Students Threatened By University After Catching Democrat Calling Pro-Lifers “Extremists” In Video
Two members of the College Republicans at Concordia in Moorhead grabbed some video recently of Democrat Rep. Collin Peterson talking about an endorsement from a pro-life group that he’d lost. Peterson called the pro-lifers “extremists,” but that’s not really the news story.
The story is that, after the video was made public, the president of Concordia suggested that the students ought to be “disciplined” for making the video.
[A]ccording to Engstrom, her adviser insisted on a hasty meeting and explained that the YouTube posting had angered various Concordia bigwigs.
Engstrom’s adviser also told her that Concordia’s president, William Craft, had had already apologized to Peterson. The Concordia administration confirms the apology.
“President Craft spoke to Rep. Peterson and expressed regret concerning what Rep. Peterson experienced on campus,” Concordia spokesman Roger Degerman told The Daily Caller. Engstrom’s adviser also told her that Concordia’s president had suggested that she could face disciplinary action from the school for her actions.
Here’s the video.
Ultimately nobody got disciplined, but reportedly the school’s director of public safety told Engstrom of the incident, “It’s on your conscience.”
As if recording a politician saying something illegal were unethical. To be sure, it does appear from the video that the students weren’t clear with Peterson that the conversation was being recorded. The beginning of the video starts with what appears to be Engstrom and Peterson posing for what was supposed to be a still picture from a camera phone.
But even so, he said what he said. The students didn’t break the law. And the mainstream media is never shy about using audio from “hot mic” moments and the like. Like it or not, in this digital world we live in, everyone has the capacity to record things and spread it to a very large audience.
And something tells me that, had Rep. Peterson been a Republican, the university administration probably wouldn’t have had a problem.
Tags: colin peterson, concordia
