Intercollegiate Update: News on Nearby Campuses

University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut hosted an event featuring a far-right speaker called “It’s OK To Be White” on Nov. 28. The speaker, Lucian Wintrich, was charged by police for breach of peace after grabbing a young woman who took a piece of paper from the podium during the speech. He was promptly escorted from the building. A second arrest was made, with a man allegedly breaking a window during the time of the event. UConn officials argued that the speaker had the right to express his views on the campus, although many have decried the nature of the event as extremely racist. The speech incited widespread protest across campus. Many students were deeply offended by the event, which, according to students interviewed by UConn student newspaper The Daily Campus, was a presentation of hate speech. Police are investigating all matters of the event and UConn students are continuing to respond.
Wesleyan University
The struggle between Wesleyan University and its Greek chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) continues this week. In 2014, the Wesleyan administration mandated that all fraternities must accept female students. DKE’s housing was revoked by Wesleyan in 2015 after alleging that the fraternity did not take the necessary steps to admit female members. In response, the fraternity, which has 45 active brothers on campus, accused Wesleyan of discrimination and misrepresentation. Other fraternities at Wesleyan have taken the College’s orders to accept female students. Psi Upsilon’s chapter at Wesleyan is headed by a female student, who explained to The Wesleyan Argus that her own fraternity has effectively seen a shift in gender distribution and has succeeded in becoming coeducational. DKE existed at Trinity before becoming Cleo of Alpha Chi in order to accept female members.
Tufts University
A student journalist from collegiate newspaper The Tufts Daily is being threatened with a potential lawsuit from former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci because of an op-ed column described by Scaramucci’s attorney as “false and defamatory.” Scaramucci’s team is demanding that The Tufts Daily issue an apology for the remarks made by graduate student Camilo Caballero, a contributor to the paper. In the meantime, Tufts has postponed an event featuring Scaramucci speaking on campus in light of the threatened lawsuit towards the school newspaper. Scaramucci is a 1986 graduate of Tufts and has encountered controversy with the school since his high-profile tenure as White House Communications Director. Recently, an online petition to oust Scaramucci from an advisory board for the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy has gained over 240 signatures.