Tag: justin buckner

By Justin Buckner

I am disappointed in Chapman University. In December and early January, President Daniele Struppa sent out five emails to students and faculty in regard to Dr. John Eastman, the former dean of Chapman’s Fowler School of Law, a Chapman professor, and lawyer of former President Donald Trump. With this came 15 articles from The Panther, a signed letter from 159 faculty and 10 board of trustee members, as well as numerous angry students, all who put pressure on President Struppa to fire Dr. Eastman. 

This led Dr. Eastman to the logical conclusion that he would not be welcomed back to a safe environment on campus. So, Eastman resigned. 

Now, it’s time for Professor Liam O’Mara to take the hot seat. On March 23rd, the adjunct history professor sent a KKK hood to black conservative pundit Candace Owens. This image – regardless of O’Mara’s “white savior” intentions – has always, and still does, represent racial intimidation and lynchings. 

Almost three weeks later, and we have heard NOTHING from the administration, faculty, and student body regarding this issue.

Not a single email from Dean Jerry Price nor President Struppa. No Panther articles calling for his firing or even raising awareness of Dr. O’Mara’s disgusting actions. No protests nor petitions to rid Chapman of racism. No student body uprising to prevent a racist professor from returning to campus. For a university that preaches diversity and acceptance of others’ differences, we have just seen a prime example of its hypocrisy.

The administration has clearly created an environment in which conservative ideas are intimidated into silence. Many students and faculty feel they are unable to speak up because of the inevitable ostracizing from their peers. This environment has stemmed from a lack of respect for intellectual diversity, which has directly disadvantaged conservative students and faculty on campus.

Look at this situation honestly: if a white conservative Chapman professor had sent a KKK hood to a black person, there would be massive protests on campus for their removal. There would also be massive coverage from The Panther, as well as every club and greek life group on campus. However, when the political parties are reversed, we hear nothing but silence. The sad truth is that the only people who have called out true racism in Chapman’s faculty this year are the Chapman Republicans. We shouldn’t be alone in this battle.

It is now apparent that for Chapman, diversity only comes in three forms – race, religion, and gender. Intellectual diversity has increasingly been on life support, not only on Chapman’s campus, but nationwide.

In order to begin fixing this lack of intellectual diversity, we need to get more conservative professors on campus. Mitchell Langbert, an associate professor of business at Brooklyn College, conducted a study of 51 of the 66 highest-ranked liberal-arts colleges in the United States. At those colleges, Democrat professors outnumbered Republicans at every school, in every field of study. Extreme cases, such as Wellesley College, Williams College, and Swarthmore College, exceeded a ratio of 120-1. This trend, unfortunately, is not just at liberal arts schools. A following study conducted by Mitchell Langbert and Sean Stevens analyzed Democrat-Republican voter registration of 12,372 professors at top universities across the nation and discovered that Democrat professors outnumber Republicans 8.5 to 1.

As college continues to become more expensive, the quality of education and students’ ability to become educated on differing ideas and perspectives is decreasing. The purpose of attending a university is to become equipped for the real world, meet a wide variety of individuals, and dive deeply into a particular field of study. When a vast majority of professors are monolithic in their political views, we are training the next generation to be unprepared for differing perspectives, as their views are rarely challenged. Conservative students’ beliefs are challenged in the classroom daily, while liberal students cannot even stand to have a proud and prestigious Republican professor in their law school.

It all starts with the administration. If we are going to strive for a diverse faculty and student body, we need to search for diversity of thought. The university’s goal to have a wide variety of individuals differing in skin color, gender, and religion is great, but true diversity comes through our differences in character. We should not be focusing so hard on surface-level diversity; rather, we should focus on bringing people into Chapman’s faculty and student body who can help learn from one another. Only then will students have the knowledge and experience to be prepared for the real world post-graduation.

Justin Buckner is a junior at Chapman University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and Documentary with a minor in Political Science. He is serving as the president of the Chapman Republican’s Club during the 2020-2021 academic year. This opinion piece is part of a running column written by Buckner.

By Justin Buckner, President of Chapman Republicans

Last month, the United States House of Representatives passed the controversial Equality Act. Now the Senate is set to vote on the act soon. The Chapman Republicans wholly denounce this act and think that it should not become law. 

The “Equality” Act would add gender orientation to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, equating it to discrimination based on race, which misleads many people today into thinking that this new act is about anti-discrimination.

It is not.

The “Equality” Act would…

— End the objective male/female standard on the national level and replace it with a subjective gender standard. We must keep the biological standard in order to be living in a world of truth. Allowing the government to classify someone as whatever subjective gender they feel comfortable with, flies in the face of biology and science, something that can be tested and proven.

— Eliminate the restrictions on biological men participating in women’s sports. This is a large step in the wrong direction for equality of women. Being able to compete on a level playing field is crucial to the success of women in athletics. Men taking hormone blockers to reduce testosterone still leaves those individuals with a significant advantage in strength and size, as well as receiving no loss in bone mass nor muscle volume. We have seen over the past two years women’s records shattered by biological men competing against women. This is unfair for all female athletes who have dedicated their lives to perform as best as possible.

— Allow men into women’s public facilities, including restrooms and locker rooms. We have both men and women’s facilities as a protective measure for the women in society. Women are an easier target for predators, and allowing men into private women’s facilities would dramatically increase the chances for sexual assault. In what world is it a good idea to put grown (biological) men in the same locker room as underage girls? 

— Force (anti-biology) gender identity to be taught in all schools. Religious schools are not exempt, so they will be forced to teach ideas that are fundamentally opposed to their religion. Freedom of religion is crucial in a democracy, and America was founded upon it. The freedom to have your child receive an education that fits their religious beliefs is crucial for the future of religion in our nation. It is wrong not only for the government to appoint itself as the arbiter of truth, not only to force religious institutions to teach ideas that go against their values, but it is also wrong for the government to force students to be presented with information presented as “factual,” when it is easily proven to be false and harmful.

— Remove the custody rights for parents who refuse to approve sex changes (including hormone treatment and body mutilation) for their underage children. Children should wait until they are adults before making such a life-changing decision. A responsible parent will warn their kids of the risks in participating in this behavior, making sure they are a legal adult before engaging in an act that will likely prevent their ability to reproduce in the future. Kids cannot rationally think about their future while their brain is still developing, so punishing parents for making the responsible choice for their kids is unethical. In fact, it is the legal role of parents to guide and instruct their children rather than letting them engage in whatever trendy, harmful behavior they like. 

— Remove a Pastor’s, Rabbi’s, or Imam’s right to deny a marriage proceeding that goes against their religion’s teachings. Our nation was founded on the separation of church and state, not to protect the state, rather to protect the church. These institutions should remain separate. Additionally, nobody has a right to another’s labor, especially if the requested action would be considered immoral by the laborer.

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The “Equality” Act is an aggressive active attack on women, parental rights, and freedom of religion. It also encourages harmful and anti-biological behavior to our future generations. 

This act does not promote freedom. We, as Americans, already have the right to identify as anything we want when we are legal adults. But, our freedom to live our life as we choose does not extend to forcing others’ acceptance of our lifestyle, especially when the science does not support it. 

This bill’s purpose is not to bring equality to the transgender community (which they already have). Its real purpose is to push political propaganda – presented as facts – onto the general public. 

We should instead be educating our youth about the risks of transitioning and how to responsibly plan their future. These include:

• Inability to reproduce. 
• Higher rates of substance abuse.
• Nearly 82 percent of transgender adults have contemplated suicide in their lives, 40.4 percent contemplate it annually.
• The majority of kids diagnosed with gender dysphoria grow out of it by the time they hit puberty, resulting in them being gay or bisexual, putting them out of the extremely high suicide statistics.
• Higher rates of depression/anxiety than any other group. 

I am not saying that a legal adult cannot make the choice to pursue whatever lifestyle they wish. Rather, I am saying that we should properly educate the future generations about the consequences of these actions, especially when done so at a young, prepubescent age. 

Many people are scared to speak on this issue due to political correctness, intimidation, and “inclusion.” Government-enforced regulation on religious freedom, women’s athletics, parental rights over properly educating their children while looking out for their best interests, and pushing anti-science information – that will result in a net negative in an individual’s overall wellbeing – is not the loving “big brother” government trying to improve society. It is catering to a small minority of people’s politically-driven emotions while infringing on the general public’s rights.

For the sake of all Americans, the U.S. Senate should not pass this bill. We need to break the political divide and see Democrats stand up for female, religious, and parental rights. Our Chapman University President, Dr. Daniele Struppa, should do everything in his power to protect the women on campus, especially on the sports field, in the locker room, and the restroom.

Mr. Buckner is a junior at Chapman University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and Documentary with a minor in Political Science. He is serving as the president of the Chapman Republican’s Club during the 2020-2021 academic year. This opinion piece is part of a running column written by Buckner.

By Justin Buckner, President of Chapman Republicans

The last three months have been extremely confusing and frustrating, there is so much I want to say but don’t exactly know how to say it. First, to my fellow Republicans who are defending the lawlessness at the Capitol, my question to you is simple: Why? We had spent months condemning the BLM riots as being terrible, unlawful, and harmful to their message, but when the tables turn and now, all of a sudden, it is our “team” doing it, it’s now justified because you believe in the overall cause? I understand the frustration, but what happened that day does not help our cause. If Trump had won, and the Democrats claimed election rigging for a second time, stormed the capitol and vandalized the inside, you also would have called them un-American terrorists.

With that said, Democrats who have been calling these protestors “domestic terrorists” while simultaneously supporting the riots over the summer are hypocrites. “No Justice, No Peace,” “riots are the language of the unheard” and much more has been said to justify the violent BLM riots, which happened on a much larger scale for months on end. I am not saying all of the BLM protests were riots, but you must separate the violent protests from the peaceful ones. When talking about violent protestors, you also cannot pick and choose who is a terrorist and who is not based on whether or not you agree with the message. Either all violent protestors are terrorists, or none of them are. Americans have the right to peacefully assemble to try to incite change, but now the violence is occurring on both sides and it is heartbreaking to watch our nation slowly slipping out of our grasp.

President Struppa, I appreciate your strength over the past two months in response to extreme backlash from students and faculty. You have done an exceptional job in not caving to the mob up until this point, yet you eventually fell victim to this too. It was disappointing to see the release of Dr. Eastman for the sole crime of exercising his First Amendment right; he did not incite violence nor should be punished for his actions. The events that occurred after the speech were not in direct response to Eastman’s peaceful words. Those individuals acted on their own free will and should be punished for it.

President Trump has been impeached for the second time for “inciting insurrection,” which nowhere near accurately describes the actions of the President. On January 6, Trump said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence!” The claim that Trump was inciting violence is absurd. Encouraging people to join a constitutionally-protected protest, and then denouncing the violent protestors shortly after is nowhere near inciting violence. Trump never encouraged violence. It is a mockery of the Constitution to impeach a president for using his right to free speech to encourage others to exercise their right to peacefully protest. Should all Democrats in power be impeached for encouraging peaceful BLM protests over the summer? I don’t think so.

Censorship has now reached an all-time high as we see Free Speech on life support. Big Tech corporations such as Twitter and Facebook have banned the President of the United States and other large conservative voices from their platforms. Simultaneously, 100% free speech platforms that do not censor any legal content whatsoever such as Parler have been removed from Apple and Google App Stores completely and are now unusable. We are entering an age now where if you have something to say that upsets others and they disagree with it, your voice may be removed. The most shocking thing to me is that Democrats are defending this removal of free speech. The internet is now the “Town Hall” of the 21^st century, and if free speech is to survive, we must confront these censorship issues head on. If the tables were turned and Republicans dominated the Big Tech industry and were removing liberal voices from the internet, the left would be furious, and I would agree. We cannot have a small number of elites determining the information we are allowed to consume and disseminate.

I also think this is a good time for the Republican Party to reevaluate their old-school boomer ideologies and begin standing up for actual liberty. The separation of church and state, equal rights for everybody, the freedom to do as you please without being told what to do from others based on their political or religious beliefs, etc. Thomas Jefferson used to talk about that, and it was a key element in classical republicanism, but for some reason we seem to have forgotten about it. For instance: Republicans re-elected Mitch McConnell, a man who is in favor of the Patriot Act 2.0 because, supposedly, it’s the government’s right to spy on the people. Is he really representing your core beliefs, or do you like him just because he has an “R” next to his name? Conservatives say we stand for small government, but is that really what the GOP is doing? We need new faces in government who will stand for true conservative values. Much of our platform has been ignored and that’s why we no longer have any control on the federal level. We needed a smack to the face to put us back on track, I hope we can make the most of it.

What has happened, happened and we are now faced with the reality of a Joe Biden administration with a Democrat majority in both houses of Congress. Forget checks and balances with a split government, they will have the power to pass whatever federal laws they please. For us Republicans, the future of our nation now rests in their hands for at least the next two years. We must all pray that they do a good job in leading our nation forward as we no longer have a say. I wish the best of luck to the Biden Administration over the next four years and hope they abide by the Constitution.

President Trump, thank you for standing up for the American people and trying to fix our slowly crumbing nation. Your strength and commitment in trying to better each individual American life is one that will never be forgotten. Your Presidency will be a historic one and you will be greatly missed, but always admired.

Justin Buckner is a junior at Chapman University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and Documentary with a minor in Political Science. He is serving as the president of the Chapman Republican’s Club during the 2020-2021 academic year. This opinion piece is part of a running column written by Buckner.

By Justin Buckner

The much-anticipated vice presidential debate was one in which the American people wanted civility and truth after a disastrous presidential debate. Vice President Mike Pence brought both of those things and was a standout last week by being composed, presidential, and respectful. After what some call “the worst presidential debate ever,” Vice President Pence represented the Republican Party in a way that would turn undecided voters to his side.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), on the other hand, was deceiving the American people for the majority of the debate.

Deception #1: Sen. Harris refused to answer the simple question on whether or not she and Joe Biden would pack the Supreme Court, changing the number of Justices (which has remained 9 for over 150 years). She went on to claim President Lincoln did not nominate a Supreme Court justice due to the upcoming election, which was not the reason for delaying his nominee. President Lincoln did not nominate a Supreme Court Justice because Congress was not in session, once they returned to session, he sent his nominee.

Deception #2: Sen. Harris claimed Joe Biden would not raise taxes for anyone who makes less than $400,000 a year, however Biden said he would eliminate all of President Trump’s tax cuts, the same tax cuts that greatly reduced taxes for the middle class.

Deception #3: On the debate stage, Sen. Harris claimed their administration would not ban fracking, something she and Biden have taken pride in claiming they would ban.

Deception #4: Sen. Harris claimed President Trump has not condemned white supremacy during the presidential debate when he has done so countless times. During the debate, Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” However, the Proud Boys are a multiracial organization that stands for traditional conservative/American values, not white supremacy.

Deception #5: Sen. Harris claimed the work she did as California’s Attorney General is the model of what our nation needs to do and is proud of the job she did. When she was California’s Attorney General, she put nearly 2,000 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about smoking marijuana herself while on a popular radio show. Harris blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them for cheap labor for the state of California. She put 19 times more black Americans in prison for minor offenses than whites and Hispanics… with her harsh treatment towards black Americans, no wonder she has referred to herself as “the first Indian Senator.” There is no excuse for these acts, but somehow she is still proud of it.

Deception #6: Sen. Harris claimed President Trump called our service members “losers,” which was published by a false Atlantic story. All the people who were with the President, including John Bolton, a man who is very outspoken about his dislike for Trump, confirmed it was a lie.

Deception #7: Sen. Harris claimed the Trump Administration is to blame for the coronavirus pandemic. President Trump took the issue seriously and banned travel from China on January 31 in an attempt to prevent the virus from coming to America. When doing so, Democrat leaders called him “xenophobic” and House Speaker Pelosi even went to San Francisco’s Chinatown to show that it “was safe” to go to crowded areas. In comparison to H1N1, Ron Klain, former Ebola Response Coordinator in the Obama administration, said not having one of the greatest mass casualties was pure luck, “we did everything wrong.” 13,000-18,000 people died, 80 percent of them were under the age of 65. As Vice President Pence pointed out, “We actually do know what failure looks like in a pandemic: It was 2009, the swine flu arrived in the United States. … When Joe Biden was vice president of the United States, not 7.5 million people contracted the swine flu, 60 million Americans contracted the swine flu.” If these two viruses had nearly the same fatality rate, using COVID-19’s 7.8 million cases with 215,000 deaths, we would have seen over a million swine flu deaths of Americans in the prime of their lives.

With Vice President Mike Pence holding strong and Sen. Kamala Harris struggling to keep up, I believe the Republican Party had a much needed win last Wednesday night. As we move closer to Election Day, these debates will be the deciding factor in who will be sitting in the Oval Office through 2024. With the cancellation of the second presidential debate, this may be the last time we see these rival campaigns face off. The Trump Campaign needs to get him back in the ring with Joe Biden, if another debate happens, President Trump will come out on top.

The vice presidential debate put on display the major contrasts between the two campaigns. Vice President Pence reinforced the Trump Administration’s successes, defended himself and President Trump from Sen. Harris’ deceptions, and spoke honestly throughout the debate. Sen. Harris, on the other hand, spent the night dodging questions, lying to the public, and acting petty towards the vice president. Pence handled it with grace and precision. He just may have saved the 2020 election, and set himself up for a possible presidential run in 2024.

Justin Buckner is a junior at Chapman University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and Documentary with a minor in Political Science. He is serving as the president of the Chapman Republican’s Club during the 2020-2021 academic year. This opinion piece is part of a running column written by Buckner.

By Justin Buckner

As a student at Chapman University, I have come across many different types of people from a variety of backgrounds. Never have I attended a school with such a wide range of diversity. The university excels at attracting people from all over the world. Though, while concentrating so much on making their student body appear diverse, Chapman has let intellectual diversity falter, especially in the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. 

I am a conservative student in the film school. I was never outgoing about my beliefs because I was consistently the only right-leaning student in my classes and wanted to be accepted by my peers. Politics would be brought up and, when I would provide a different perspective, I would be shouted down by students and professors alike. I fear the lack of intellectual diversity at Chapman has created an environment where it is no longer acceptable to hold conservative ideas on campus. We have seen this reflected through the “cancel culture” perpetrated by the student body and The Panther. 

There was a petition demanding the campus to remove busts of important historical figures such as Ronald Reagan because they “do not reflect the ideals of the University.” This is a smack to the face to all modern conservatives by implying that the Republican Party has no place on campus. 

Higher education is the place where one goes to expand their horizons and learn from others to hopefully better themselves. However, it has turned into a liberal echo chamber intolerant of right-of-center ideas. We have liberal students who have stopped respecting the differences of their peers, and have turned to doing everything in their power to remove ideas they disagree with from campus. 

Through “cancel culture,” students and faculty have tried to ostracize individuals who dare to think differently. Our freedom of speech should not be silenced because it is a minority viewpoint. In fact, that is when our speech should be most protected. The majority should not be allowed to dominate the public discourse by intimidating others into silence. Enough is enough. 

Justin Buckner is a junior at Chapman University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and Documentary with a minor in Political Science. He will be serving as the president of the Chapman Republican’s Club during the 2020-2021 academic year. This opinion piece is the first of a running column written by Buckner.