Ben Shapiro's upcoming lecture at Christian university sparks outrage: 'Burn down my school now or later?'

Some students at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, are not happy that conservative author and commentator Ben Shapiro is headed to their campus for a lecture.

Shapiro, who is also editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, is set to host Baylor Young Americans for Freedom on Nov. 21. The event is part of Young Americans for Freedom's Fred Allen lecture series.

What are the details?

 

A variety of students spoke out against Shapiro's scheduled lecture with varying degrees of distaste.

According to The College Fix, some students simply complained, while others suggested more intense means of disrupting the planned speech, such as burning down the school.

One student wrote in a since-deleted tweet, "Ben Shapiro is coming November 21st to speak at Baylor... should I burn down my school now or later?"

Another added, "[B]en shapiro is coming to baylor and i literally cannot believe i am giving these people so much money in tuition."

A spokesperson has yet to issue a statement on the criticism of Shapiro's upcoming appearance.

What else?

 

In April, a similar-minded group of students attempted to shut down conservative author and commentator Matt Walsh's speech at the university.

Walsh, a Daily Wire contributor, appeared on campus to discuss Christian values as they pertain to the sanctity of life, marriage, and gender. Like Shapiro, Young Americans for Freedom also invited Walsh to deliver remarks to students.

A Change.org petition in protest of Walsh's appearance received more than 2,300 signatures. A portion of the petition read, "This cannot be allowed to take place. Please remove this from campus events. For the benefit of all LGBTQ+ students, alumni, and future students, this harmful hate speech must be kept off of our beloved campus."

Walsh told "Fox & Friends" that people should be open to at least "hearing the message."

"We know the situation on college campuses, where often times opposing viewpoints are not welcome and students don't know how to deal with someone presenting a point of view that's foreign to them," he said.

In a statement, Baylor University President Linda Livingstone said that the Baylor community needs to "do better" in accommodating a variety of schools of thought.

"While Baylor is a university that supports and encourages free speech, we have an additional ... responsibility as a Christian university ... to appreciate differing opinions and backgrounds in a respectful and compassionate manner that extends grace as Christ did," Livingstone said at the time. "We may not always agree, but we are still the Baylor Family. And we all need to do better."