Antifa Wins at Dartmouth

Andy Ngo, America’s premier journalist, was scheduled to speak at Dartmouth College last Thursday, on the subject of “Extremism in America” and at the invitation of the College Republicans and Turning Point USA. But the fascist group Antifa, which has viciously assaulted Ngo in the past, resulting in his hospitalization, objected to the event. Andy Ngo writes:

About a week prior to the scheduled event, the group Northeast Antifa published a disturbing flyer featuring a photograph of my bloodied face from when an Antifa mob beat me in 2019 in Portland, Ore. I was hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage from that assault and robbery.

“Anti-fascists from all over New England will be mobilizing January 20th, 2022 at Dartmouth College to disrupt and prevent fascist propagandists like Andy Ngo from normalizing their reactionary beliefs on college campuses in the Northeast,” tweeted the group. It instructed fellow comrades to “wear black” to hide their identities and avoid future prosecution.

On Instagram, the group threatened me directly. “This is to Andy Ngo himself: when you f–k with us you are not f–king with college students,” it wrote. “When you enter our home you start playing by our rules, not yours. New England is anti-fascist, and we will hold that line until death.”

The Vermont chapter of the far-left militia John Brown Gun Club responded in a tweet, saying it had called up reserves and would be there with a “battalion of Antifa.” In 2019, a member of the group’s Washington state chapter, Willem van Spronsen, carried out an armed attack on the Tacoma Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility using firebombs.

Typical fascist behavior, with much more at the link.

So, did Dartmouth’s administration stand up to the far-left bullies? Of course not:

Hanover police, nearby Lebanon police and the Grafton County Sheriff’s Office met the threats with a robust and commendable response. Dozens of officers secured the lecture hall where we were scheduled to speak. They secured every entrance and exit at the building, Moore Hall.

They cleared the hall with a bomb squad and dogs. But the security wasn’t good enough to satisfy Dartmouth’s administrators, who surely are cowardly and perhaps were sympathetic to the fascists:

Two hours before the event was set to begin, and with many attendees already en route, the administration canceled it. Over the phone, senior assistant dean for student life Anna Hall said the decision was made by “several” people but refused to say who when asked by a student organizer. The organizers were given the ultimatum of “transitioning” to a Zoom meeting or nothing at all. They reluctantly chose the former.

Attendees who drove hours across New England were turned away at the door. The administrators would not even let in the family of the organizers or those who were personally vetted.

It was a big win for Antifa. One of the ironies is that it was predictable that no fascists would actually show up to try to shut down the event; or, at most, a bare handful. In fact, “There was no visible presence of protestors Thursday night.” So all it took was a few tweets with empty threats of violence to nullify Dartmouth students’ right to hear Andy Ngo talk–ironically–about political extremism.

Much has changed since Paul, Scott and I were students at Dartmouth decades ago. In those days, Dartmouth had an administration that believed in free speech. Beyond that, if a handful of hooligans had tried to shut down an event that a hundred or more Dartmouth guys wanted to attend–well, let’s just say that such an effort would have been ill-advised.

The academic world has declined badly in recent decades. This is one data point among countless others.