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Cancel Mob Takes Aim At Conservative and Libertarian Student Journalism Conference

Gerrin T. AlexanderbyGerrin T. Alexander
March 5, 2021
in News
Reading Time: 2 mins read
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Cancel Mob Takes Aim At Conservative and Libertarian Student Journalism Conference
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President of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), John A. Burtka IV, joined TV personality and Fox News host, Tucker Carlson, Wednesday to talk about the outrageous hypocrisy and double standard of COVID-19 rule enforcement after the ISI’s Collegiate Network Student Editors’ Conference was dropped by their venue. 

The conference was initially set to take place this weekend in Alexandria, VA. According to conference organizers, Hilton had to step away from hosting the event to comply with COVID-19 health regulations. 

“We received news from our hotel that the local department of health in Alexandria, VA, [canceled our event] in response to an anonymous health complaint,” Burtka told Carlson.

“In response to that complaint, an eager and willing bureaucrat complied and reclassified ISI’s educational program as a social event, and all social events in the state of Virginia are limited to only 10 people, effectively canceling our student journalism conference,” he said.

Burtka noted multiple conferences have been occurring throughout the state of Virginia and that the ISI has no issue complying with both local and state COVID-19 guidelines.

“This has nothing to do with public health … there was someone who clearly did not want this to happen,” he said. “We are working to find another city that welcomes free speech, freedom of assembly, and civil discourse across a variety of perspectives.”

The conference will include professional news editors from conservative publications such as The Federalist, Washington Examiner, Daily Caller, and many more to share their experiences with aspiring student journalists. In attendance will be many independent student news outlets from universities across the nation, including Hillsdale College, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago’s own Chicago Thinker.

As organizers of the conference scramble to find another venue for the event, the ISI will continue to uphold their mission of “inspiring college students to discover, embrace, and advance the principles and virtues that make America free and prosperous.”

While the organization expects to secure a space by the end of the week, the new location of the event will not be disclosed. 

“America has a much bigger problem with cancel culture, and if we don’t address it now and bring together people from across the political spectrum to say enough is enough, we are going to destroy this country,” Burtka told Carlson.

Tags: Cancel CultureCOVID-19ISImobPublic HealthThe Chicago ThinkerThe University of Chicago
Gerrin T. Alexander

Gerrin T. Alexander

Gerrin T. Alexander is a Co-Founder of, and Alumni Advisor to, the Chicago Thinker. As a 2021 graduate from the University of Chicago, Gerrin holds degrees in Political Science and Public Policy. Much of her political interest stems from research concerning the intersection of faith and politics within the African American community. She loves longboarding, cooking, hanging with her family, watching anime, reading manga, and traveling.

Comments 5

  1. James says:
    2 years ago

    Thank you and your organization for exposing this. There are many of us, including myself, who don’t even trust Fox news anymore, so stories like this aren’t getting to us.
    Keep up the good fight, you have more Americans (and people from other countries even) behind you than you might realize.
    God bless you.

  2. Sara Mahoney says:
    2 years ago

    Come to Florida! Where freedom thrives! Freedom of assembly is alive and well, freedom of speech is defended by our leaders and freedom of personal responsibility reins. Bring the conference here!!

  3. WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW says:
    2 years ago

    Lol are you serious? Any remotely competent reading of Virginia’s executive order barring large social gatherings would show that by “educational gathering,” they are referring to schools and universities. Even if its goals are education-adjacent, the ISI’s event plainly does not fall under “educational instruction.” It’s disappointing to see fellow students at UChicago, purportedly a hub for high-quality, reasonable discourse, cry about the “cancel culture mob” because an event had to be relocated for health reasons.

  4. Jaye Else says:
    2 years ago

    “This has nothing to do with public health … there was someone who clearly did not want this to happen,”

    I respond:

    Please work to identify the specific individual who cancelled this conference. Conservatives tend to not identify the specific bad people who are persecuting them.

    Chicago Thinker writers and readers should read, study Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” – make the conflict “personal” – identify a real, flesh and blood adversary and take the struggle to him/her.

    Some anonymous bureaucrat made a false claim of COVIC health issues and cancelled your conference. Are you going to let him/her get away with this?

  5. KV says:
    2 years ago

    To the above poster – yet if other corporate and education-adjacent gatherings are being allowed, it’s plain as day that this conference was singled out for it’s conservative nature.
    Thanks for exposing this and other hideous actions by our progressive-agenda minded bureaucrats! There are many more people in agreement with you and your publication, and your actions and voice help to give them hope that this country won’t be swallowed up by the cancel culture.

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