A member of the University of Minnesota College Republicans was accused of “verbal and physical” assault for challenging a classmate who was vandalizing one of the club’s signs.
The CR chapter had painted a mural of a train as a promotional device, adorning it with slogans such as “Trump/Pence 2020,” “Still not tired of winning,” “Least popular minority on campus,” and “Gophers4Walls.”
Some students were not pleased with the sign, including Imogen Leah, who recounted in a Facebook post Thursday that she was attempting to “fix” the sign by adding the words “End white supremacy” when she was confronted by CR President Ethan Bunn.
“For my trouble I was physically attacked and called a Nazi by Ethan Bunn of Minnesota College Republicans,” Leah asserts, adding that “He also suggested I read Mein Kampf, and after I asked if he was really calling a queer Jew a Nazi he reiterated it.”
“This kid was camping out to defend his disgusting panel,” she complains, alleging that Bunn “immediately used violence when I started working.”
Campus police, however, apparently took a different view of the situation, as Leah’s post goes on to protest that “UMPD equated my actions (sharpie on public property) with his (verbal and physical assault)” before concluding melodramatically with an assurance that “I’m a little shaken but resolved to fight this bullshit.”
Bunn told Campus Reform that Student Unions & Activities staff contacted the police to report the vandalization incident, but maintained that he did not at any point retaliate in a way that would constitute assault.
“I kicked her papers and grabbed her marker out of her hand,” he explained, adding that he asked Leah to read Mein Kampf “so she could realize that what she was doing (attacking free speech and silencing those who oppose her) was exactly what Hitler advocated for.”
Read the rest at Campus Reform
