“Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view.”

William F. Buckley wrote this famous statement in 1959, in the book “Up from Liberalism.” This was written during the early years of the American conservative movement. His quote rang true at the time it was written and continues to ring true today, even on the campus of Trinity University and especially in light of recent events. 2 weeks ago, a liberal donor to Trinity University wrote about her decision to pull her donation to the school. In her article, she cited Milo Yiannopoulos as another reason why she pulled her funding. God forbid she finds out about Ryan Anderson; she may demand the return of everything she has ever donated to Trinity University.

Let’s discuss how ridiculous this is. First of all, simple research would reveal that Trinity University did not bring any of these people. Student Involvement and other administrative groups dug their feet in and made the attempt to bring any of these three speakers a very difficult endeavor. Who brought these people, you may ask? As the legendary Obi Wan Kenobi said, “Well, of course I know him. He’s me.“

Unlike when Our Revolution brought Bernie Sanders to campus for a political rally (not an educational speech), there was no fast-tracking or opening of doors for conservative speakers to speak on this campus. (Sorry, but Trinity Progressives gets no credit from me for bringing Bernie Sanders; if you can’t hold weekly meetings I guarantee you can’t bring a speaker on your own). Trinity most likely would not have rolled out the red carpet for Senators Ted Cruz or John Cornyn (Class of 1973) to host a political rally at Trinity University on short notice, especially on the Friday before spring break at 7:30 p.m.  

During my time at Trinity, aside from David Cameron, former conservative prime minister of the UK, my organization has been the only group to bring conservative voices and ideas to campus. Keep in mind that David Cameron could decently be considered a blue dog democrat in the American context. So think about this: 3 out of the hundreds of speakers brought to Trinity that have been important enough to advertise (plus one video) is such a travesty to Denise Boehm that it is worth pulling her funding. Remember anyone who disagrees with you more than 3 percent of the time is a bitter enemy and should not be associated with.

This isn’t to say her first amendment rights should be stripped and that everyone who donates to Trinity should be locked into donating to the university forever. She obviously is perfectly within her rights to remove her annual donations from Trinity, just as I am within my rights to critique her rather laughable reason for doing so.

Now, in her letter she made a claim that most liberals will make. In the third paragraph from the bottom she claims she is okay with “different viewpoints,” just not the viewpoints I have brought to campus. Now, she will probably say that she would be okay with a  George W. Bush style conservative being brought to campus, in spite of the liberal hegemony of the 2000’s making Bush 43 akin to Lucifer. It is likely that regardless of whether I had brought paleo-conservatives, neo-conservatives, theo-conservatives, or libertarians, I would have brought unacceptable-conservatives, according to her.

This, of course, all goes back to Mr. Buckley’s quote: “it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view.” During my time at Trinity, almost all of the people which I consider now to be friends who aren’t on my side of the political spectrum were shocked that, one: I was conservative, two: I actually had reason to back up these views.  

Some liberals at this school often struggle to see conservatives as equally human. I witnessed liberals slowly realize that we are caring individuals, too, at an event sponsored by David Tuttle pertaining to what life is like as a conservative on this campus. Yes, some have to have over an hour-long conversation with someone before being able to see them as a human being simply due to differences in philosophy.

Trinity is an overwhelmingly liberal school, and without bringing speakers like these, the liberal atmosphere would essentially be unanimous. We conservatives tolerate an opposing atmosphere all the time; we don’t get to pick and choose when to publicly disagree, because we are always already opposed. In light of conservatives tolerating a 24/7 liberal onslaught, it seems a bit arrogant for a liberal to get so upset about three measly moments spread out over two years. Keep in mind, this campus has one outed conservative professor out of 306 instructional employees. Perhaps one is too many? Trinity clearly has not turned into Hillsdale or Liberty in your absence.

In conclusion, I find it nonsensical that a liberal alumni at an overwhelmingly liberal school that hosts overwhelmingly liberal events should pull her donations over three measly events put on by a small, on-campus club. Furthermore, to decide to financially punish the school for events it did not host and only begrudgingly allowed access to its facilities for is absurd. Trinity has already suffered enough as a result of admissions allowing the Wendt twins onto campus, why make the school suffer more? Don’t be shocked when you find out the other side exists on your campus.