The New York Young Republican Club proudly stands with Fordham University student Austin Tong in defense of his freedom of expression and his right to keep and bear arms. We condemn Fordham University for its totalitarian stance and its self-serving, active embrace of the Communist Party of China and its ideology.
Mr. Tong raised the ire of Forham University administrators and radical leftist students with two posts to his Instagram account. In the first post, Mr. Tong commemorated the life of retired police captain David Dorn. Violent protestors killed Office Dorn as he protected a friend’s store from looting during a riot which went unquelled by Democrat officials in St. Louis, Missouri. The New York Young Republican Club previously donated funds to support Officer Dorn’s family.
The next day, Mr. Tong posted a picture of himself posing with his legally obtained AR-15. In the photograph’s caption, he referenced the massacre of student protestors by the Communist Party of China in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, and he invoked the famous Gadsden flag slogan “Don’t Tread on Me.” In doing so, Mr. Tong inadvertently “triggered” many Fordham University students who seemingly inferred a threat to their safety where none existed.
Rather than use this as a teachable moment to instruct its students (including Fordham’s large international student population hailing from the Communist Party of China-ruled People’s Republic of China) in the violent history of the Communist Party of China and its ongoing efforts to exterminate any semblance of threat to its authority, Fordham University administrators punished Mr. Tong for committing a “hate crime” and engaging in “intimidating behavior.” Fordham students piled on in comments, creating a virtual struggle session of which Chairman Mao himself would have been proud. Mr. Tong stood strong in the face of this vitriol, and the New York Young Republican Club is proud to name him an Honorary Member for his fortitude and his self-evident embrace of fundamental American values.
Fordham University administrators and faculty should be ashamed of actively participating in a cover-up of the crimes committed by the Communist Party of China. Fordham University students and alumni should be ashamed of their university and their alma mater respectively for abrogating its responsibility as an educational organization to quite literally toe the (Communist) Party line so as not to endanger its lucrative business attracting international students from the People’s Republic of China. Instead, the University would rather subject Mr. Tong to a mandatory “anti-bias training” (ironically) akin to a Communist Party of China-operated re-education camp where they hope to instill in him hatred of the rights outlined in the First and Second Amendments.
Freedom of speech is an inalienable right of all Americans, and Fordham University has demonstrated a complete lack of respect for this fundamental principle. In a March 21, 2019 Executive Order, President Donald J Trump stated that the policy of the Federal Government is to “encourage institutions to foster environments that promote open, intellectually engaging, and diverse debate.” Fordham University actively suppresses speech and unjustly punishes students who defy the Communist-friendly narrative that they push. As such, the New York Young Republican Club calls on President Trump to cut all federal funding to Fordham University and to revoke the University’s tax-exempt status. In addition, we call on alumni to cease all donations to Fordham University until it reforms its policies and recognizes the fundamental rights of its students to express themselves, even when their opinion is not embraced by their peers.
The New York Young Republican Club stands with Austin Tong against Fordham University and against the Communist Party of China. After all:
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.