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Student journalists at Stanford booted from campus activist meeting, told ‘not safe space’ for them

Two student journalists at Stanford University say they were kicked out of a campus activist meeting once peers determined they write for the Stanford Review, a right-of-center independent publication on campus.

Student journalist Amy Shen writes that she and a fellow writer were recently thrown out of a meeting of a group called Students for the Liberation of All People, which had sent an email to the campus community calling on Stanford to cut ties with mass incarceration.

Shen states they were there because they were curious, that Review editors are deeply conflicted on whether the prison divest movement is worthwhile and they wanted more information.

“This is not a safe space for you,” Shen states she was told by a leader at the meeting, adding:

Though the meeting was fairly secret, it was not restricted to members of the organization. The email had stated the meeting was open to anyone interested in joining. And we were not kicked out for being journalists per se. Another student who explained that she wrote for STATIC, a left-wing activist publication, was welcomed into the meeting with approving nods.

Instead, we were expelled because of our beliefs.

Like everyone else in the room, I believe in spaces where anyone — regardless of race, gender, or political affiliations — should feel safe to express their views. And I respect the organization’s right to ask disrespectful or malicious members to leave a meeting.

But this was not a community center or peer counseling session where participants deserve to be affirmed; this was a political meeting designed to organize against the university. Even though the meeting was not publicized, alternative viewpoints should not have been silenced.

Read the full piece, titled “Unsafe Space: The Glaring Intolerance of Stanford Activists.”

MORE: Student reporter gets a not-so-subtle threat: ‘STOP FILMING’ anti-Trump protests

MORE: At ‘students of color’-only Mizzou activism meeting, white journalists kicked out

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