Flyers advertising a conservative speaking event at Gettysburg College were hijacked and altered to show incorrect information intended to “purposefully deceiv[e]” students and prevent them from attending.
The flyers posted by the school’s Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter to draw attention to an upcoming speech by North Korean defector Yeonmi Park were replicated and reposted on campus with an incorrect date, time, and location, the chapter has informed the Daily Caller News Foundation. The QR code on the original flyer directed prospective attendees to ticket information for the talk. In the fake flyers that code was replaced with one leading to radical trans organization The Trevor Project, a proponent of medical gender transition for minors.
“Yesterday, it was discovered that an individual on campus took one of our flyers, scanned it, digitally modified the date, time, location, and QR code, and then printed the flyer,” Gettysburg YAF told the DCNF. “From our perspective, this was done to detract from attendance at the event by purposefully deceiving viewers. On the modified flyer, the room number was changed to ‘420’ and the event time to ‘February 31st,’ a non-existing date, and that doors open at ‘5pm,’ which is false. The event is actually to take place today, February 25th in CUB 260. Doors will open at 6:30pm.”
The fraudulent flyer retained the YAF chapter’s logo, as well as that of its parent organization, Young America’s Foundation. This use, the Gettysburg YAF chapter says, falsely implies the group supports views on child sex change surgery which it actually opposes.
“Gettysburg YAF believes that any kind of transgender ‘treatments’ offered by doctors is not medicine, but mutilation, and that physicians do a great disservice to their patients by affirming delusion,” the chapter informed the DCNF.
Several other flyers advertising the event and chapter meetings were torn down or vandalized, as photos provided to the DCNF show.
“When someone can’t debate ideas on their merits, they resort to lame and childish tactics like this,” a spokesman for Young America’s Foundation told the DCNF. “We look forward to tonight’s event and hope students who oppose the speaker’s message will attend, listen, and debate in the Q&A like adults rather than throwing tantrums like children.”
If the flyers were printed by a student or staff member on campus, the college would likely be able to track down the account linked to the print job and identify the responsible individual, Gettysburg YAF says. The building in which the fake flyer was found is one of the few places on campus that individuals can print in color for free.
Gettysburg College did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
The chapter went on to state that “the College’s conduct policies are insufficient in deterring individuals on campus from violating” them.
“Despite a recent reminder from the administration to the student body, our flyers continue to be torn down. Evidentially, their message was ineffective.”
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