WATCH: Republican students commit to protecting conservative peers
Campus Reform Reporter Alexa Schwerha spoke with New York Federation of College Republican Chairman Augustus LeRoux about how the organization will back conservatives on campus this semester.
Campus Reform Reporter sat down with Augustus LeRoux, chairman of the New York Federation of College Republicans, to discuss the group’s new-found commitment to supporting conservative students in the state.
“It’s our view that [conservative] students on these campuses really have not had much [of] a line of defense,” LeRoux explained. “We maintain a network on over 20 campuses in New York State. It’s our goal to try and coordinate and organize all of our members and try to put together something a little more substantive to have our students’ backs in the form of protest or advocacy.”
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On Aug. 2, the federation released a statement that announced it would shift its focus this semester from campaigning to advocacy. The letter insisted that the federation is “not a phone bank,” but instead is “the last stand for conservatism on campus.
While the organization is fundamental in electing candidates into office through volunteer efforts at the door, LeRoux told Campus Reform it intends to “transition towards a more activist-focused mission.”
The letter cited five specific campuses in New York State that have been hotbeds for liberal abuse on campus, specifically in the past two years. LeRoux claimed that there has not been much of an effort to combat these incidents of bias on campus because students still face harassment on campus for expressing their conservative values.
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He placed partial blame on university administrators for failing to keep all students safe.
“If in any other instance a student was assaulted on campus, you would have a response… some kind of action to hold those students accountable,” LeRoux said, referring to a Syracuse University student who received death threats in 2020.
He continued, saying that administrators should do “the bare minimum, which is ensuring student safety.”
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