Western Culture Club has lawyered up. The club’s president, Maxell Applebaugh, indicated that they have Texas-based attorney Jason Lee Van Dyke on retainer as a protective measure against threats and harassment.
Van Dyke is also the financial sponsor for the Jared Taylor speaking event.
“I was given a great deal of financial support by outsiders both at Michigan State and Dallas when I was an activist there and since I’ve done pretty well in my career, it was my way of giving back,” said Van Dyke. He was an active conservative student activist while in college and law school.
He said he is providing $1000 for the event since Taylor waived his speaking fee. Van Dyke will be attending the speaking event at the end of March. He has “gained notoriety for representing the so-called ‘dissident right’ in a variety of ways,” according to his profile on the law firm’s website.
In addition to Western Culture Club, Van Dyke has also represented two organizations widely regarded to be white-nationalist – Patriot Front and the Proud Boys. Southern Poverty Law Center alleges that he is a member of Patriot Front as well as their legal counsel. He represented the leader of Patriot Front in court in February of this year.
Applebaugh said that he has no affiliation with Patriot Front or any other external organizations – except for Campus Reform. He is a correspondent for the publication but said that all of his pitches have been denied so far.
He also has been seen wearing merchandise from Will2Rise and the Wyoming Active Club – both of which have been associated with violence and white-supremacist, anti-semitic rhetoric. He said he has no formal association and that he just likes their merchandise.
Applebaugh joined the Business Program at Colorado Mesa University (CMU). As a junior, he is politically active in many clubs on and off campus and describes his views a libertarian.
He expressed respect for President Marshall’s email about the speaking event his club has organized and said that Student Life Director Trey Downey has been integral in ensuring its success.
“I have been in near constant communication with Trey Downey and him helping me organize this event and making sure it goes smoothly,” said Applebaugh.
Downey previously indicated that the club’s advisor, Business Instructor Georgann Jouflas, was misled about the club’s intention. However, Applebaugh said that he showed Jouflas some of Taylor’s content and was confused by the idea that he may have been misleading.
“That is not the impression I got when I talked to her,” said Applebaugh. “She seemed surprised but didn’t seem to mind.”
Jouflas declined an in-person interview and wrote a statement regarding the event in which she addressed her involvement.
“I do not support white supremacy in any form. I do wish they had chosen a different speaker, but ultimately, the decision was theirs,” wrote Jouflas.
Business management freshman Avivah Smith-Ivory expressed discontent about the speaking engagement. She is from a mixed-race and mixed-faith family in the Denver area and had to convince her parents that CMU was safe for marginalized people.
“I think that it just solidified what I already knew,” said Smith-Ivory. “It’s part of the culture that’s up here.” She said her family knew this region had a reputation for cushioning white-nationalist ideology and warned her not to transfer.
Criminal justice freshman Andrea Montiel-Lastiri echoed that sentiment and said that she feels the school is being hypocritical by enticing Latino students to enroll at CMU while ignoring the potential harm that could come from sanctioning this kind of speaker.
“It feels degrading only because they want more students of color here and they want more representation but for them to bring a speaker like that to this school – it’s just embarrassing,” said Montiel-Lastiri.
Applebaugh said that he had no intention of bringing conflict onto campus. He hopes that people come and have an open mind about what Taylor has to say.
He said that dialogue around sensitive topics is important as well as the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. However, Taylor’s high level of controversy made it hard for Applebaugh to find support for the event.
Turning Point USA has a chapter on campus and while Applebaugh said that the members showed interest in the event, the national Turning Point organization declined to be associated.
Uncensored America also declined to be involved in the event. That’s when Applebaugh decided to detach the school’s chapter from the national organization and transform it into the Western Culture Club. The “western” aspect of the Western Culture Club is a reference to Western European culture, not the American West, according to Applebaugh.
Originally, the event was supposed to be a debate between Taylor and a professor on campus. Applebaugh said that he asked nearly every professor that had an office in Houston Hall. He focused on that building because it’s the campus hub for “humanities.”
Taylor declined to conduct a debate but said he was willing to share the stage with one person on campus – President John Marshall. When he reached out to President Marshall to propose the idea, he was sent a response from Associated Student Government President Leilani Domingo instead.
She indicated that President Marshall would be attending the Campus Unity event in lieu of Taylor’s speaking engagement. Taylor was incensed and felt it was a show of cowardice.
“Despite the idea that courage is one of the defining values of a human-scale university, I don’t think he’s showing much courage,” said Taylor.
President Marshall was not available for comment. He has been travelling since Thursday.
Even though there are no upcoming events of this magnitude with the Western Culture Club, Applebaugh said they will continue to look for opportunities to engage with controversial topics.
