Senator Fred Akshar and and Republican state Assemblyman Doug Smith both blasted the “chaos” on the campus of the State University of New York at Binghamton after leftists protesters defied police and shut down an event put on by Binghamton University College Republicans and Young Americas Foundation (YAF) organized speech by conservative economist and the awardee of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Arthur Laffer, on Monday. The event was titled Trump, Tariffs, and Trade Wars.
The video in his Tweet shows an incident of a student disrupting Arthur Laffer’s speech by hollering, “We are tired of being oppressed, and we are tired of getting murdered by this administration [Trump Administration]!” . . . “that you, this man, this liar, Arthur Laffer supports.” which refers to the Trump administration.
My full statement. pic.twitter.com/X4Gf3kJtJ2
— Senator Fred Akshar (@fredakshar) November 19, 2019
About the conservative event, Senator Fred Akshar Tweets,
“I’m disgusted by the chaos we’ve witnessed erupt across the Binghamton University campus over the past several days. Our college campuses should be places where ideas and peaceful discourse can be shared freely by all individuals, no matter their differing politics or opinions.”
“Like many campuses across the country, it appears that leftist mob mentality and brute force intimidation have been given preference over free speech and the right to peacefully assemble.”
For safety reasons, Arthur Laffer had to be escorted out of the venue and Senator Akshar says, “it’s become clear to me that Binghamton University’s campus has become no longer suitable for civic engagement” and that he will be “canceling my appearance.”
According to the Times Union, Republican state Assemblyman Doug Smith said on Tuesday, the school “should be ashamed,” and that he’s following up on the issue with his colleagues in the state legislature.
