The most controversial statement of the event was, “There is a God and you are not Him.”
QUICK FACTS:
- More than 30 faculty members from Barrett, the Honors College of Arizona State University, wrote a letter to the dean of the college condemning an event where Charlie Kirk and Dennis Prager made appearances.
- The event, “Health, Wealth and Happiness,” was not designed to be political.
- Personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki originally created the event, inviting cardiologist Radha Gopalan and conservative radio host Dennis Prager to provide the “wealth” and “happiness” elements of the event.
- Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was a later addition to the event, invited by ASU donor Tom Lewis of the T.W. Lewis Foundation.
- Kirk maintained the health, wealth, and happiness themes, avoiding political talk, and instead suggested that happiness can be improved by going a day without your phone and adopting better lifestyle habits.
- The letter from faculty members claimed that the event was “contrary to the core values of the Barrett community,” alleging that Kirk and Prager are “purveyors of hate who have publicly attacked women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, as well as the institutions of our democracy, including our public institutions of higher education.”
- Faculty described ideological positions held by the two conservatives as “bigoted and anti-democratic,” despite there being no political talk at the event, and expressed a desire to “distance [themselves] from the hate that these provocateurs hope to legitimate by attaching themselves to Barrett’s name.”
TURNING POINT USA “PROFESSOR WATCHLIST”:
- Turning Point USA’s “professor watchlist” includes 40 professors from Arizona State University.
- “The mission of Professor Watchlist is to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom,” the watchlist reads.
- One of the professors on the watchlist, Dagmar Van Engen, participated in the letter against the “Health, Wealth, and Happiness” event and has “areas of expertise” in “Gender and Sexuality,” “Feminist and Queer Theory,” and “Science Fiction.”
- One of the featured professors on the watchlist is Abdul-Malik Ryan from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Ryan is the Assistant Director of Religious Diversity and Pastoral Care at the university and is recorded as having applauded terrorist organizations.
BACKGROUND:
- Universities across the U.S. are increasingly promoting “woke” ideology.
- The University of South Carolina held a “White Student Accountability Group” meeting for social work students.
- The purpose of the meeting was for the students to “recognize both their contribution to and responsibility to dismantle racism in our practice and everyday lives.”
- Students were then encouraged “to use their voice, power, and privilege to enact change in their classrooms, community, and practice.”
