'Can you please give them back'? Leftists caught on camera taking pro-life display
A conservative student group at the University of Florida says its display honoring aborted babies was vandalized.
Students at UF’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter obtained a permit to place 1,000 pink flags around campus to commemorate the millions of lives lost to abortion. After setting them up, the students said they walked away from their property and, when they returned found a group of students taking the flags they placed in the ground, and putting them in trash bags.
The students who took the flags said it was done because it was illegal to do this act, even though the members of YAF had a permit.
Even upon asking for the flags back, the students taking the flags refused.
The members were able to get back their flags and put them back into their original spots.
UF YAF released a video on its Facebook page that showed part of the members’ confronted the students taking the flags.
[RELATED: Vandals dismantle pro-life display at Clemson]
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UF YAF chapter chairman Philip Smith said he filed a police report but it’s unclear which, if any, actions police have so far taken.
”It is so disappointing to see that the First Amendment is still not a priority to UF,” Smith told Campus Reform. “One would hope that a lawsuit would show administration there is a need to foster a community of tolerance for diversity of opinion. But maybe this incident will remind UF of their duties. We try to give a somber memorial to these poor babies, and we’re met with a student body that’s so averse to opposing ideas that they would steal a thousand flags before hearing us out.”
Smith referenced the “lawsuit” in which YAF sued the UF over its allocation of student fees to campus speakers, alleging a viewpoint bias toward liberal speakers. Other students have also spoken against UF and its alleged bias against conservatives.
[RELATED: Conservatives claim victory after U Florida settles First Amendment case]
One student, Leah, said, “I think that it’s pathetic that other students are so offended by a difference of opinion/diversity of thought that they would choose to vandalize property. I also think the students who have the time to destroy property is likely because they don’t have a useful major that requires studying.”
Reagan, a journalism major, said: “Free speech is not enforced on campuses anymore.”
UF spokesperson Steve Orlando said in a recent interview with the Washington Examiner that UF “supports the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. UF encourages the free exchange of ideas and embraces its role as a place where people from all walks of life come to debate, agree, or disagree and express themselves without fear of censorship or reprisal.”
Campus Reform also reached out to UF but did not receive a comment in time for publication.
