Madison, WI – Yesterday, UW-Madison Dean of Students Christina Olstad sent an Instagram message to UW-Madison students commenting on today’s speaking event with Matt Walsh. The event was approved by UW-Madison at the request of the campus chapter of Young Americans for Freedom (“YAF”). Anti-Matt Walsh and anti-YAF vandalism has since appeared on the UW-Madison campus. Senator Stroebel (R-Cedarburg) issued the following statement:
“A UW-Madison administrator preemptively sent messages to students before an approved event to specifically state ‘viewpoints we believe are harmful’ will be uttered on campus and they ‘feel the impact’ of this not yet uttered speech on campus. I don’t know if this was premeditated appeasement of a political faction or an uncontrolled outburst attacking a viewpoint with which administration disagrees, but neither explanation is acceptable.”
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, vandals defaced various pieces of property across campus with slogans vulgarly attacking the upcoming speaker and the sponsoring organization. The vandals clearly believe damaging property is justified to stop imminent ‘harm’ to people. Why shouldn’t some students feel that way when their belief that the mere discussion of ideas harms people was just reinforced by UW-Madison brass? It is a shame UW-Madison cannot accommodate free expression on campus without an administrator preemptively deriding the speaker.”
