The College Fix

OPINION: With the death threats, the doxxing, the vitriol thrown at us, it’s tough. Such is life for a conservative on campus these days.

On Tuesday, my peers and I at William & Mary university hosted a table on behalf of our Tribe for Life campus club that took on what we consider some of the lies that pro-choicers tell.

We set up a big sign, handed out brochures, and had conversations with students about those lies, which we argue are that: men can have babies, Planned Parenthood cares about women, chemical abortions are safe, and women need abortions to succeed.

The three hours we spent on campus that afternoon were mostly uneventful, and perhaps that’s because we had security officers present due to the fact that in the past we’ve faced death threats, we’ve had urine thrown at us, we’ve been doxxed, and so on.

But the real drama unfolded Wednesday night, after a satirical student publication made fun of our group for enlisting security guards, generating a wave of mocking comments under the article that then led to threats on the anonymous social media app Yik Yak.

Some of them I expected, such as the ironic “Skylar is a threat to humanity” post. But the one that sounded alarm bells was: “tribe for life makes me want to commit suicide and also mass murder.”

The threat of violence was enough for me to alert the local authorities, and I have been working with campus leaders as well to ensure the safety of not only fellow students and the community but even for this troubled individual.

Heightening the situation is the fact that our nation is still grieving the murder of six innocent people at a Christian school in Tennessee on Monday at the hands of an individual who clearly suffered from mental health issues relating to transgender ideology.

What’s more, there’s a “Trans Day of Vengeance” rally scheduled for Saturday in Washington D.C. and some of the Yik Yak messages over the last week have flagged the event with glee.

I wish I could say I am surprised and shocked by such reactions, but I’m not.

As a result of being a conservative voice on campus over the last two years, I’ve been harassed by my peers online and in person, and some have even broadcast my identity online to invite more harassment.

I’ve been censored from showing pictures of the reality of abortion at on-campus events. Our student pro-life group has seen our flyers routinely torn down and vandalized and even had urine thrown at us.

The interesting thing is, I wasn’t that politically active when I first came to William & Mary as a sophomore transfer, and I was even borderline liberal.

But I was pro-life. I consider it the greatest human rights issue of our generation.

My first time getting really involved in campus activism was right after the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court opinion leaked to the media. I decided to go to counter-protest the pro-abortion protest on campus in May 2022.

I had never done anything like this before; I had never put myself out there in favor of my views like this. I was so nervous I threw up behind the building before going out there. But I went out there.

Between my growing passion for speaking out for the unborn, and my realization that many of my professors were trying to indoctrinate me rather than teach me, I become more and more conservative.

Now I am one of the most outspoken pro-life voices on campus. I’m known as that girl, the one who will shout from the rooftops that abortion is murder. I wish more of my fellow students who agree would join me.

With the death threats, the doxxing, the vitriol thrown at us, it’s tough. Such is life for a conservative on campus these days.

But we must stand up and make our voices heard because the preborn are counting on us, they don’t have a voice, and nothing is going to change unless we change it.

College Fix guest contributor Skylar Culbertson, 20, (pictured above) is a senior at William & Mary majoring in film and media studies. She is a member of the Network of enlightened Women.

MORE: Activists violently shut down pro-life event at VCU, two arrested, two pro-life students injured

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