Two months before event, College Republicans see backlash

The UNC College Republicans are hosting Ben Shapiro, a conservative columnist and author, who will speak about the liberal ideology with regard to race and victimization in March.

Frank Pray, chairperson of UNC College Republicans, said Shapiro is seen as the conservative authority on the Black Lives Matter movements on campuses.

“He presents the conservative case against that and why this is not good for the country,” Pray said. “We are bringing him to bring that perspective that he has brought to other schools.”

The Facebook event “The Left’s Obsession with Race: An Evening with Ben Shapiro” has created a controversy among UNC Students. Pray said the reaction was to be expected.

“I definitely expected the backlash,” Pray said. “UNC is a fairly liberal campus, and we get backlash for pretty much all of the events we host.”

Pray said there was a concentration of students with left-leaning ideologies that commented on the event.

“What we thought was interesting was the vitriol and intolerance,” Pray said.

“A lot more leftward people on there were reacting to this event. They are fans of free speech until someone vehemently tells them they don’t agree with them.”

Pray said people of all ideologies are welcome at the event. He said he still expects them to be respectful of the speaker.

“He’s going to dispel some of the myths they’re talking about in regards to police violence towards black-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and people of color in general,” Pray said.

“We want them to understand that they shouldn’t be taking Black Lives Matter word for word, because they are not telling the truth on a lot of these issues.”

Jillian Murray, a former UNC student, commented on the Facebook event page. Murray said she is displeased with the portrayal of the liberal view of race.

“I think it is ridiculous that the left is portrayed as this radical population of people who cares about racial equality,” Murray said.

Murray said she could personally relate to the subject matter.

“I am a person of color. For me, oppression has not been a momentary emotion — it’s a generational, lifelong experience,” Murray said.

“And to have it tainted by a group of educated young people as an obsession, it really struck a chord with me, and I felt a need to comment on that and make a new perspective heard.”

UNC junior Courtney Sams said she will attend the event to hear a viewpoint different from her own.

“I think that it’s important while you’re in a college environment to not surround yourself in an echo chamber with people who only agree with you, so I’m interested in going and hearing a different viewpoint from my own.”

Pray said he wants students to listen to Shapiro in order to identify truths about issues in today’s society.

“While there may be problems, we need to find the truth, and combat the problems using the truth,” Pray said.

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