American Univ. students are ‘f---ing sick’ of conservatives speaking on their campus

A former student government leader at American University is disdainful of a student group’s decision to host Karl Rove, arguing that conservative views are anathema to the school.

“AU is a very liberal-leaning community,” William McNamara writes in an op-ed for The Rival, a student publication unaffiliated with the university. “Which begs the important question many are asking which is, why is KPU bringing a speaker that the majority of the campus doesn’t care for?”

McNamara’s column was written in response to the AU Kennedy Political Union’s announcement that GOP political strategist and former George W. Bush Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, would be speaking on American University’s campus on February 16.

McNamara, who recently held the title of Chief of Staff of American University’s Student Government, goes on to quote a like-minded student from AU, who expresses his opposition to Rove’s appearance in no uncertain terms.

“I am fucking sick of my student activity fee going to individuals, ideologies, and organizations that neither I, nor a majority of student organizations support,” said SIS student and notable KPU malcontent Bill Kakenmaster. “Karl Rove may well be sought after, but to call him a political ‘brain’ is to discredit valid political intellectualism.”

The event is spearheaded by AU’s Kennedy Political Union, which is a part of the AU Student Government that specifically seeks to bring prominent speakers to the university. Valeria Ojeda, the KPU director, along with the presidents of AU’s College Republicans and Network of Enlightened Women, Stuart Algood and Krista Chavez, co-sponsored the event.

Algood and Chavez responded to McNamara’s piece with an open letter on February 2 in an effort to subdue the apparent backlash, saying there are “very proud to bring different conservative speakers to create a message that encourages free speech, intellectual diversity, and civil discourse among all AU students.”

The Rival’s AU sub-site, according to its mission statement online, seeks to “speak the language of AU students, to change the meaning of campus journalism and to make you think, laugh and think again.”

Yet since McNamara’s piece was published on Monday, a response piece has been released on the same publication claiming that there has actually not been much of a debate or uproar among students.

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