A controversial debate on gender-affirming care for minors caused a stir for Vanderbilt's College Republicans.
Calls for boycotts in the weeks leading up to the debate ran amok on left-wing groups' social media accounts, including the pages of the Vanderbilt College Democrats and LGBTQ+ awareness group Vanderbilt Lambda Association, who accused the discussion of promoting "transphobia."
"[It's] potentially opening up the space for bigotry," Kendelle Grubbs, a junior at Vanderbilt, alleged prior to the April 4 discussion.
"This event implies that transgender lives are up for debate and their healthcare is a matter of opinion rather than a human right… Our lives and rights are NOT up for debate," an Instagram post from the Vanderbilt Lambda Association read in part.
At the actual debate site, one student blasted the discussion through a megaphone before it could even begin and was escorted out of the building by campus police.
As LGBTQ+ issues simmer in The Volunteer State, driven primarily by two bills signed into law by Republican Gov. Bill Lee – one banning adult cabaret performances in public spaces and another banning gender-affirming care for minors – tensions have heightened on the Nashville campus as well.
Noah Jenkins, a freshman serving as secretary for the College Republicans, joined Fox News Digital on Monday to discuss the political climate surrounding the debate and to detail his experience as a Republican on campus.
"Talking to people over the last year, with all the coverage and attention on Nashville, especially in the last couple of weeks, it's gotten a lot more tense on campus," he said.
"I would say I would still credit our school saying that it's not as bad as some other campuses we see around the country. When you remember, it's still a college campus. It's still relatively on the left side of things, and you get issues like this that arise."
Jenkins, who argued on behalf of the Republicans during the debate, said the Democrats refused to partake in discussions starting this year, adding that the last debate was the first time they had witnessed an active attempt to try to shut down an event.
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While he doesn't feel "threatened" for his opinions on campus, Jenkins said he did have one unsavory experience with a critic in the days since the debate.
"I do get glared at," he said.
"In fact, last week I was just eating dinner in the dining hall by myself, not bothering anybody, and this kid walked up to me like a week after the debate or so, and he cursed me out. He was asking, ‘Were you in the debate?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ [He asked] ‘Well, were you arguing for the bill against [gender affirming-care for minors]?’ I was like, ‘Well, yes.’ And then he said, ‘Eff you,' and he walked away.
"It's that sort of thing that starting to happen more and more, and I find that to be sad on a campus like this one that's not supposed to be a Berkeley. It's very sad, and I hope it changes, but it's getting worse and worse."
The political shaming reached deeper, however, according to Jenkins, driving away one student he heard from who said she was afraid to attend the debate – despite not taking a side – out of fear she would lose friends.
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He also claimed that one of the Democrats – whose name he withheld – was kicked out of the campus party's chat for promoting the debate.
"He wasn't kicked out of the club formally, but was kicked out of the chat for promoting the event," he clarified. "And I find that quite remarkable because he's literally arguing against the bill Tennessee passed [Senate Bill 001], arguing for the Democrats' side."
Jenkins said the institution's Republicans advocate for free exchange of ideas between both parties, and said his biggest goal over his upcoming years at Vanderbilt is to create an environment where students feel okay "identifying as conservative."
"It's quite sad that people have to hide it [their opinions]," he said. "And I will personally, and I hope others join me, will continue to advocate for conservatism on campus because you have those students like the one that cursed me out in the lunchroom, but you also have several that have come to me quietly, saying 'Hey, I like what you're doing. Keep up the good work.' They're really scared to say what they want or to say what they believe because of the louder people who will shut them down, who will cancel them."
He also said he and other Republicans hope the Vanderbilt Democrats will be open to participating in debates in the future, adding that, in past years, the debates between both political groups had taken place, but escalating tensions have contributed to the reluctance to exchange ideas.
"If you do really believe that your ideas are so obvious and resistant to opposition, then why not have a debate about it and show how obviously correct you are. That's my perspective. That's our perspective as part of the College Republicans, and we will continue to do that no matter if the Democrats want to participate with us or not. We want them to. But if they don't, they don't."
Shane Mumma, president of the Vanderbilt College Republicans, called the Democrats' unwillingness to debate "incredibly sad" in a statement emailed to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, asserting the debates will continue and the campus GOP will not be silenced.
"It’s incredibly sad that some on our campus and others across the country don’t think debates should happen, but I know the Vanderbilt College Republicans will never, ever be silenced by the few in the woke mob who believe such silliness," he wrote.
"Our debates will continue next semester and in perpetuity, as these debates, which have by the way been hosted only by our organization as the Vanderbilt College Democrats haven’t been interested in our requests to do joint meetings with us, have had tremendous success."
"This semester alone, we’ve had hundreds of unique Vanderbilt students attend our meetings, with massive attendance at our three spring debates: affirmative action, a heartbeat bill, and then Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1," Mumma continued.
"At our heartbeat bill debate we had nearly 200 excited students show up to watch, so many students that we actually had to switch rooms across campus at the time of the event," he said. "Thus, I’m humbled and honored that so many of my fellow students from across the political spectrum have stood up for free speech by coming to these events to respectfully and civilly engage with the issues."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Vanderbilt Democrats for comment, but did not receive a response.
