A few weeks back, George Mason University in Fairfax withdrew an invitation to Michael Moore to speak on campus. Now Christopher Newport University in Newport News [not Norfolk, as I incorrectly first posted] Va., is trying to thwart the showing of Moore’s film “Fahrenheit 9-11.”
A student bought the film on DVD and planned to show it free to others. But CNU President Paul Trible, a former GOP senator, has demanded the students pay a $500 licensing fee to show the film, according to an email Commonwealth Commonsense received from the CNU Young Democrats today.
CNU has a reputation for being very conservative. Some of those conservatives may also be intolerant.
Kerry/Edwards buttons ripped off bookbags, torn from windows and vandalized, protests during a voter-registration drive, curses from fellow students.
These are few of the things the Young Democrats at Christopher Newport University say have happened to their members since the start of the school year.
At least 10 of the 30 active group members have experienced some form of harassment, said Young Democrats President Erin Spicer, who noted that she has not been harassed.
“We expected it to be a close election, but we didn’t expect hostility,” she said.
Hilliary Turner, secretary for the Young Democrats, said she dealt with about four students who used profanity in referring to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry while in class. They demanded to know why she was voting for him, Turner said.
“I said, ‘I don’t have to answer your question when you’re calling John Kerry those names, and it’s none of your business,’ ” she said. Along with critical e-mail sent to the organization, “we’ve had people interrupt our officer meetings to complain about John Kerry,” Turner said.
You can donate to the CNU’s Young Dems to help them raise the funds. Click through here.