Global Courant 2023-05-21 13:30:53
The president of a Christian college attributed his college’s high enrollment to its commitment to free speech, but the school initially blocked conservative commentator Ben Shapiro from speaking on campus just a few years ago.
Founded in 1949 in Phoenix, Arizona, Grand Canyon University has tripled its enrollment over the past decade to more than 25,000 by 2022. The university president told Fox News that the university is committed to teaching — not indoctrinating — of its growing student base.
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“Not everyone who comes here has the same biblical faith that we teach here, but they are free to be here and they are free to share their worldview in the classroom and beyond,” said GCU President Brian Mueller. “We are very serious about honoring freedom of speech.”
Mueller says GCU is committed to free speech for students of all religious beliefs, despite their focus on Christianity. (Fox News digital)
But the school faced backlash in 2019 after Shapiro was initially barred from speaking on campus to avoid division after student concerns, although the Daily Wire co-founder eventually spoke at GCU that year.
The national wing of the Young America’s Foundation announced that Shapiro would speak at the GCU campus, though the college did not approve the local chapter’s official request. according to a GCU press release.
GCU subsequently denied the request, saying in a press release that the school aimed to “bring unity to a community that is in the middle of a country that is extremely divided.” The college also said the rejection was in part because YAF’s premature announcement violated approval protocols.
“By giving in to an unseen mob and ignoring Shapiro’s popularity among its students, Grand Canyon University was simply playing itself and deserves whatever negative backlash this entails,” YAF spokesman Spencer Brown said at the time. He also wrote that GCU administrators said there were concerns about it insulting his DACA students due to Shapiro’s strict views on immigration.
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The university itself eventually invited Shapiro to speak as it continued its battle with YAF, but the conservative commentator initially declined. But Shapiro eventually agreed to speak on campus.
“I have worked with YAF and YAF students for years,” Shapiro tweeted. “I’m not going around GCU’s hard-working, dedicated YAF students; I’m going to GCU when YAF takes me to GCU.”
In the end, Shapiro did speaking in college later that spring.
After learning about the incident, Fox News reached out to GCU for clarification. A GCU spokesperson told Fox News that the school has invited speakers “from a variety of political viewpoints,” many of them conservative speakers.
“Mr. Shapiro’s conservative perspective aligns with more than 90% of our values as a university,” the spokesperson told Fox News. “There were some initial missteps regarding our internal communications and approval process, but we are pleased that those have been resolved and that Mr. Shapiro was able to visit and speak with our students. We still have a positive relationship with Mr. Shapiro today.”
Meanwhile, Mueller told Fox News in a recent interview that he is committed to promoting the First Amendment at his university. He said the prospect is attractive to parents as battles over free speech on college campuses have continued to escalate across the country.
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Parents don’t want their kids to be “indoctrinated into an ideology they may not have been taught at home” once they enter college, Mueller said.
While the student body is mostly made up of conservative Christians, Mueller said he expects political and religious diversity to grow. The Christian college has expanded over the past decade, even as college enrollments have fallen across the country.
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“We’re not a church,” Mueller told Fox News. “We are a university.”
“I think this is a very healthy environment that has created a very, very strong community that has become very attractive to people across the country,” Mueller said.
A YAF spokesperson, Michael McGonigle, responded to Mueller’s recent comments in light of GCU’s previous controversy involving Shapiro.
“While YAF has hosted several high-profile conservatives at GCU — including Elisha Krauss and Ben Shapiro — the university has not always fully supported our efforts to do so,” he said. “Hopefully the school has learned from its past mistakes and will remain determined in the fall as we work to bring additional speakers to campus.”
Shapiro declined to comment on Mueller’s recent comments.
Click here to watch Mueller’s full interview.
Megan Myers is an associate producer/writer at Fox News Digital Originals.
