The administration of Ole Miss abruptly overruled a decision from a School Journalism professor to cancel a renowned conservative speaker, Elisha Krauss, from a scheduled appearance over concerns of overly conservative bias.
The School of Journalism and New Media professor Curtis Wilkie on behalf of the Overby Center notified Krauss of an unwritten policy stating that no ideological groups can host speakers in the venue. She was scheduled to speak on November 13. The email read. . .
“Young Americans for Freedom is described as an ‘ideologically conservative youth activism organization.’ From my many years as a political reporter, I know that the group is strongly linked to the Republican Party. So I feel we have to say ‘no’ to you, too.”
Curtis Wilkie was a very ideological reporter for the Boston Globe!
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) November 7, 2019
Upon hearing of the unauthorized actions by the Journalism School leadership, the Ole Miss administration immediately took to Twitter to reach out to Krauss saying that they were overruling the unauthorized decision of the Journalism School professor.
@ElishaKrauss We are attempting to get hold of you. This decision was made unilaterally by two individuals on our campus without consulting with members of the university administration.
— Ole Miss (@OleMiss) November 8, 2019
This incident mirrors a rash of free speech intolerance on university campuses against conservatives around the country.
Later Thursday, the administration connected with Krauss. The originally planned event will occur on the original date. However it will not happen in the Overby Center. It will happen elsewhere on campus
We will update this story further as it develops.
Editor
