Campus Reform – by McKenna Dallmeyer
University of North Texas College Democrats Vice President Brett Davis took to Twitter to tell incoming freshmen which student organizations they should join and which to avoid.
“Hey incoming politically left UNT students, here is a thread of clubs on campus and around Denton that you can meet like-minded people and have a safe space to express your views,” the tweet read.
Included on the list is Antifa DFW. Davis tweeted that the group, “rallies the Dallas/Fort Worth area together against fascism either in office or in uniform. It’s important to strongly reject authoritarianism from both sides of the political spectrum.”
https://twitter.com/RealBrettDavis/status/1295162768946073602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1295162768946073602%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.campusreform.org%2F%3FID%3D15672
The group repeatedly promotes violence against police officers on its Twitter page.
“F*ck the police and their dead homies. Tear this whole thing down,” one retweet says.
The radical left will stop at nothing to intimidate conservative students on college campuses. You can stand up for them. Find out more »
In a now-deleted tweet, Davis addressed incoming conservative students advising them on what groups they should join and not join.
“Finally if you are on the right-wing of the political spectrum I implore you to join @UNTRepublicans and avoid the Young Conservatives of Texas at all costs,” Davis said.
Young Conservatives of Texas at UNT responded to Davis’ tweet with a quote tweet stating, “Normal right-leaning students don’t take advice from a self-proclaimed democratic socialist.” The organization also quote tweeted Davis’ Antifa DFW endorsement pointing out that it’s “not a good look when College Dem’s officers are endorsing a domestic terrorist organization.”
Not a good look when College Dem’s officers are endorsing a domestic terrorist organization https://t.co/UgT6i2mmmJ
— YCT UNT (@YctUnt) August 17, 2020
Chairman of Young Conservatives of Texas at UNT Kelly Neidert told Campus Reform that she took Davis’ action personally because she has been affected by Antifa DFW.
“I was personally very put off by his Antifa endorsement because there is an Antifa DFW member who has tweeted my personal information, and Twitter hasn’t taken it down. I think that’s something Brett should have condemned but he didn’t,” Neidert told Campus Reform.
When asked if YCT was worried about membership following Davis’ tweet, Neidert told Campus Reform, “We were more worried about it damaging our reputation, especially because it was aimed at freshmen/transfers who haven’t been around to see that we’re actually a really good club.”
However, the organization’s membership was not negatively affected, according to Neidert.
“We had a couple of people leave the [organization] but we had even more join,” she said.
A parent of an incoming freshman at UNT who asked to remain anonymous expressed her concern to Campus Reform due to her son’s plan to join YCT: “I consider the behavior by Dems at UNT unacceptable because it reflects poorly on young political organizations as a whole. I’m afraid other schools will also adapt these methods of harassment and in my mind would discourage students from joining the clubs/organizations.”
Davis did not respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment in time for publication.