The Hopkins chapter of the Young America Foundation (YAF), in partnership with members of the Hopkins College Republicans, hosted their first event on Wednesday, Sept. 11. The event featured a talk on immigration reform by Mark Krikorian, which was to be followed by a 45-minute Q&A with the speaker. However, the event was soon disrupted by student protestors and ended early.
Krikorian currently serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies — a think tank which claims to promote a “pro-immigrant, low-immigration” vision. Krikorian has been referred to as the “leading theorist in immigration in restriction in America” and has authored various written works on the subject.
In an email to The News-Letter, leaders of the Hopkins chapter of the YAF — a national conservative youth organization — stated that Krikorian was chosen to launch the chapter through this event due to his availability.
“To launch the organization, Mark was the only available speaker at the date and time requested,” they wrote.
Despite this being advertised as the first YAF event, in an email to The News-Letter, a university spokesperson clarified that this event was officially hosted by the College Republicans, as YAF is not a recognized student organization.
“Johns Hopkins University’s College Republicans was the host of the event. The Chapter of Young America’s Foundation is not a recognized student group and therefore is not permitted to reserve space on the Hopkins campus,” the spokesperson stated.
At around 7 p.m., Krikorian began his speech to a small group of audience members. He began with suggestions on how to think through the issue of immigration, calling it a “meta-issue” — something that affects many other issues of national importance like jobs and public services. He described how many in this country are in support of “unlimited immigration” and the implications of this perspective.
About eight minutes into his speech, masked protestors present in the audience began setting off phone alarms and other loud sounds from their devices. Some protesters interrupted Kirkorian while he was speaking, demanding immediate answers to their questions. Krikorian responded to demonstrators by asking them to wait until the Q&A session.
Krikorian continued to speak but was continuously interrupted by the protesters who began to shout expletives and call him a “racist” and “bigot.” Demonstrators asked what he thought about Haiti and to explain how immigrants were gold-diggers. This was in reference to statements Krikorian made in 2010, writing “My guess is that Haiti’s so screwed up because it wasn’t colonized long enough.”
Associate Vice Provost for Student Engagement and Dean of Students Brittini Brown eventually made her way to the podium and requested protestors to perform their demonstration in a less disruptive manner so Krikorian could continue speaking, citing Hopkins policies on freedom of expression.
According to an email written by a university spokesperson to The News-Letter, university staff does intervene when there is reason to believe an event might elicit a demonstration.
“Staff in student affairs do pre-event outreach to the student organization to make them aware that we are working with campus partners to plan accordingly,“ they wrote.
Protesters refused to quiet down despite faculty intervention. At some point, the demonstrators also used stink sprays to fill the room with an unpleasant odor. They continued to interrupt Krikorian, asking at one point about his comments on the 2019 El Paso Shooting, in reference to Krikorian calling the shooter’s manifesto, which included mention of a “Hispanic invasion” in the US, “remarkably well-written for a 21-year-old loner.”
Some students in the audience who were not demonstrating in the protest came up to the seats in the front closer to Krikorian as the demonstrators became louder. A few of them directly spoke to protesters, requesting them to quiet down so they could listen to Krikorian’s talk.
One of these students, Sayed — a first-year undergraduate student — spoke about his disappointment with the conduct of his peers in an interview with The News-Letter.
“I couldn't get any information out of [Krikorian] even though they worked really hard to bring him here,” he said. “Respect is important. Whether you disagree with the person, whether they hate you, whatever it is, you always have to respect them.”
Eventually, the chair of the Hopkins YAF chapter called for an end to the event and instructed students interested in talking with Krikorian to gather with him outside the room. Protesters left the hall, removing YAF handouts from the front table and instead covering the table with flyers highlighting Krikorian’s quotes they claimed were racist.
After the protestors left the event, Idris Sunmola — a doctoral student who was in attendance — discussed his grievances with the demonstrators in an interview with The News-Letter.
“Challenging someone in this manner is not productive, because this is actually a feather in his cap. [Krikorian] can go to his echo chamber and tell them that ‘I was at JHU and I wasn’t allowed to speak because they don’t have substantive rebuttals to the points I have.’ That is not productive. I do not see any good that can come out of it,” he said.
Prior to the event, the Hopkins Justice Collective (HJC) — a student activist group at Hopkins — posted about the event on their Instagram page, asking students to email the office of Leadership Engagement & Experiential Development (LEED) and request cancellation of the event. However, in an email to The News-Letter, HJC denied organizing the disruption which occurred during the speech.
“After LEED insisted that the speech was protected with no response to our concerns about the xenophobic and racist rhetoric that Krikorian shares, dissatisfied members from the Hopkins community autonomously decided to disrupt the event as it was taking place,” HJC wrote.
Despite this, an article titled “Johns Hopkins University Spinelessly Allows Leftist Disruptors to Derail YAF Lecture on Immigration Crisis,” which was published on the YAF website on Friday, September 13, states that the “masked disruptors” are part of the Hopkins Justice Collective.
According to YAF leadership, prior to the event, protesters had also tampered with the auditorium door lock system to prevent them and attendees from getting into the auditorium. YAF leadership expressed that the disruptors’ right to free speech ended as soon as they infringed upon the rights of their audience to freely engage with and listen to Krikorian. The YAF expressed their condemnation of the protesters’ disruption in an email to The News-Letter.
“On multiple occasions, we reminded the disruptors that there is a lengthy 45-minute Q&A where they can express themselves respectfully and constructively. Yet, these reminders were ignored as the disruptors' only intent was to obstruct. They shut down the conversation. They shut down free speech,” the YAF wrote.
HJC continued to insist that Krikorian’s event should not have been approved, claiming that though the University benefits from diverse perspectives, including those that are conservative, Krikorian’s rhetoric is dangerous and amounts to hate speech against many members of the student body. In an email to The News-Letter, HJC described the threat that Krikorian posed to the Hopkins community.
“Krikorian’s rhetoric and those who share it continues to endanger immigrants, especially those which are undocumented or seeking asylum. We saw in the debate on Tuesday the vilification of Haitian migrants, and we cannot bring this violent and dangerous rhetoric to our community at Hopkins, especially when such a large portion of our student body is international, first generation, and students of color,” HJC wrote.
The Hopkins chapter of the YAF or its members maintain that they are not affiliated with Krikorian. In response to allegations of racism and xenophobia against their invitee, the YAF maintained that Krikorian still deserved to be heard.
“It does not matter what our opinions on Mr. Krikorian or his views are as much what our audience and guests make of them, following a respectful and productive dialogue that allows them to form informed judgments and respectfully express their opinions. We, furthermore, believe in the importance of context and charity as a virtue,” the YAF wrote.
Sunmola described his desire for more controversial speakers to visit the Hopkins campus — to challenge students and motivate them to engage with people they disagree with in a productive manner.
“I actually want speakers like that to come, so that we can challenge them on these very pernicious points that they have. We want people like that to come so we can challenge them, peacefully and respectfully, so that their followers or people that believe in those viewpoints can see contending viewpoints to theirs,” he said.
In email to The News-Letter, a university spokesperson quoted the University’s Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom to describe the University’s stance on controversial guests.
“Indeed, among the measures of an academic community is its success in creating a culture of active discussion and debate, one where its members open themselves to the views of others, even when those views are provocative or unfamiliar,” they wrote.
Editor’s Note, 2024: This article has been edited to clarify Krikorian’s quotes on YAF flyers. The News-Letter regrets this error.
