I was banned from my campus newspaper: Conservative students must speak up

It’s been nearly one month since I published my article “No, I’m Not Privileged Because I’m White” in the campus newspaper at Eastern Connecticut State University. Since then, I have submitted two more opinion pieces — one on the subject of illegal immigration, and another in defense of religious liberty. Interestingly enough, neither of these articles were published. I was told both times that they didn’t have enough room for me; that apparently the past two editions have been so jam packed, they had no other choice but to cut me out.

Here’s why that’s a load of crap.

I have been consistently writing for my school’s newspaper (called The Campus Lantern) since September of last year. For seven straight months, I have never had a problem publishing articles. Not once did they tell me “sorry, we don’t have enough room,” or “we apologize, you’ll have to wait until next week’s edition.” Then towards the end of March, I published an op-ed debunking the myth of white privilege, which caused a lot of uproar and led to the creation of a “safe space” meant to give those students that I offended a chance to speak out. The Campus Lantern staff announced that publishing the article was a mistake, even though it was written in a factual and perfectly legitimate way. How convenient it is, then, that in the weeks following this whole debacle, they suddenly couldn’t find room for me in the paper anymore.

Let’s just be blunt with it: I was essentially banned from my campus newspaper. It wasn’t because they suddenly didn’t have enough space for my articles; it’s because they’re afraid that my conservative ideas will offend more students. They are more concerned about sparing the feelings of others than they are about upholding the freedom of speech. They see more value in convening “safe spaces” than in encouraging open debate and the free exchange of ideas. It’s a plague that is affected nearly every college campus in the country, and young conservatives are the ones suffering the consequences.

Yet my point here is not to paint myself as a victim, nor is it to complain that liberal academia is working to silence opposing viewpoints. What we need in this country is an uprising. We need a revolution not of violence and chaos, but rather a revolution of the heart and the mind. I would love to one day see bold and courageous young conservatives positioned at every campus in America, raising their hands in class and saying “no professor, that’s actually not correct.” I would love to see liberal academia be challenged on all fronts, from the politically correct culture to the historical falsehoods commonly found in textbooks. This has gone on long enough, and it’s time to take a stand.