CMU Students Organize Campus Unity Party in Response to Alleged White Supremacist Speaker
James Burky, Daily Sentinel, March 27, 2025
Alex Austin knows all about tackling issues. He’s a defensive lineman for the Colorado Mesa football team and played for Holy Family High School in Erie.
The new issue he’s tackling, though, isn’t a running back trying to break free. It’s the presence of an alleged white supremacist and racist speaker.
When news of the speaker’s presence broke in early March, Austin and other students acted quicker than an unblocked pass rusher. There were many long days, hours-long meetings and clearing red tape for university approval. The fruit of that labor is a Campus Unity Party that features collaboration from students of all creeds, backgrounds and ideals from 3-8 p.m. today at the CMU plaza and alumni field.
{snip}
The Unity Party has received support from an array of students ranging from the Gender and Sexualities Alliance, the Cultural Inclusion Council, the Student Veterans Association and even the Biology Club.
There will be other demonstrations, such as one from the Democratic Socialists of America. Austin stressed that they weren’t attempting to quell other forms of protest but also that the unity party being a positive and peaceful event was a non-negotiable.
“It was important for us to have a non-political response to capture that large umbrella,” Austin said. “We’re going to have people who are of Republican beliefs and backgrounds at our event and who wholly support what we’re doing. When something so ridiculous and egregious happens, it’s on you as people who view themselves in the morally right position to respond in the correct way.”
{snip}
The speaker is Jared Taylor, who is an editor for a publication called American Renaissance that espouses white supremacist and racist messages and ideals. He distances himself from the white supremacist label but is widely called one by experts, advocates and watchdog groups. His speech is slated to go from 6-8 p.m. tonight in room 213 of the University Center.
The club that invited Taylor is the Western Culture Club, which saw its membership increase from five to 25 people after a group of students joined in protest of the group’s mission.
{snip}
