I heart crowdfunding! The $6k goal of sending @KatiePavlich and @annmcelhinney to speak at UNC-Chapel Hill has already been surpassed.
— Teri Christoph (@TeriChristoph) September 6, 2013
Awesome!
.@annmcelhinney & I will not stand for censorship & you shouldn't either. Help us crowdfund for our speech at UNC—> http://t.co/6TSVxWusqO
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) September 6, 2013
The University of North Carolina College Republicans wanted Katie Pavlich and Ann McElhinney to speak on campus, but after the student government arm that provides funding for that sort of thing would not agree to the amount of money requested, the College Republicans rallied support on Twitter and elsewhere to crowd-source the funding.
Background from The College Fix:
Conservative female investigative reporters Katie Pavlich and Ann McElhinney are unimpressive nonacademics whose speaking honorariums are too high and credentials too unremarkable to pay to have them give talks at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill this fall, members of the school’s student government have agreed.
Despite pleas from College Republicans to finance the speeches, which would have cost about $8,000 from UNC’s student programming coffer of $124,000, a majority of student government members voted Tuesday night against funding the campus visits, with several members voicing concerns that Pavlich and McElhinney aren’t worth the price.
On the same night, UNC student government representatives tapped the anarchist group “UNControllables” to receive $4,000 to fly in a social justice crusader/academic from South America to speak on campus, and the feminists group Siren Womyn Empowerment Magazine was allocated $5,100.
The story also quotes UNC Chapel Hill student government representatives who claim to have been opposed to the group funding Pavlich and McElhinney’s appearance because they claim they are “non-intellectual” and as “unreliable as a Wikipedia page.” In other words, “we disagree with them.”
Student congress voted 2 silence intellectual diversity because @KatiePavlich is a Fox News contributor and @annmcelhinney is a "liar" #tcot
— Ben Smith (@bmcsmith92) September 4, 2013
“Intellectual diversity” on too many college campuses is defined as a “wide array of opinions expressed mostly by those on the Left.”
I will be damned if I left intellectual diversity die on campus. That will not happen while I am here! #UNC #tcot
— Ben Smith (@bmcsmith92) September 4, 2013
No liberal bias? Apparently @FoxNews and credentials were the problem. http://t.co/TX6rZWhKqG via @CollegeFix by @bmcsmith92
— College Republicans (@UNCGOP) September 5, 2013
If the College Democrats invited a couple of MSNBC personalities to speak at the exact same cost it would be interesting to see how quickly the request for funding would be approved.
Wouldn't a campus like #UNC, with its huge sexual abuse problem, benefit from a strong woman like @KatiePavlich, who preaches self-defense
— Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) September 5, 2013
http://twitter.com/#!/SAG1948/status/375099697989292032
The good news is that the UNC College Republicans confirmed that Katie Pavlich and Ann McElhinney will be speaking on campus, thanks to those who chipped in:
The UNC CR's can CONFIRM that @KatiePavlich and @annmcelhinney will be coming to UNC TOGETHER via @yaf & @bmcsmith92 http://t.co/o8R8fEXUzi
— College Republicans (@UNCGOP) September 6, 2013
Excellent!
http://twitter.com/#!/annmcelhinney/status/375998162902597632Read more: http://twitchy.com/2013/09/06/unc-republicans-crowd-source-to-bring-pavlich-mcelhinney-to-campus-after-student-govt-slashed-funding/