federal education funds over the preceding 12 months,” stated the letter led by Chairwoman Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.
“Ms. Gaines’ reception at SFSU was aggressive and violent, unbefitting any institution of higher learning, let alone one that receives federal funding,” stated the Republicans.
Ms. Gaines, a former University of Kentucky All-American and advocate for single-sex sports, was “harassed, subjected to insults, cursed, chased down a hallway, and physically struck two times” after her speech on the college, stated the letter.
Campus police escorted her to a “safe room” and stored her there for a number of hours whereas the group waited exterior the door, inflicting her to overlook her flight. At least one protester instructed holding her for ransom, as proven on video.
“The Department of Education (‘Department’) has been strangely silent about SFSU’s lack of adequate safety preparation, and more broadly it has failed to demonstrate any leadership on the free exchange of ideas on campuses,” stated the Republicans’ letter.
The Republicans stated the division seems to be shifting in the other way, citing a Feb. 22 proposed rule to rescind grantmaking circumstances defending non secular scholar organizations, which the division known as pointless “given existing legal protections.”
“Further, the increasing proliferation of cancel culture in American postsecondary education continues to chill the ability of students, faculty, and guest speakers to express their viewpoints,” the Republican letter stated. “Yet, the Department seems unfazed.”
Ms. Gaines’ remedy at SFSU outraged Republicans and free-speech advocates, however SFSU President Lynn Mahoney afterward praised college students and workers who “peacefully” protested, insisting that the “First Amendment was honored.”
Ms. Mahoney additionally stated that the occasion hosted by Turning Point USA “was deeply traumatic for many in our trans and LGBTQ+ communities.”
Student authorities President Karina Zamora accused the administration of over-policing the occasion, saying the enforcement of guidelines was “weaponized to silence and threaten protesters and the presence of police was both excessive and uncalled for.”
Ms. Gaines, a spokeswoman for the Independent Women’s Forum, has turn into a distinguished advocate for preserving males who determine as ladies out of aggressive ladies’ and ladies’s sports, after competing towards Lia Thomas on the 2022 NCAA swimming championships.
The two tied for fifth within the 200 freestyle. Lia Thomas, who swam for the University of Pennsylvania, received the five hundred freestyle, turning into the primary male-born athlete to seize a ladies’s NCAA Division I title.
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