Campaign '04: The Right's New Wing

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In a notorious example of left-wing intimidation, the Leadership Institute's Flynn spoke at a 2000 forum at the University of California, Berkeley, about his 38page pamphlet Cop Killer: How Mumia Abu-Jamal Conned Millions into Believing He Was Framed. Supporters of Abu-Jamal, a leftist writer on death row who has inspired an international movement seeking the reversal of his 1982 murder conviction, erupted in virulent protest. According to an article in Berkeley's student paper, some of the demonstrators actually burned copies of Flynn's booklet. The disruption got national news coverage, and an embarrassed student senate had to pass a bill declaring that Berkeley, home of the free-speech movement, still opposes book burning.

That protest was especially vicious, but conservatives say they are routinely heckled on campus. University of Michigan students shouted down Ward Connerly, a California businessman who has battled racial preferences, during a 1998 speech. (YAF often screens a tape of the event to "show students what they're up against," says Coyle.) Libertarian ABC journalist John Stossel, who regularly speaks at YAF events, was verbally attacked at Brown University in 1997 after raising questions about the legitimacy of a rape charge one student had leveled against another. "Get off this campus! We don't want you here!" a student yelled at Stossel.

Even more disturbing, a website calling itself "an online resource for those on the front lines fighting fascism" has printed Coyle's home address and phone number. "Pat is the one working diligently to divert your tuition and public tax money toward the radical, racist, right-wing club," charges the website. Another part of the site seeks further information on its targets, including "Social Security numbers, automobile plate numbers, names and birth dates of spouse(s), children and friends."

But YAF must also take some blame for coarsening campus dialogue. Coyle, an affable, prematurely graying 30-year-old who, like many of today's college conservatives, cites Rush Limbaugh as an influence, travels the nation leading seminars on how to bring to campus speakers who will rankle liberals. "You want an event that will be remembered for weeks," he told a group of students earlier this year in Santa Barbara. He then proffered some incendiary flyers that the foundation recommends as ads. "What does a woman REALLY want?" asks a flyer promoting a 2000 speech at the University of Delaware by conservative Michelle Easton. The answer: "Husband. Children. Picket Fence." A 2001 flyer for an Ann Coulter talk at Cornell depicts the Confederate battle flag (Coulter, the angular, clamorous polemicist, is one of YAF's most popular speakers). And a 1999 University of Nebraska flyer warns, "Man Hatin', Abortion-Lovin', Marriage-Despisin', Gay Agenda-Promotin', Biology-Loathin' FEMINAZIS: You best BEWARE. You're about to be exposed. BAY BUCHANAN is coming to town."