House GOP teams with YAF on 'Free Speech Caucus' to fight for 1A rights on college campuses

Republican Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Kat Cammack (R-FL) have partnered with conservative youth organization Young America's Foundation (YAF) to create the Campus Free Speech Caucus in the US House of Representatives.

The group will aim to educate other legislators about partisan bias against free speech on campuses and bring national awareness to the ongoing threat against the First Amendment, which is happening in local districts and across the country.

"Together with YAF, we're sending the message that free speech is not only a constitutional right but also a core freedom that must be preserved on college campuses across the country," Cammack stated.

"At a time when university leadership and students are caving to the pressure of liberal progressivism, my colleagues in Congress will stand up for the First Amendment and ensure all have the right to exercise their thoughts and ideas freely and without persecution."

Jordan and Cammack will meet with YAF leadership and students every month to learn about the latest attacks on free speech to share with fellow members of Congress. The caucus will work with congressional lawmakers to push back on woke cancel culture and defend freedom for young Americans everywhere.

"The First Amendment is under attack on campuses across the country," stated Jordan via press release Monday. "Every day, students and faculty are forced to self-censor out of fear that they will be 'canceled' by the mob."

YAF president Gov. Scott Walker stated that the Campus Free Speech Caucus will help the conservative movement fight back and ensure all voices can be heard on campus. "Free speech is guaranteed in our Constitution. It should be revered on our college campuses. Sadly, this is where it's most at risk," Walker explained.

"Our extensive network of student activists will provide firsthand accounts of the latest attacks on the First Amendment to the caucus members," YAF spokesperson Kara Zupkus told The Post Millennial.

"The members will work with other lawmakers to ensure that schools are held accountable and that these issues draw national awareness." Zupkus noted that YAF has strong relationships with "freedom-fighters" on Capitol Hill, and in recent meetings, many were "shocked by the horror stories of free speech abuses on campuses."

YAF has reported and tracked key campus bias instances across the country.

An ecology professor at the University of Georgia banned students from sourcing Fox News, according to YAF's Campus Bias Tip Line. Students in the lecturer's introductory ecology class were told to only use "reliable news sources" for an upcoming assignment, citing CNN and The New York Times as examples.

"Please do not draw from questionable sources such as National Inquirer, Fox News, OAN, blogs, etc," the University of Georgia professor instructed.

Indiana University's Kelley School of Business told members of its professional business fraternities that they will be threatening disciplinary action against students whose words or actions have been deemed "harmful."

A copy of Kelley Fraternity Hateful Speech/Action Reporting System was obtained by YAF, revealing that the system, according to the document, is intended to "hold all Kelley professional members accountable to an environment of inclusivity and the absence of bigotry, discrimination, and streotyping [sic]." Incidents that can be reported by students include "demeaning jokes," "perpetuating negative stereotypes," and "posting psychologically harmful content."

Any student reported will receive an email from the fraternity council explaining the charge and will also be given an "anti-racism guide" and "inclusivity guide."

Jordan and Cammack joined Fox & Friends on Monday morning to announce that the GOP and YAF have united to protect free speech on college campuses.

The two House Republicans urged that institutions must be held "accountable," arguing that college campuses are acting as "indoctrination camps" for the left.

"Let's be honest. Our college campuses these days, these aren't higher-education institutions, these are indoctrination camps," Cammack said on-air. "We have students across the country that are being attacked. They are being vilified. It is absolutely ludicrous that we as taxpayers [fund] this type of behavior."

Cammack, a freshman rising star as well as the youngest Republican woman in Congress, recalled what she experienced in college and how she also was exposed to "harassment" and "vitriol" from the liberal mob.

"It wasn't too long ago that I found myself as an undergraduate student being attacked by my Latin American politics professor, telling me that all white Republican men are the source of world conflict," she said.

Jordan, a longtime YAF ally and House Freedom Caucus founder, said that the attacks on free speech are happening everywhere, but "most drastic" on college campuses. "Your First Amendment liberties over the last several years, every single right we have under the First Amendment has been assaulted..." he added.

YAF has been at the forefront of the campus free speech battle for decades, as part of a grassroots effort to fight for the rights of students in the classroom, mainstream media, and the courts.

The student outreach organization described the effort as "important next step in ensuring America's leaders understand the fight at hand."

"Super excited about the direction this will take our nation," remarked YAF executive director Kyle Ferrebee. "America's academic institutions should be bastions of great ideas that are debated, tried, and exchanged free of repression."

YAF at University of Wisconsin-Madison's account praised Jordan, a Badger alum and "warrior for freedom in the halls of Congress."

"College students everywhere will be thankful that @yaf is bringing accountability to our universities," expressed YAF at University of Michigan on Twitter.

"Great news! This is a tremendous step in bringing more awareness to the presence of liberal indoctrination at college campuses nationwide," tweeted University of North Carolina Greensboro's local YAF chapter.

"Free Speech is important and needs to be protected at all cost on campuses across the nation!" reflected YAF at Gettysburg College's official Twitter account.

"Freedom of speech is the foundation of open discourse on college campuses. #1A has been under attack by universities and professors that do not want to hear opposing views, while pushing their own," voiced YAF at Iowa State University chairman Kyle Poen. The student activist declared that the initiative "will add accountability to protecting student's rights on campus."

YAF v. SUNY-Binghamton is an ongoing civil rights action brought by YAF—through Alliance Defending Freedom and attorneys from King & Spaulding—under the First and Fourteenth Amendments following "brazen denials of conservative students' constitutional rights."

YAF joined by plaintiffs SUNY-Binghamton College Republicans (BUCR) and BUCR President Jon Lizak—filed federal suit in July 2020 against the university's president Harvey Stenger, among other school administration officials, in addition to College Progressives and Progressive Leaders of Tomorrow (PLOT), a leftist collective based in Binghamton, New York.

On November 14, 2019, a 200-person mob of leftist College Progressives activists harassed and assaulted BUCRs while the conservative students were tabling on campus to promote one of YAF's lecture featuring Dr. Arthur Laffer.

The SUNY-Binghamton campus police did nothing to protect the BUCR's right to free speech and SUNY-Binghamton administrators took no actions to hold the responsible individuals accountable, the co-plaintiffs are petitioning.