A state legislator In Iowa has announced his plan to introduce a bill intended to prevent public colleges and universities in the state from using taxpayer money to fund protest events, safe spaces and “cry zones” for students who are traumatized that Donald Trump won last week’s U.S. presidential election.
The lawmaker is Bobby Kaufmann, a Republican from the tiny town of Wilton, about 30 miles east of Iowa City.
Kaufmann has titled his bill the “suck it up, buttercup bill” and will introduce it when the state legislature convenes its regular session in January, reports The Des Moines Register.
He sees the need for the new law, he says, because he believes taxpayer-funded college campuses should not sponsor events for students unhappy over Trump’s election — particularly when no such events occurred to coddle anyone who wanted Mitt Romney to win in 2012 or John McCain to win in 2008.
“This is absolutely asinine. How undemocratic is it to protest a fair, democratic election? Kaufmann said in an interview this weekend on WHO, a large Des Moines news radio station.
“How many of these universities do you see setting up safe zones and cry zones for Romney supporters, or for McCain supporters? If you were opposed to Barack Obama’s election, you were a racist. If you had been opposed to Hillary Clinton’s election — if she would have won — you would have been sexist. But since Donald Trump won, you’re seeing universities using taxpayer dollars to set up cry zones so people can talk about their feelings.” (RELATED: University Of Michigan Law School Tries — And Fails — To Scrub Trump Trauma Play-Doh Event From Website)
“If you want to do this on your own, that’s your democratic, First Amendment right,” the Iowa lawmaker declared. “But I’m going to find out exactly how many taxpayer dollars are being used for these cry zones and for all these different safe zones — you can talk about your feelings — and I’m going to take whatever that number is, and we’re going to triple it and cut that from the university budget. If you can afford that, then your budget is too big.”
“I have decided to officially call this the suck-it-up-buttercup bill,” Kaufmann added.
He made similar comments a few days later.
“I’ve seen four or five schools in other states that are establishing ‘cry zones’ where they’re staffed by state grief counselors and kids can come cry out their sensitivity to the election results,” Kaufmann told the Register. “I find this whole hysteria to be incredibly annoying.”
Public university representatives contacted by The Des Moines Register said their schools aren’t spending any taxpayer funds for protests, safe spaces, “cry zones” and the like. They have only held events to allow students to discuss the election, they said.
“I think universities are the perfect place to have these types of conversations,” University of Northern Iowa spokesman Scott Ketelsen told the newspaper. “It’s where people learn. It’s where they share ideas. I don’t consider it coddling.”
Ketelsen explained that the University of Northern Iowa has already sponsored three “sharing sessions” for students and professors to discuss their sadness and anxiety about Trump’s victory. He said the “sharing sessions” involved the expenditure of no additional tax dollars.
“This election was somewhat unique,” Ketelsen insisted. “It wasn’t like previous elections, so the response wasn’t like previous elections.”
“People have to be able to sit down and have open dialogue and honest communication with one another,” he told the Register.
It’s not clear if officials at the University of Northern Iowa felt compelled to hold “sharing sessions” to help students deal with their sadness and anxiety when Mitt Romney and John McCain lost the previous two presidential elections.
Students and professors at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University also held events lamenting Trump’s victory including a march to the president’s office (at Iowa State). (RELATED: NO SAFE SPACE: The Daily Caller’s YUGE Roundup Of Campus Freakouts After Trump’s Victory)
Last week, anti-Trump protesters protesters in Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, shut down a stretch of Interstate 80.
WATCH:
Shutting down busy highways and busy roads is a favorite tactic of America’s radical leftist demonstrators. (VIDEO: Anti-Trump Demonstrators Attack Unaccompanied Woman, Shatter Her Windshield)
The “suck it up, buttercup bill” would also create new criminal penalties for protesters who successfully shuts down a highway.
“I would say it’s a very, very dangerous situation for people to go on an interstate,” Kaufmann told the Register.
“What would have happened if there was someone being rushed to the hospital?”
Republicans will now control both chambers of the state legislature in Iowa. The governor, Terry Branstad, is also a Republican.
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