The College Fix

Student government froze funds after the group hosted critical race theory opponent James Lindsay

Northwestern University’s College Republicans chapter will not have its funding frozen after an initial decision by the school’s student government to do so.

The reversal came after the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression wrote a letter and called on university officials to stop the Associated Student Government from freezing the group’s funds for promotion of an event with James Lindsay, an opponent of critical race theory.

“After the letter from FIRE, ASG leadership told the College Republicans that Northwestern’s Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance had decided not to investigate the flyers,” FIRE wrote, announcing the reversal in a June 9 article. “Thus, the freeze on the funding was void.”

The student government used “emergency legislation” after a pair of controversial posters advertising Lindsay’s (pictured) speech were discovered, according to The Daily Northwestern.

The student newspaper reported that one of the posters displayed a skull and crossbones that was superimposed over the LGBT Pride flag, as The College Fix previously reported.

Join us this Tuesday at 7pm with James Lindsay! Location is Swift 107 at Northwestern University. pic.twitter.com/7tBMTSkRkF

— Northwestern University College Republicans (@NorthwesternGOP) April 30, 2023

“We can’t prevent a speaker from coming to campus as student government. That’s done by administration,” Molly Whalen, co-president of ASG, said in support of freezing the funds. “We focused on the part that we could control, which is student group conduct and student group finances.”

FIRE noted in its article that it still has concerns about free speech at the Big Ten university.

“While the College Republicans regaining their funding is certainly a victory for free expression on campus, we remain concerned that the ASG froze their funding in the first place,” FIRE wrote.

It continued:

Punishing protected expression, even temporarily, will inevitably chill speech for other clubs who fear running afoul of the student government and triggering a funding freeze while administrators go through the process of determining whether student speech is protected.

“This chilling effect has no place at a university such as Northwestern that promises students robust free speech rights,” the free speech group concluded.

MORE: Check out the Campus Cancel Culture Database

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