University of New Haven still hasn’t apologized: let President Kaplan know how you feel

I didn’t realize I had so many supporters in New Haven, Connecticut!

If you’d like to sign the petition demanding that the school bring me in and apologize, sign it here.

If you’d like to contact the university, please call or email President Kaplan.

203-932-7276
skaplan@newhaven.edu

Ask the President for the truth about why my invite was rescinded. Ask him what he knew about this and when he knew it. Ask him if he approved it and — if so — why.

Tell him Sheriff Clarke sent you.

Also, it’s been fun to read all of the kind letters from parents, students, and (former) donors of the University of New Haven. Here’s a peak inside my inbox:

President Kaplan,

As the father of a current undergraduate student majoring in Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven, it is with great disappointment that I learned of the University’s decision to rescind its invitation to Sheriff David Clarke to speak at the Markle Symposium.  The University’s statement relative to this matter that, “circumstances did not permit Sheriff Clarke’s attendance at this year’s symposium,” strikes me as intentionally ambiguous and in stark contrast to the specific information provided by Sheriff Clark on this issue.  I am left to come to no other conclusion than the University, having first invited and then rescinded the invitation, buckled to pressure both from inside and outside the University community based on perceived controversial statements made by Sheriff Clarke that address ongoing social issues in this country.

I have researched a number of individuals that have been invited to speak at UNH in the past and found their stances on similar hot-button social issues to be at the least controversial, and in some cases offensive.  I am concerned that this decision by UNH exhibits a prevailing double standard on many college campuses on the matter of free speech.  Individuals with progressive backgrounds and opinions are warmly welcomed, while those expressing more conservative views like Sheriff Clarke, are not afforded the same treatment.  The University’s public statement on this issue leaves concerned supporters of the school like myself questioning the its true motives.

As a twenty-seven year law enforcement veteran and the father of a current Criminal Justice major, I am very disappointed in the University’s decision on a number of levels.  As a University with a reputation as having a top tier Criminal Justice and Forensics programs, its apparent lack of support for law enforcement, as well as free speech, has me concerned for its current and future direction and wondering if this bias extends beyond this decision and into the day-to-day instruction my son and the other students are receiving.

I look forward to your response.

Here’s another:

Dear Sheriff Clarke,

My son attends UNH and is very upset to find that you have been disinvited to speak at his school. He is going to make some noise about it today. Any suggestions on who to talk to? He looked up a professor Malloy, already. Would he be the key person to address? My son,Frankie, is very conservative and a huge fan of yours, as well as us, his parents. Disinvited because of BLM, really? That is ridiculous. We are furious! I told him to go a step further and inform Fox News, Hannity, and O’Reilly. Why not? I’m sure one of them would like to report it. What he cannot figure out is why he didn’t even know about you being invited in the first place. I guess it was purposely not put out there for fear of criticism? If you have any suggestions, please let us know. He will be emailing you later.

Thanks for all the great work you do!

Also, people expressed confusion, disappointment, and fury on the University of New Haven’s Facebook page:

And:

And:

And:

Well, I say these people are my fans — but really they’re just red blooded Americans who are sick and tired of being pushed around by political correctness.  They’re sick of the unnecessary racial strife.  They’re sick of a university pretending to be a marketplace of ideas when it’s really just the lapdog of #BlackLivesMatter and other radical groups.

Thanks for all the support.