Cancel Matt Walsh event on UW-Madison Campus
Jennifer Mnookin
UW-Madison Institutional Statement on Diversity:
"Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW–Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background—people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world."
The transphobic Matt Walsh event on October 24, 2022 is counter to the University's statement on diversity. First, it creates an unwelcome and exclusionary community for transgender students. Second, Matt Walsh himself is a danger to all of UW's listed "pursuits".
1. The movie is cut to make it seem like no one can answer Matt Walsh's question "What is a Woman?" It skips over the answers of its guests and trans people in an attempt to alienate trans people to the general public. The film pushes the idea that trans people are attempting to mutilate your children, which is simply untrue. Its solution to this problem is to not allow transgender people to exist or receive healthcare. The goal of the film is not to pursue an academic or political answer to this question, but instead to reaffirm transphobic rhetoric that is already pervasive in our culture. The goal of this is to convince students on our campus to actively attack the identities of their fellow students.
2. Matt Walsh himself is a danger to the students and ideals of UW-Madison. He calls himself a "theocratic fascist"--regardless of this statement's truth, he advocates for aims that are in line with the fascist movement. He pushes for the banning of LGBTQ ideas in schools and in media, consistently advocates for the "Great Replacement Theory" (a neo-Nazi idea stating immigrants are trying to "end the white race" by moving into a country). He has also advocated for child marriage and pregnancy. He's said "Girls between the ages of like 17 and 24 is when they’re technically most fertile. That’s biological, that’s a fact, alright? I’m just stating facts, that’s all I’m doing" and "What I’m saying is that the problem is not per se teenage pregnancy, it’s unwed pregnancy – that’s the problem in society." These positions do not "enrich the University community."
UW-Madison should not necessarily curb free speech, but there is a difference between not silencing a person and providing them a pedestal to engage in hate speech. Allowing Matt Walsh to speak and screen his film on campus actively endangers our trans and queer peers. Inaction by the University reflects its commitment to an undemocratic, unsafe campus, which in no way values diversity.
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Jennifer Mnookin
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UW-Madison Institutional Statement on Diversity:
"Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW–Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background—people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world."
The transphobic Matt Walsh event on October 24, 2022 is counter to the University's statement on diversity. First, it creates an unwelcome and exclusionary community for transgender students. Second, Matt Walsh himself is a danger to all of UW's listed "pursuits".
1. The movie is cut to make it seem like no one can answer Matt Walsh's question "What is a Woman?" It skips over the answers of its guests and trans people in an attempt to alienate trans people to the general public. The film pushes the idea that trans people are attempting to mutilate your children, which is simply untrue. Its solution to this problem is to not allow transgender people to exist or receive healthcare. The goal of the film is not to pursue an academic or political answer to this question, but instead to reaffirm transphobic rhetoric that is already pervasive in our culture. The goal of this is to convince students on our campus to actively attack the identities of their fellow students.
2. Matt Walsh himself is a danger to the students and ideals of UW-Madison. He calls himself a "theocratic fascist"--regardless of this statement's truth, he advocates for aims that are in line with the fascist movement. He pushes for the banning of LGBTQ ideas in schools and in media, consistently advocates for the "Great Replacement Theory" (a neo-Nazi idea stating immigrants are trying to "end the white race" by moving into a country). He has also advocated for child marriage and pregnancy. He's said "Girls between the ages of like 17 and 24 is when they’re technically most fertile. That’s biological, that’s a fact, alright? I’m just stating facts, that’s all I’m doing" and "What I’m saying is that the problem is not per se teenage pregnancy, it’s unwed pregnancy – that’s the problem in society." These positions do not "enrich the University community."
UW-Madison should not necessarily curb free speech, but there is a difference between not silencing a person and providing them a pedestal to engage in hate speech. Allowing Matt Walsh to speak and screen his film on campus actively endangers our trans and queer peers. Inaction by the University reflects its commitment to an undemocratic, unsafe campus, which in no way values diversity.