College Republicans Cleared of Wrongdoing After Being Threatened with Sanctions over Free Speech Board

The Hood College Republicans have been cleared of wrongdoing after being threatened with sanctions for posting conservative quotes on the club’s bulletin board on campus.

Conservative students at Hood College were threatened with disciplinary action by administrators in early May after a collection of quotes on the club’s bulletin board sparked a backlash in the university’s community.

“To hear that we weren’t receiving any sanctions, it was a relief,” College Republicans club president Christopher Gardner told The College Fix. “We [College Republicans] all thought the entire situation was kind of ridiculous, but it did fulfill the purpose of the board. It spread conservative messages, and that’s what we set out to do.”

The Hood College campus newspaper claimed that many on campus found the display to be bigoted and claimed that many members of the campus community would encourage the administration to take it down.

“[T]o many, this display is being seen as hateful, transphobic, and misogynistic. Many students are quick to point out that Hood should not be condoning this kind of rhetoric and that it should be taken down,” reported the Blue and Grey campus newspaper, a report which argued that the display might constitute “hate speech.”

Administrators told students in early May that if they refused to remove the bulletin board they could face serious policy violations that would end up on their permanent university record. The administration’s tune has changed since then, however, as they have announced this week they will not take disciplinary action against the members of the Hood College Republicans.

Hood College Republicans president Chris Garder added that the backlash over the display provided Hood College with the rare opportunity to discuss conservative values. “We are happy with the outcomes of this matter in the way it created dialogue and brought the community together,” Hood College spokesperson Laurie Ward said.

Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com