‘Our right to belong’: CU College Republicans stand by Milo Yiannopoulos event

The vehemently negative response to Milo Yiannopoulos events at the University of Colorado and other college campuses has reinforced the decision to invite him in the first place, the president of the CU College Republicans says.

Chris Kohl, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering and the leader of the student group that is co-organizing Yiannopoulos’ sold-out talk on the Boulder campus Wednesday night, said the response to these events is symbolic of what it’s like to be a conservative student at colleges and universities around the country.

“It’s pretty common for conservatives to almost be forced into silence for what they believe or to be told that they’re bigots or racists or whatever,” Kohl said. “I really think that inviting Milo is more of a statement to promote our right to belong than it is to espouse his ideas.”

On the Boulder campus, just 16.3 percent of students are Republican and 20 percent of students described their political philosophy as conservative, according to the results of a 2014 survey. The numbers are even lower for CU employees: roughly 6 percent of faculty and 10.5 percent of staff are Republican, according to the survey.

On a campus that’s overwhelmingly liberal, Kohl said the CU College Republicans and the CU chapter of Turning Point USA, a national conservative activism group, shouldn’t have to fight for their right to invite a speaker to campus — an assertion Chancellor Phil DiStefano has made clear he agrees with in several messages to the campus community.

As with any speaker, event organizers don’t agree with everything Yiannopoulos says. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t worth listening to, Kohl said.

(All bold added by me )

Kudo’s to the College Republican’s and Chancellor Phil DiStefano.

Here’s to Milo offending as many Boulderite snowflakes as he can in his allotted time.