Saint Louis University administrators are threatening to suspend or expel a conservative student for hanging posters off-campus, according to Young America’s Foundation (YAF).
David Young and Jackie Weber, two administrators at SLU confronted student James Dowling, a SLU College Republicans member, and YAF staff for putting up posters promoting an off-campus Matt Walsh lecture minutes before it took place.
“If you were to be found responsible for a policy violation, suspension or expulsion from the institution are included within the range of possible outcomes that could be applied,” Office of Student Responsibility and Community Standards (OSRCS) Assistant Director William Bowey told Dowling Thursday for alleged “failure to comply” and “inappropriate conduct.”
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“During the encounter, there was no doubt in my mind that the administrators were both outside of their realm of control and acting out of personal political bias,” Downing told YAF.” I don’t know why I’m under investigation for this ordeal. I think SLU should be investing their time into investigating their bully administrators instead.”
“This is outrageous,” host Todd Starnes said.
“It’s absolutely crazy,” YAF spokesperson Kara Zupkus told the Todd Starnes Radio Show Monday. “He even called the city of St. Louis to confirm that the sidewalk that he was hanging the posters on was city property and not St. Louis University property, and they did confirm that.”
University administrators David Young and Jackie Weber attempted to take down posters promoting the @MattWalshBlog, claiming the student was not authorized to hang them (despite being off-campus). pic.twitter.com/llaSze89fm
— YAF (@yaf) December 13, 2021
Bowey previously banned the Republican club on campus from advertising for a video asking: “What is a woman?”
Zupkus pointed out feminists who ripped down a pro-life display earlier in the year were never punished.
“These administrators are literally bullying this student because he doesn’t align with their viewpoints and they’re really trying to ruin his life over it,” Zupkus said. “And that’s something that we absolutely will not stand for, and we’re giving him as much support as we can. His hearing is scheduled for later this week. So we’re really doing everything we can to help get the word out and put the pressure on the school to not make any ridiculous decisions like expulsion.”
Starnes added: “We especially don’t like bullies who target conservative students, so we’re with you guys on that!”
LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH YAF SPOKESPERSON KARA ZUPKUS ON THE TODDCAST PODCAST BELOW:
Below is a rushed transcript from YAF spokesperson Kara Zupkus’ interview on the Todd Starnes Radio Show:
Starnes: [00:58:17] So an interesting story I saw this morning over at Young America’s Foundation YAF dot org. There is an ongoing saga over a speech delivered by Matt Walsh off campus and now a student, one of them a member of the St. Louis University College republicans is facing trouble. Charges of failure to comply in inappropriate conduct could be expelled from the school. What did this good and decent young conservative do? He posted. He posted notices around town off campus promoting the Matt the Matt Walsh event. Well, here to help us understand what’s going on here is our good friend from Young America’s Foundation. Their spokesperson, Kara Zupkus, say. Kara, what’s going on today? [00:59:10][52.7]
Zupkus: [00:59:11] Hi, how are you doing? This story is just absolutely crazy. I’m so glad that you had us on to help share James’s story. It’s absolutely insane. [00:59:19][7.3]
Starnes: [00:59:19] So what did James do here that the university is upset about? [00:59:23][4.3]
Zupkus: [00:59:25] So James hung up some posters advertising the event about an hour and a half before it was scheduled to take place just off of campus and a city sidewalk in a crosswalk. And he was confronted by two administrators who were telling him that he wasn’t allowed to hang up the posters because previously the college Republicans had been banned from on campus advertising due to another just silly investigation over a silly video that they made, asking the question ‘What is a woman?’ And because they were found guilty in that case, they were banned from advertising for the whole semester. So he kind of found a loophole and went off campus. You know, administrators can’t dictate what they do off campus in their free time. But these administrators confronted him. We actually got a lot of it on camera and they were very disrespectful yelling at the student and he defended himself. He said, I’m not taking down these posters. This is my First Amendment right as a citizen of St. Louis. And now those two administrators weren’t too happy with his response, and they actually filed conduct charges against him. As you mentioned earlier, the failure to comply and inappropriate conduct and the school has told him he could face suspension or expulsion because of those charges if he’s found guilty. [01:00:35][69.9]
Starnes: [01:00:35] This is outrageous and and we are going to do our best to to shine some light on this. And I would love for you to send us a link to those videos so that we can share that information. Kara, one of the individuals here is the Office of Student Responsibility and Community Standards assistant director William Bowie. Who is the other individual? [01:00:58][22.4]
Zupkus: [01:01:00] So there were two administrators who actually confronted them on camera, and that was David Young and Jackie Weber, but this William Bowie gentleman is actually the same guy who investigated the college Republicans earlier this semester and found them guilty of the inappropriate conduct with the What Is a Woman? VIDEO However, the real kicker here is that I’m not sure if you remember earlier in the semester, a bunch of feminists on campus ripped down a pro-life display. They ripped out all these flags. Oh yeah, those students were never punished. No punishment was handed down to them for literally destroying a sanctioned display. Yet here we see this poor gentleman just being potentially facing expulsion for hanging up a few fliers. It’s a really ridiculous. [01:01:40][40.2]
Starnes: [01:01:41] This is outrageous and and we’ve got to put a stop to this. And folks, St. Louis University, if you want to go ahead and start reaching out to the university on their website, it sounds to me like this is just a vendetta against this kid. [01:01:55][14.3]
Zupkus: [01:01:56] It absolutely is, I mean, we’ve been seeing these stories coming out throughout the whole semester that they obviously have this bias, and it’s really sad that they’re letting their own political bias get in the way of a student potentially just having access to an education. I mean, he’s a junior. It’s a little late for him to be transferring out of school into a brand new institution. But he’s told me like, I actually am reconsidering attending St. Louis University because I feel like I’m being targeted. [01:02:20][23.6]
Starnes: [01:02:21] Kara, I’m just curious here. What business is it of the university, what he purchased off campus? [01:02:25][4.7]
Zupkus: [01:02:27] It is not their business at all. That is the great thing about it. I mean, are they going to start sanctioning him for what he hangs up in his dorm room bedroom? This is. It’s absolutely crazy. He even called the city of St. Louis to confirm that the sidewalk that he was hanging the posters on was city property and not St. Louis University property, and they did confirm that. [01:02:45][18.1]
Starnes: [01:02:46] So again, it just seems to me like St. Louis University has a problem with conservative students who are very public about their political beliefs here. [01:02:55][9.2]
Zupkus: [01:02:56] Exactly. And it’s supposed to be a Catholic institution. And what we’re seeing here is really the antithesis of Catholic doctrine. I mean, these administrators are literally bullying this student because he doesn’t align with their viewpoints and they’re really trying to ruin his life over it. And that’s something that we absolutely will not stand for, and we’re giving him as much support as we can. His hearing is scheduled for later this week. So we’re really doing everything we can to help get the word out and put the pressure on the school to not make any ridiculous decisions like expulsion. [01:03:23][27.2]
Starnes: [01:03:24] Well, one of the things we don’t like on this program, Kara, are bullies, and we especially don’t like bullies who target conservative students. So we’re with you guys on that and we will use our platforms. Newsletter list whatever. We got a quarter million people that are more than happy to send emails and call that university, but we’ve got to put a stop to this. And and honestly, the donors at St. Louis University need to be aware of of what’s happening to conservative students on that campus. [01:03:52][27.7]
Zupkus: [01:03:53] Exactly. It’s really going to come down to the alumni, the donors, the board of trustees to wake up and realize that this is happening because they’re the ones really that control the purse strings here and really can sway the university into making the right decision. [01:04:06][12.6]
Starnes: [01:04:07] All right. Well, Kara, I know you guys have all the information over at YAF dot org. Great website. And folks, you can go there. We’ve got a link to it on our live show blog as well. Kara, we appreciate the late notice coming on and talking about this crazy story. [01:04:20][12.9]
Zupkus: [01:04:21] Yeah, thanks for letting us share James’s story, and we hope it all turns out OK. [01:04:24][3.0]
Starnes: [01:04:24] All right. Kara Zabka is everybody from Young America’s Foundation and again St. Louis University, where school administrators are threatening to expel a conservative student for putting up posters off campus promoting the Matt Walsh lecture. [01:04:38][14.0]