On Monday, March 11 an anonymous source sent this to the College Republicans email account. Because of the Daily’s policy on anonymity, it cannot be posted without a name on it. The source has handed it over to us to do with it what we want. The sender does not want their name out there, understandably, because they have seen the way people who have spoken about this are being treated. My name is Olivia Fox and questions may be directed to our club email account, [email protected], or to me personally. To the anonymous sender: Thank you for your words.

“There are multiple things that need to be addressed in the midst of this Nick Fuentes controversy. The things I’ve been seeing on social media are disgusting and mostly incorrect.

As someone who was present at this event and someone who is not a part of any of the organizations who showed up, there are some things that need to be said.

Since the Daily failed to say them, I will.

First and foremost, I’ve noticed something big within the Daily’s articles that were published following this event: none of them have any quotes or statements from the people being attacked for Fuentes’ appearance.

I’m not sure the names of all the Daily employees who were there reporting on this night, but I do know that I saw them speak to multiple members of the College Republicans, heard their conversations and none of that was written into their articles.

It is inarguable that this has skewed the public’s perception of everything surrounding this event.

Another mischaracterization spread by the Daily was the statement that read something along the lines of, “Counter protesters outnumber supporters.” If you had listened to anything anyone said who was at this speech, you would know that there was no one who supported this man or his beliefs.

During the speech, I also had the chance to speak with members of College Republicans. I asked them what they thought of Fuentes. Every single one of them told me that they didn’t even know who he was until the day before he was scheduled to visit our campus.

I asked how they felt about what he was saying. They said they couldn’t believe this is actually the way he speaks and that he actually thinks he can “bring people to his side,” so to speak.

Disbelief is the word that comes to mind when describing how everyone felt when listening to Fuentes. But, again, our media has greatly affected what people are hearing about the attendees. And that is a problem.

Because of this, there are Iowa State students, and even people who don’t go here, saying that the College Republicans and Turning Point USA are white supremacist organizations.

Something everyone would find out if you did a little bit of searching, like I did, is that the College Republicans and everyone present at the speech completely denounced Fuentes. Some of them did so before the speech was even over. And I’ll say that, again, none of this was reported.

The other thing I wanted to address is the concept of hate speech. I don’t think people who are so quick to throw around that term really know what it means. “Hate speech” is not saying something rude to someone. Nick Fuentes was pretty rude, but to call it “hate speech” is a bit of a stretch since there is no real definition of it under Iowa law.

The people definitely not engaging in so-called “hate speech?” The club.

Not once did I hear anyone “harassing” or using inappropriate language toward anyone. But the funny thing is this: the people claiming that these organizations are racist and poisoned with white supremacy are the ones spewing actual hate speech. Like I said before, a little bit of research on Twitter will show this clearly. Here are examples from Twitter users in response to the official statement released by College Republicans:

• “If Stalin did any one thing right, it was order 227. Cowards, traitors, and defeatists will be shot.”
• “On the day of the rope, cowards and traitors will go first.”
• “Imagine being the person that wrote this and not just killing yourself.”

And people are proud of this. They think these kids deserve this. It’s repulsive.

While those tweets are from users who cannot be confirmed as Iowa State students, there are students targeting members of the club directly. One student stated that “none of their members should show their faces in politics ever again.” That student then went on to list members of the cabinet, and shared pictures identifying some of them.

The club will not stand for this online harassment based on the appearance of a speaker whom we denounced (not to mention that the cabinet members listed were not even present at the event).

There are also many calling for the dissolvent of the College Republicans. Regardless of who invited this speaker, it is clear that the members of this club is in total disagreement with Fuentes.

Why is that not enough? They acknowledged and stated that he shouldn’t have been here. They said they do not stand with him on any of his beliefs. They said he does not represent what the College Republicans represent, or the Republican Party as a whole, for that matter. T

he club even released an invitation to email them with any questions or concerns, which to me shows that they want to talk to us. They want dialog. Racists and white supremacists wouldn’t do that. And to accuse people of racism and white nationalism before, during, and after the refusal to have a discussion with them is pretty dense.

There is a blanket that has been draped over everyone with conservative views because of everything I mentioned above, and it is massively unfair. The conversations surrounding this event should not be this one-sided. The attacks and assumptions need to stop.

We are all Cyclones. We are all Americans. It is sad to watch members of this university be so hostile to their fellow students, especially since the hostile ones are not the ones being slandered.

— College Republicans