Profs, staff at major college 'emotionally and physically triggered' by pro-border wall students, internal emails show

Professors, administrators, and staff at California State University, Los Angeles, were "emotionally and physically triggered" by pro-border wall students' activism, according to a flurry of internal emails obtained by Young America's Foundation — one of which accused its conservative student outfit, Young Americans for Freedom, of being a "white supremacist" group.

Young America's Foundation obtained the emails through a public records request after the school's Young Americans for Freedom chapter sponsored events last spring to advocate for President Donald Trump's border wall — including information tables, "Build the Wall" signs, and a lecture by Michael Knowles of The Daily Wire.

'Emotionally and physically triggered'

With that, professor Carlos Tejada wrote in an email that he was "emotionally and physically triggered" by the conservative students' activism, which he called a "'free speech' attack on our campus," Young America's Foundation noted:

Image source: Young America's Foundation, used by permission

In a different email, Tejada wrote that the activism "poses a threat to the mental well-being of many of our students, staff, and faculty [and] ... violates their sense of safety on their campus" and was "an outright attack on the psyches and well-being of more than few students, faculty, and staff," Young America's Foundation added:

Image source: Young America's Foundation, used by permission

"I nearly had to cancel class because of how shaken I am about seeing a 'Build the Wall' banner on our campus," Tejada also wrote, according to Young America's Foundation.

CSULA President William Covino wrote an email to the university community that said he "cannot remain silent in the face of actions that ostracize our students who are immigrants or children of immigrants" and then blasted "the actions of a few on our campus [who] lack the compassion and sensitivity that characterize healthy dialogue," Young America's Foundation reported:

Image source: Young America's Foundation, used by permission

'White supremacist student group'

Young America's Foundation also obtained an email to Covino from Melina Abdullah, a professor and former chair of Pan-African Studies, who voiced her "outrage" over Young Americans for Freedom — which she called "a white-supremacist student group" — and their "blatantly racist" pro-border wall stance. And she even urged the school's president to "immediately revoke all permits for such programming and student groups that make such hateful work their core," Young America's Foundation added:

Image source: Young America's Foundation, used by permission

After learning Knowles would be speaking on campus, Young America's Foundation said Tejada created an event calling for "#NOBORDERS" titled, "Migrants Are Beautiful," which "was specifically organized to draw attention away from the speaker the Young Americans for Freedom are bringing to campus."

More from Young America's Foundation:

If the names Abdullah and Covino sound familiar, they should — it was William Covino who initially canceled Ben Shapiro's planned YAF lecture at CSULA in 2016 before begrudgingly allowing the event to take place while Abdullah whipped students into a violent horde that blocked doors, trapped students inside the venue, and resulted in Shapiro needing a police escort to leave the premises.

Sadly, it seems these caricatures of leftist intolerance haven't changed much in the last three years, despite losing to Young America's Foundation in court over their actions. In fact, the school's shameful handling of the YAF chapter's lecture with Ben Shapiro was praised in response to this latest spat of administrative intolerance.

"Many of us have and will continue to oppose the racists, up to and including putting our bodies between them and our students, as in the infamous Shapiro-inspired aggression," Steve Teixeira, a career services specialist at CSULA, wrote, according to Young America's Foundation.

(H/T: The College Fix)