UC Merced Student Government Tries to Defund ‘Hateful’ College Republicans Group

The student government at the University of California, Merced, is trying to kill funding for the school’s College Republicans chapter.

Students at the University of California, Merced, are dealing with a pushback from the school’s student government over their recent request to use student funding to attend the California College Republicans state convention. A statement published by members of the UC Merced student government included an apology for their decision to fund the group’s recent trip to the conference.

“In addition to our inaction as a branch of the Associated Students of UC Merced, the Inter Club Council has recently made the decision to fund the College Republicans to attend a conference. A conference that will enable their organization to network with individuals that share their harmful views. Ultimately, bringing back hateful sentiments to our UC Merced community,” the statement reads.

The statement also explained that the student senate is considering withholding funding from student organizations that engage in “hate speech” on campus. “Members of the senate believe that we should not tolerate or support any individual or organization that perpetuates hate speech on our campus,” the statement adds.

In a statement provided to Breitbart News, the California College Republicans condemned the UC Merced student senate and defended the students, citing their ability to exercise their First Amendment rights on a college campus.

The California College Republicans view any attempt to defund CRUCM as an explicitly biassed attack against conservative values and ideas. The freedom to voice these ideas under our First Amendment rights is a principle we are determined to fight for on behalf of all Americans. It is an abuse of the office and institution for administrators and student governments to shame students for being conservative. Any repercussive actions by UC Merced student government or campus administration is an assault on First Amendment rights, and we unequivocally support CRUCM in their battle against campus bias for maintaining funding for their organization.

The student senate at UC Merced also announced that they exploring a policy option that would allow them to deny student funds to any partisan political group on campus.