[Indistinct conversations]
-We have six new trustees on our board of trustees.
And I am pleased to be here today
with two of our new trustees -- Trustee Rufo and Trustee Speir.
[Applause]
-Every single person -- with one exception --
that I've talked to behind closed doors
says New College has a culture problem.
And even the consultants that the university has hired,
they said that New College would become an echo chamber.
When they did a study,
these consultants hired by the college,
they said that the three words,
the three phrases that most describe the culture here --
quote, "politically correct," "druggies," "weirdos."
The vast majority of you -- 90%, 95%, roughly --
agree with me that there are significant problems here.
[All murmuring] No?
- No problems.
- Our students just got sent an e-mail advised
to not come to see you today because of threats.
You are the problem.
- Oh, sure.
[Applause]
-If we have lost that ability to have differing views,
what ways of communication can you bring us from outside
that we maybe don't know,
because we've been so busy being, like,
the small person with no -- the small school with no money.
- What you have just said,
and the principles and values underneath what you said,
you can feel from you,
are exactly the kind of thing that we need to encourage.
And so, I just want to say thank you.
And I want to say let's do everything we can
to make this the new standard here at the college.
[Indistinct talking]
Look, I think this is a different discussion than we had
this morning, predominantly administrators and faculty.
And for students, I think there's probably a lot of things
that you like or love about New College.
Is that right? - Mm-hmm.
- And for those of you who are saying, you know,
"Chris Rufo," you know, "right wing,"
"Governor DeSantis," you know,
major concerns -- we have a job to do.
We're gonna do the job.
But we're not going to try to create a --
one orthodoxy in replacement of another.
- One or two more questions.
- Give the mic to a person of color.
- So, you claim to want to increase overall enrollment,
and the school's overall success, yet your [indistinct]
to turn our campus into a space of extremist indoctrination
is already actively harming our enrollment rates.
Are you aware that the New College Admissions
Office has reported students calling to unenroll
and request deposit
refunds as a direct result of your appointment to the board
and subsequent inflammatory remarks on social media?
[Applause]
-Yesterday night, when I was putting my child to bed,
I got hit up by not one but five different alumnis and students,
saying the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers
were planning on being here.
How do you plan to tell us that you are going to be able
to keep these students
of different ideologies than you safe?
Are you planning on allowing open carry here?
Are were going to --
Am I going to have to worry, as a community member,
that I'm gonna have to come down here
'cause students don't feel safe because Proud Boys and Oath
Keepers are outside with guns?
[Loud applause]
-I would say this, as a philosophical matter,
security is critical in order to have liberty.
- You're not answering the question.
- So, people need to feel safe
in order for them to have the freedom.
This is something that we know from John Locke,
we know from Hobbes,
with a little bit of kind of edge to it,
but we've known this for a long time.
I think that what we need to do is,
we need to work with the campus, students, faculty,
administration, the incredible law enforcement officers here,
to say "What can we do to ensure students' safety and security?"
Point blank, for everyone.
And I think that that's the beginning point
that we need to have.
And I think that that's essential,
and that's something that we can all work on together.
And look, there are violent militia groups, for example.
That should not be welcome on campus.
- Say their names. Say their names.
Say their names.
Say "The Proud Boys" and "The Oath Keepers."
Say their names.
- I would say, right or left, wherever...
[Groaning]
-Oath Keepers. - Yeah.
Of course.
Look, this -- this has to be a place for learning,
a place for scholarship.
And any threat of violence, any physical intimidation,
is not gonna be welcome.