UNC students hold walkout in protest of Ben Shapiro’s talk
The Shapiro talk was hosted by the UNC College Republicans
While UNC College Republicans is a smaller group on campus, they had a huge presence on Wednesday when they hosted their biggest event of the year: a talk with Ben Shapiro.
Shapiro is a conservative political commentator, columnist and attorney. He graduated from Harvard Law School and is the current editor-in-chief at The Daily Wire. Shapiro has appeared at multiple college campuses around the country to present his views, and has also appeared on “The Kelly File.”
Students and locals alike filled Carroll Hall 111 to capacity, with security monitoring the event. The line to get into the event was out the door and down the outside paths.
The talk was called “The Left’s Obsession with Race” and he debunked five phrases the “left loves,” including: diversity, white privilege, micro-aggression, trigger warnings and safe space. He presented a witty, funny and well-stated argument regarding his opinions about the left, where he stated these phrases are making college students unnecessarily sensitive to the world around them.
Like most political events nowadays, there was a large group of protestors seated in the audience. Before speaking, Shapiro said: “walking out [of a discussion] demonstrates close-mindedness and shouting out demonstrates ideological fascism.”
Shortly after this statement, all protestors stood up and walked out, leaving half the room empty. Once they dispersed, security let in the large group of people waiting outside to be let in.
Shapiro’s talk raised some opposition in the crowd, but most audience members were pleased with what he had to say and thanked him for coming before they asked him a question. Although a few students tried to stump Shapiro with witty questions, he shut them down, eliciting cheers from the crowd.
UNC College Republicans were pleased with the turnout, and the crowd appreciated the discussion, making the event extremely successful overall.