{"id":850358,"date":"2021-10-05T20:29:22","date_gmt":"2021-10-06T00:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=850358"},"modified":"2021-10-05T20:29:24","modified_gmt":"2021-10-06T00:29:24","slug":"report-college-students-under-investigation-for-china-kinda-sus-stickers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-college-students-under-investigation-for-china-kinda-sus-stickers\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: College Students Under Investigation For \u201cCHINA KINDA SUS\u201d Stickers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freport-college-students-under-investigation-for-china-kinda-sus-stickers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=850358&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/China-hammer-and-sickle.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>A conservative campus group at Emerson College has been suspended and several students are under investigation for handing out stickers critical of the Chinese government, according to a new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>FIRE <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefire.org\/emerson-college-investigates-suspends-conservative-student-group-for-stickers-criticizing-chinas-government\/\"><span>reported <\/span><\/a><span>that a campus chapter of Turning Point USA was suspended on October 1, just days after the group passed out stickers that said \u201cCHINA KINDA SUS,\u201d and the same day that group leaders were notified that they were under investigation for violating the college\u2019s community guidelines.&nbsp;<\/span><span>The stickers also featured a hammer and sickle, implying that the group was suspicious of China\u2019s communist government.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a letter to Interim President William Gilligan, FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/d28htnjz2elwuj.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05142625\/FIRE-Letter-to-Emerson-College-October-5-2021.pdf\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span>, \u201cFIRE is concerned by Emerson College\u2019s suspension, investigation, and initiation of misconduct charges against a student organization and its members due to its distribution of stickers critical of the government of the People\u2019s Republic of China.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cCriticism of governments is core political expression protected by principles of free expression that Emerson pledges to uphold,\u201d the letter continued. It should be noted that Emerson is a private school, so First Amendment concerns do not pertain to this particular incident.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In response to a request for comment from The Daily Wire, Michelle Gaseau, Director of Media Relations and Communications for Emerson College, said, \u201cThe college takes these matters seriously, and is addressing reports of the events on campus last week.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also pointed to President Gilligan\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/today.emerson.edu\/2021\/09\/30\/recent-event-on-the-boston-campus\/\">statement<\/a> on the matter where he condemned bigotry against Asians and said the college would begin an investigation into the reports about stickers with \u201canti-Chinese messaging.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span>FIRE obtained several emails it says came from the school documenting its response to the incident.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A day after the students handed out the stickers, Emerson\u2019s International Student Affairs team sent out an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/d28htnjz2elwuj.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05160918\/Email-from-Emerson-International-Student-Affairs-Team-to-International-Student-Community-September-30-2021_Redacted.pdf\"><span>email<\/span><\/a><span> consoling foreign students about the incident. The group said that the stickers \u201cexpressed anti-China hate\u201d and that they stood with Asian students \u201cto denounce the use of free speech platforms for statements that are used as xenophobic weapons.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The team also mentioned that it was reviewing the incident for potential violations of the school\u2019s Code of Community Standards.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Responding to the outrage, TPUSA Emerson <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CUdmzRcg-yP\/?utm_source=FIRE_Update&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Update&amp;fb_subscribed=true\"><span>posted<\/span><\/a><span> a video to Instagram explaining that \u201cthe sticker intends to criticize the Chinese government,\u201d clarifying, \u201cit has nothing to do with Asian ethnicity or Asian culture.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The video was captioned, \u201c<\/span><span>The mob didn\u2019t like our sticker, we don\u2019t like the mob.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMultiple administrators at Emerson College released statements assigning racist malice to our \u2018China Kinda Sus\u2019 stickers without speaking with us first,\u201d the caption continued.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to FIRE, on October 1, the leaders of the group <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/d28htnjz2elwuj.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05160526\/Letter-from-Emerson-College-to-Turning-Point-USA-October-1-2021.pdf\"><span>received<\/span><\/a><span> an email from Julia Rothhaar-Sanders, Emerson Director of Community Standards, telling them that they were under investigation<\/span><span> for \u201cbias related behavior\u201d and \u201cinvasion of privacy.\u201d It also told them that the group would be placed under \u201cinterim action,\u201d meaning that they would not be able to hold events on campus while the investigation was ongoing. A meeting with the group leaders will be scheduled to discuss the incident.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIf anything is \u2018kinda sus,\u2019 it\u2019s Emerson\u2019s overblown response to the stickers,\u201d Steinbaugh <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefire.org\/emerson-college-investigates-suspends-conservative-student-group-for-stickers-criticizing-chinas-government\/\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span>, \u201cEmerson must make this right by immediately dropping the investigation and affirming that criticism of a foreign government is not discriminatory harassment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A conservative campus group at Emerson College has been suspended and several students are under investigation for handing out stickers critical of the Chinese government, according to a new report &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-850358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}