SF State student government accuses Riley Gaines of 'hateful rhetoric,' calls protesters 'peaceful'
The Associated Students shared a statement just days after Riley Gaines’ attack at San Franscisco State University, accusing her and her host of 'hateful rhetoric and promotion of violence.'
The author, Associated Students President Karina Zamora, writes that the university's Time, Place, and Manner speech policies were 'weaponized to silence and threaten protesters.'
A student government leader at San Francisco State University (SFSU) released a statement on Apr. 10 that accused Riley Gaines and Turning Point USA (TPUSA) of “hateful rhetoric and promotion of violence.”
The Associated Students (AS) shared the statement from its president, Karina Zamora, on its Instagram page just days after Gaines’ attack at SFSU. Zamora calls the protest over Gaines’ views on transgender athletes “peaceful” and “the presence of police … both excessive and uncalled for.”
“[T]he SF State chapter of Turning Point USA hosted ‘Saving Women’s Sports with Riley Gaines’ on the SF State campus, an event that promoted discriminatory rhetoric towards trans women athletes,” the statement begins.
“[T]he SF State chapter of Turning Point USA hosted ‘Saving Women’s Sports with Riley Gaines’ on the SF State campus, an event that promoted discriminatory rhetoric towards trans women athletes,” the statement begins.
Zamora says that protesters followed “Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) guidelines,” or policies that allow students to exercise their freedom of speech so long as their speech does not interfere with “the safe and orderly operation of the campus.” Protesters were “given unwarranted warning cards threatening arrest if they violated the TPM policy,” Zamora writes.
She continues to argue that “the ‘enforcement’ of TPM was weaponized to silence and threaten protesters.”
The statement claims that protesters were “upholding the principles of ‘social justice and positive change’ by speaking out against discrimination and in support of trans people,” a reference to SFSU’s mission statement. Administrators, according to Zamora, “failed to uphold the principles [their] campus prides itself on.”
Zamora concludes by saying that, as AS President, she “condemn[s] and stand[s] against the hateful rhetoric and promotion of violence spread by TPUSA and Riley Gaines as well as the confrontational behavior of the University Police Department at the behest of Campus Administration.”
[RELATED: ‘Get out now’: Violence erupts at the University of Pittsburgh over Michael Knowles event]
A statement from an SFSU administrator also claims that the protesters acted “peacefully,” though Gaines says that she “was verbally and physically assaulted.”
After Gaines criticized the statement on Twitter, the administrator blocked her, according to Campus Reform.
“I guess it’s easier for her to ignore me than to denounce violence against women,” Gaines tweeted. “She won’t be able to ignore my lawsuit.”
Campus Reform contacted all relevant parties listed for comment and will update this article accordingly.
