University of Oregon student government activists are trying to deplatform the College Republicans club after members attended a “stop the steal” rally, Free Beacon reported.
University of Oregon College Republicans posted a photo on Instagram of members at the Salem “stop the steal” rally early November. In the background of the photo, two flags decorated with the Proud Boys symbol can be seen.
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The comment section was quickly flooded with over 2,500 comments, many of which were criticizing the club, Free Beacon reported. A student government secretary, Katie Clarke, commented she was “so excited to deplatform the group,” per Free Beacon.
Student government members are currently attempting to cut off the club’s organizational funding and remove its official club status, per Free Beacon.
In a meeting between the student government and College Republicans’ board, the student senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning white supremacy and requiring all club leaders to attend “cultural competency training”, according to The Daily Emerald, the University Of Oregon student-led paper.
Nick Keough, senator at the University, said, “we are exploring all avenues to holding this student organization accountable and will keep students updated as things progress,” The Daily Emerald reported. (RELATED: College GOP Leaders Ask Trump To End Temporary Worker Programs Amid Pandemic)
“Our efforts at this rally have nothing to do with an endorsement of the Proud Boys. Furthermore, this group has condemned, and always will condemn white supremacy, racism and all other similar heinous human prejudices,” President of the College Republicans chapter, Will Christensen, said, per The Daily Emerald.
An opinion piece by student Parsa Aghel titled, “It’s time for the University of Oregon College Fascists to go” called out the University for refusing to condemn or punish the College Republicans club.
Aghel argues the College Republicans were let off the hook quickly, allowing them to “calmly return to the current Republican party, with such subdued stances of putting children in cages, taking women’s rights to their bodies and advocating for military-grade weapons to be in the hands of ordinary citizens,” according to the opinion piece.
“There is only one option: the College Republicans must be suspended, delegitimized by stripping its name and punished like all groups immersed in fascist ideology that came before them,” Aghel states in his opinion piece.
The College Republicans chapter responded by posting a statement on their social media accounts, claiming the article is “filled with flawed logic and blatant lies.”