It’s the story the media doesn’t want to cover.
On March 2, Daily Wire personality Candace Owens’s 2022 documentary “The Greatest Lie Ever Sold” was set to screen at the Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) campus in New Britain, Conn. The film, which skewers the Black Lives Matter movement, is exclusive to The Daily Wire.
Students had the chance to screen the movie without a subscription courtesy of Turning Point USA which sponsored the CCSU event. A gaggle of anti-free speech protesters made sure that didn’t happen, saying the film triggered them.
The event’s organizers had to stop “Greatest Lie” after the 15-minute mark due to the relentless noise and protests.
And, it seems, little to no punishment will be handed out as a result.
The College Fix described what happened that day.
The rowdy group of demonstrators continuously chanted accusations of racism right outside the windows of the building in which the movie was being shown….
The crowd of about 30 protesters also chanted “hate speech is not free speech,” “CCSU, who let the racists out,” “this is what democracy looks like” and “no justice, no peace, no racist police,” the video shows.
“The students’ screaming and their pounding of a drum outside were so loud that we could not hear the film, and protestors embedded in the audience screamed and occasionally stormed the stage, with the result that the chapter president had no choice but to stop the film. The protestors won,” CCSU Professor Jay Bergman, the faculty advisor of the TPUSA chapter, told The College Fix via email Tuesday.
CCSU spokesperson Jodi Latina initially defended free speech days after the cancellation via The Hartford Courant.
“One of the most critical functions of a public university is to protect the rights of all students. The suppression of speech is a violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution. The documentary, no matter how objectionable, is speech,” she said.
She added speech suppression would not be tolerated. That’s up for debate, apparently.
Hollywood in Toto has been in regular contact with CCSU regarding the speech suppression incident. Most media outlets have ignored the matter, including Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.com.
Even many conservative news outlets stayed silent on the subject.
Latina shared the following earlier this week regarding its internal investigation into the matter.
“Central Connecticut State University has identified and sanctioned [emphasis added] three students involved in the [March 2] incident where free speech was suppressed by their actions.”
On-site videographers captured the incident, according to The College Fix, meaning it’s likely more than three CCSU students could be identified from the March 2 protest.
“Students named will not be released because of FERPA – The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,” Latina adds.
For the record, the Act in question appears to cover a student’s academic records.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records.
When pressed, Latina would not elaborate on what “sanctioned” means specifically in this case:
“There is a wide range of possible sanctions ranging from a warning to expulsion. Sanctions are discretionary and commensurate with the severity of the conduct violation,” she tells Hollywood in Toto.
Turning Point USA isn’t surprised by this turn of events.
“Frankly, these instances of campuses silencing conservatives used to be relatively few and far between,” Andrew Kolvet, TPUSA spokesperson, tells Hollywood in Toto. “They were often well publicized and schools knew to avoid blocking speech because the backlash was intense.
“Now, between Riley Gaines getting assaulted, SFSU canceling our venue for a follow-up event with Jon Root, Antifa smashing windows and assaulting cops at Charlie Kirk’s UC Davis event last month, and similar disruptions in SUNY Albany, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and what happened at CCSU, these instances are happening more often and with greater intensity.”
Former NCAA All-American swimmer @Riley_Gaines_ says she was assaulted for defending women’s sports. What she plans to do next. https://t.co/9aqk02TpwW pic.twitter.com/ZdExMLocIe
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 19, 2023
“These [CCSU] kids should be expelled,” he adds.
Jay Bergman, a CCSU professor of history and faculty adviser to the CCSU TPUSA chapter, penned an op-ed following the “Greatest Lie’s” cancelation for The Connecticut Post.
The arrogance of the protesters and their enablers on the CCSU faculty is staggering. They clearly believe they can silence anyone whose opinions are different from their own, and that they will not be held liable for their thuggish behavior.
Bergman wrote at the time that Latina’s defense of free speech rang hollow if the students in question weren’t punished.
The protesters declared victory on March 2.
“Everybody — we win; everybody — we win; everybody — we win.”
Bergman agreed, telling The College Fix “the protesters won.”
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