Stanford promptly apologized to U.S. District Judge Kyle Duncan after he was shouted down by a scholar mob, however Riley Gaines continues to be ready for something resembling an apology from San Francisco State University.
Instead, SFSU President Lynn Mahoney congratulated the college for letting Ms. Gaines ship her remarks final week, regardless that the previous collegiate swimmer was swarmed afterward by screaming protesters and barricaded in a room for hours by campus police because the hostile crowd lay in wait exterior.
“I applaud the students, staff and faculty who rallied quickly to host alternative inclusive events, protest peacefully and provide one another with support at a difficult moment,” Ms. Mahoney mentioned in a Monday assertion.
“Unlike previous events on this campus and other campuses, I am proud to say that the First Amendment was honored,” she mentioned.
“The speaker expressed her views and engaged in dialogue with those present. In fact, a Turning Point USA representative noted in a media interview that the discussion was ‘constructive and polite,’” Ms. Mahoney mentioned.
As for the mob scene, Ms. Mahoney added: “Unfortunately, a disturbance after the event concluded delayed the speaker’s departure. We are reviewing the incident and, as always, will learn from the experience.”
Ms. Mahoney did specific sympathy – however not for Ms. Gaines.
Instead, the college president commiserated with these offended by her name for barring male-born athletes from ladies’ and girls’s aggressive sports.
“Last Thursday, Turning Point USA hosted an event on campus that advocated for the exclusion of trans people in athletics,” Ms. Mahoney mentioned. “The event was deeply traumatic for many in our trans and LGBTQ+ communities, and the speaker’s message outraged many members of the SF State community who value inclusion and social justice.”
Ms. Gaines mentioned final weekend she plans to take authorized motion after being “ambushed and physically hit twice by a man,” inflicting her to overlook her flight as she sat trapped within the room as protesters exterior talked about charging ransom in change for letting her depart.
Free-speech teams decried the episode.
PEN America known as the occasion a “disaster” that “makes a mockery of the principles of free speech that allow higher education to function.”
Amanda Nordstrom, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression program officer, urged the college to “examine its failures” and implement free-speech protections.
“Mob censorship is never an appropriate reaction to speech, even and especially speech that some consider controversial, and the First Amendment does not protect silencing speakers via disruption,” mentioned Ms. Nordstrom. “Public universities have a non-negotiable duty to ensure protected speech can occur on campus — without violence or intimidation.”
SFSU President Lynn Mahoney’s response to Riley Gaines being assaulted is even WORSE than anticipatedhttps://t.co/QHDQrZAW2L
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 11, 2023
Ms. Mahoney’s feedback got here after one other SFSU official, vice chairman for scholar affairs Jamillah Moore, counseled scholar protesters “who protested peacefully in Thursday evening’s event. It took tremendous bravery to stand in a challenging space.”
Jonathan Turley, George Washington University Law School professor, criticized Ms. Moore’s assertion, calling it “conspicuous in its failure to condemn the mob or promise accountability for these actions.”
Ms. Gaines, a 12-time All-American swimmer on the University of Kentucky, tied for fifth place within the 200 freestyle on the 2022 NCAA Division I ladies’s swimming championships with Lia Thomas, who swam on the lads’s crew on the University of Pennsylvania for 3 years earlier than transitioning to feminine.
It’s not like this all over the place within the Bay Area although.
Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Stanford Law School Dean Jenny Martinez issued a public apology lower than 48 hours after Judge Duncan was shouted down by protesters throughout his March 9 look, hosted by the Stanford Federalist Society.
Ms. Martinez mentioned all legislation college students could be required to attend a free-speech session however that no person current could be punished, citing the problem of determining which of them violated the college’s insurance policies.
• Matt Delaney contributed to this report.
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