Ben Shapiro will speak on Iowa State’s campus this week to deliver his lecture: “To Save America, Wokeness Must Be Destroyed.”

The event will take place at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday in Stephens Auditorium. The event is free and open to the general public; however, the first 11 rows of seating in the auditorium will be reserved for Iowa State students until 6:40.

Shapiro is the founder of the Daily Wire as well as the Ben Shapiro Show, one of the nation’s most popular conservative podcasts. Shapiro is a controversial figure in U.S. politics, often dissecting polarizing debates for his large conservative following.

Cosponsoring the event is the Student Government Committee on Lectures, as well as the Young Americans For Freedom student organization.

Shapiro will be coming to Iowa State’s campus as part of the Young America’s Foundation’s Fred and Lynda Allen Series. The Young America’s Foundation helps to cover the cost of hosting Shapiro, as well as other conservative speakers, in hopes of boosting the presence of conservative ideas on college campuses.

According to Kyle Poen, a senior in agricultural business and president of Young Americans For Freedom, the lecture offers students an opportunity to weigh their beliefs against contrary opinions.

“You’d be doing such a disservice to not go, and if you think you have a better belief, you can go and present it to the crowd and have it argued, and I mean, I don’t know if you could ask for any better than that,” Poen said. “I think that’s the biggest thing is this q&a; it’s the biggest value that can be offered at a college campus.”

College campuses have long housed political debates and discourse amongst students. Sharing diverse ideas and perspectives is imperative to grounding students in the nation‘s political landscape and enabling them to form their own opinions.

“We welcome protests within; that‘s within students’ rights to disagree with our event,” Poen said. “We want to create a nice civil discourse on campus and get people talking about different ideas, but I haven’t seen anyone explicitly say they’re going to be doing anything against this.”

Iowa State students can enter the auditorium through the south east and south west towers after showing an Iowa State ID at the door. Members of the general public can enter through the northern entrance.

For more information on the upcoming lecture visit Iowa State’s Lecture Series website.