Iowa Federation of College Republicans Kicks Iowa State University Chapter Out of Network for an “Insensitive” Tweet
Jose Nino
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On November 10, 2020, the Iowa Federation of College Republicans (IFCR) proceeded to defederate Iowa State College Republicans simply for making tweets that offended its leadership.
The Iowa Federation of College Republicans (IFCR) moved to defederate Iowa State College Republicans on the basis of inflammatory tweets, inappropriate behavior and disregard for fellow citizens Tuesday, according to a news release.
In a statement, the IFCR leadership declared:
Although we all identify as Republicans, the IFCR Executive Board and Central Committee wish to convey inclusivity and diversity of opinions; including within the party structure.
The leaders added:
While we do promote civil discourse over these ideas, we as a federation unequivocally condemn any real or perceived threat of violence.
Ryan Hurly, the president of the Iowa State College Republicans, had choice words about this move by the IFCR leadership. Hurley declared, “The motion to defederate us is a very weak move and a fine example of cancel culture on the right.” The Iowa State CR president added, “Whatever happens, we are excited to bring genuine conservatism and patriotism to Iowa State University.”
After the media announced Joe Biden as the projected winner of the 2020 election, the Iowa State College Republicans twitter account made a post calling on fellow conservatives to brace themselves for the uncertainty that lies ahead.
The account tweeted on November 7, “Everyone, you must arm up, expect these people to attempt to destroy your life, the elites want revenge on us.”
The ISU Police Department was informed about this tweet due to several students believing that it constituted threatening language. However, police officer Kaitlyn Boor said the tweet did not merit any legal action.
“At this point, I get why it might be a little alarming for some to read,” Boor stated. “But they do have that right to kind of post what they want to. But with something like this— and I’m more than happy to pass it along to my supervisors and make them aware of it— it’s not all too alarming.”
Twitter ended up temporarily restricting Iowa State College Republicans’ account but it is now up and running. Unsurprisingly, College Democrats have called on ISU to take action against Hurley for his tweet.
Hower, Hurley told the Des Moines Register that “Our thought in writing the tweet was to support everyone in their right to bear arms.” He added, “People have sickly twisted it. Violence is not our intent.”
BLP was able to reach out to Hurley to get his side of the story. He alluded to IFCR attacking America First members of the CRs:
The Iowa Federation has impeached Trump supporting candidates this year. We have always been unabashedly patriotic and America First, while they have not been. They’ve never supported us in any way while we doorknocked, made calls, etc.
He added that the IFCRs “were looking to get rid of us, they’ve strongly disagreed with us from the start on several key issues. They’ve been asked repeatedly to explain their reasoning and they cannot.”
The conservative student leader stressed that his tweet was about reminding “people of their Second Amendment rights” and he asserted that “in a Biden administration, we likely would see several weapon regulations, so we wanted to encourage any prospective purchasers to act now. No violent intent.”
Hurley concluded by revealing that members of his organization will be participating in marches and rallies, while others will be helping out candidates in Georgia.
The fact that a Republican organization is willing to kick out fellow Republicans for harmless calls to action is indicative of a political culture that has no respect for free speech. It’s not just the Left, but it’s also the establishment Right that poses a threat to any meaningful discourse at university campuses.
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