A Student Bar Association was going to host a party called “Hawaiian Day,” but after submitting the event idea to the University of South Dakota law school, apparently got told to change the name and ended up going with “Beach Day,” reported Campus Reform. The bar association told partygoers to come dressed in floral shirts and leis, the little flower wreaths, but then scrapped the leis, allegedly because “It was determined that these are culturally insensitive by the administration after doing research based off of the essay written by [a] complainant.”

The law school administration didn’t tell the group not to wear leis, but did suggest not to hand them out on the basis that they’re items of cultural significance. Now, this seems to be a decision that was poorly received across the board. First, USD’s president, Sheila Gestring, put out a press release, saying “Administrative censorship of student speech and expression is a serious matter and not something USD condones without compelling justification consistent with Board policy, such as a genuine threat.”

Sheila said the university would be investigating whether the law school violated the school’s policy on free speech. But to make things even more humiliating for cultural authoritarians, Hawaii state Republican Rep. Bob McDermott bashed the law school in USD’s student newspaper.

He said “Someone in South Dakota has their head stuck in a snowbank. The lei is a symbol of our Aloha spirit in Hawaii, inclusive and welcoming. One individual’s objection to its use at a festive event is both patronizing and an insult to our island tradition. It is also a demonstration of ignorance about the cultural significance of the lei.”

Here’s the thing about all of this cultural appropriation claptrap. It operates from two faulty assumptions. One, that culture operates by some sort of perverse property rights system in which white people are forbidden from embracing trends started by other races, but not the other way around. Remember that Hawaii fits into that paradigm because it has less than 25% whites.

And two, the concept of cultural appropriation mistakes the donning of sombreros and the like as part of a jovial, themed party for contemptuous mockery. I used to think that those two assumptions were simple mistakes, until they happened over and over and over again. It’s high time we stopped treating these guys as wayward children and started recognizing them as entirely self-conscious fraudsters and killjoys. 

Gonzaga’s College Republicans had tried to invite Shapiro to campus, but the school said “Mr. Shapiro’s appearances routinely draw protests that include extremely divisive and hateful speech and behavior, which is offensive to many people, regardless of their age, politics or beliefs,” reported Campus Reform.

Yeah but is it Ben who creates the “divisive and hateful speech and behavior” or petulant, progressive crybullies? The school also went on to say it stood with “vulnerable members” of the campus and insinuated that an event featuring Shapiro would contradict the teachings of Jesus. I don’t think they’re talking about Ben being Jewish there.

So, that was back in November. Gonzaga conducted a risk assessment in January and the school president announced this month that Shapiro could come, but gave three conditions, reported Campus Reform. The College Republicans have to work with one of the VPs. OK, that doesn’t sound too bad. Next, the group has to charge attendees for tickets to help with the security cost. Well, as long as there are no insane security fees deliberately hiked to stop the event from happening, that should be fine too. And third, Shapiro has to respect Gonzaga’s mission statement.

This last one could also be a bit — I hate this word — problematic. As you might guess, Gonzaga’s mission statement is chock-full of vague platitudes and, at one point, it explicitly says “the Gonzaga experience fosters a mature commitment to dignity of the human person, social justice, [and] diversity.”

Yeah I don’t think Ben’s message is going to fit too cleanly in those last two categories. And there you are: perfect pretext for Gonzaga to kick Ben out to appease progressive journos or simply out of spite towards some of those thought criminals in the College Republicans. You can’t trust these guys as far as you can throw them. I mean figuratively throw them — with free speech. Don’t sue me for incitement to violence, fam.

State University of New York New Paltz professor Laura Ebert is facing a larceny misdemeanor charge after a video appeared to show her removing GOP signs from a lawn, according to Campus Reform.

The professor said:

“I meant no personal harm, and don’t know the person whose lawn the sign was on. I have family I love that support Trump, so I was after the sign, not the person….I did it in a moment of weakness and high emotion.”

An an anti-Trump professor acting out of weakness and high emotion? You don’t say. And Laura wasn’t the only university employee messing with signs. Melissa Link, who serves as a managing editor of the environment and ethics over at the University of Georgia, also allegedly tore down GOP signs in her neck of the woods, reported Campus Reform.

She claimed it’s illegal to put political signs on road median strips, on roadsides, and grass separating the sidewalk from the road.

“If you see these [signs], please call ACC Code Enforcement at 706-613-3790 or feel free to rip them up yourself for proper disposal because they are considered litter,” she said. “Republican campaigns are infamous for lining roadsides near polling places with signs in the wee hours of the morning. This is illegal but not unexpected, they know they can’t win without cheating.”

Well, it turns out that neither the Official Code of Georgia, nor the municipal code for that Georgia county authorize random civilians to tear down signs. Now, some people might think it’s petty to hold university employees accountable for vandalizing signs or charging with battery individuals like Florida State student Shelby Shoup, who apparently worked on Florida Democrat Andrew Gillum’s campaign, threw chocolate milk on College Republicans, and kicked over a GOP sign.

But REMEMBER: the left has no qualms with holding THEIR political opponents’ feet to the fire over harmless jokes or not keeping up with the new term for “illegal alien.” Why not hold them accountable for actual crimes?