The Iowa college student who issued a press release last week declaring Bradlee Dean's ministry a "cult" while accusing Dean of misusing funds for his personal support obtained public funds to host Dean's visit to the Ankeny campus of the Des Moines Community College in April.
Iowa Radio reported in DMACC student groups hosts event as counter to LGBTQ conference:
A group of Des Moines Area Community College Students that criticized the school’s administration for providing support to the Iowa Governor’s LGTBQ Conference is holding their own event today on campus. Jake Dagel is the president of the DMACC group.
“Our student group, Young Americans for Freedom is bringing in pro-family, pro-life, speaker Bradley Dean from Minnesota to send a message to Iowa that pro-traditional marriage and pro-life issues matter to Iowans, and that’s why we’re bringing him in,” Dagel says.
Dagel protested D-MACC’s contribution of $1,000 that paid for some students to attend the conference, saying some sessions of the conference bullied Christians and conservatives.
. . .A spokesperson for DMACC said at the time the school was not trying to promote any particular lifestyle, and was just trying to raise awareness.
DMACC president, Rob Denson, told Radio Iowa that is still the case, and the school will provide the same amount of support to this event as they provided for the LGBTQ conference.
“Because they are a student organization, they are allowed to use the FFA center for free. That’s a 400-dollar value. And DMACC is providing another 600 (dollars) for students,” Denson says. “We are not sponsoring their speaker, we are not sponsoring meals, we are supporting DMACC students who want to attend.”
Denson says they try to be open about all points of view. “The same rules apply, I’ve said this throughout this entire incidence. We want to support our students to give them an opportunity to be exposed to different views. We supported 50 students to attend the governor’s conference, and I told Mr. Dagel that we would provide the same support,” Denson says.
Dagel and Denson traded emails about how the school would support the Young Americans for Freedom event. Denson says both are ending up with equal support. “It’s a little different here, only because the governor’s conference was not on the DMACC campus. It was at Prairie Meadows, so the facility use was not calculated there because they were not using our facility,” Denson says.
“Dagel is using our facility, the FFA facility. Part of the value he receives comes from that, but it’s the exact same amount of money. The event with Bradley Dean is tonight at seven o’clock at the FFA Enrichment Center on the DMACC campus in Ankeny.
In news reports about Dagel filing the lawsuit on April 17, Denson mentioned exchanging emails about the upcoming event.
So far as Bluestem is able to determine, Dagel and his supporters have never mentioned the school's funding for Dean's event as he recalls his fight against the school. While Bluestem agrees that the "free speech zone" and time deadlines were bad policy, the equal spending suggests that with regard to funding, the school administration was treating student organizations equally.
That's an inconvenient truth.
Before the YAF leader was prevented from distributing fliers on campus, Dagel held a March 25 press conference to denounce spending for the LGBTQ conference. The Young Americansfor Freedom (YAF) website reported on March 29:
“Any conference or event that attacks individuals for their beliefs is not diversity,” Dagel told the Iowa Republican. “We, the DMACC Young Americans for Freedom...believe that he LGBT community has every right to host this conference due to their First Amendment rights. However, as long as the conference hosts workshops that attack individuals, we will demand that DMACC revoke its sponsorship of tuition and taxpayer money from this conference.”
Dagel's concern stems from two different workshops during the conference. One entitled, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Right Wing," which according to the Iowa Safe Schools website (which founded the conference) attendees will "Learn messages and methods to fight back against propaganda from the extreme right wing, from Fox News and Rush Limbaugh to Bob Vander Plaats and Jan Mickelson. Discover resources to get the most up-to-date information available and work toward a more progressive Iowa." The other is a seminar that will have attendees watch the documentary "For the Bible Tells Me So," a documentary that shows how conservatives have "warped" their interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize homosexuals.
In Student group says DMACC using taxpayer dollars to bully conservatives, Christians, Radio Iowa reported that the school's diversity councilsought to treat diverse student groups equally:
[Diversity Commission member Marlana] Schnell repeated what she said earlier, that the school tries to promote diversity for all students. “I think we could use this as an opportunity to find that middle ground. And DMACC is as supportive of our right students as we are our left students. So I don’t think that is an issue that you would see at DMACC,” according to Schnell.
Given the funding of a later Bradlee Dean program, it's safe to say she meant it.
When did YFA decide to bring Dean on campus? On March 29, Bradlee Dean was a guest on Jan Mickelson's radio show to relate his own experiences in Dunkerton, IA, the Aksarbent blog noted in Iowa's WHO hate radio: Bradlee Dean blames Elton John for trouble at Dunkerton school; host Mickelson calls educators hosting LGBTQ antibullying confab "varmits". Dagel was also a guest on that show, and there's no indication in the interview that Dagel at the time was planning to bring Dean to campus.
Not only doesn't Dagel tell supporters about the equal funding his group received for its counter-event, he not sharing that the guest of honor was one of the most divisive figures in the Upper Midwest's--indeed, in Iowa itself.
Dean has done more than attack Elton John. The City Pages' Andrew Mannix reported in Iowa not cool with Bradlee Dean's public school invasion:
Bradlee Dean has really screwed up the town of Dunkerton, Iowa.Dean and his Christian-rap-metal troupe, Junkyard Prophet, hosted a supposed "anti-bullying" assembly at the Dunkertown high school last week that literally left some of the kids in tears. Among the more controversial messages delivered by the anti-gay preacher and his cronies: The average lifespan for a gay man is 42, and if women have sex before marriage, they will have "mud on their wedding dresses." . . .
The WCF Courier reported in Dunkerton high school assembly stirs protest:
. . . After performing, the group separated boys, girls and teachers in the building.
During the breakout session, the young men learned the group's thoughts on the U.S. Constitution and what one Prophet referred to as its "10 commandments." The leader also showed images of musicians who died because of drug overdoses, including Elvis Presley.
Members of the group blasted other performers, like Toby Keith, for their improper influence.
The girls, meanwhile, were told to save themselves for their husbands and assume a submissive role in the household. According to witnesses, the leader in that effort also forced the young ladies to chant a manta of sorts about remaining pure.
Those who walked out or attempted to confront the speakers were shouted down or ridiculed as disrespectful, according to students.
Heidi Manahl, Littlefield's sister, also had a student at the assembly. She, too, was appalled by Junkyard Prophet's message and tactics.
"I've never had so many young women come up to me crying because of what was said to them. They were bullied by these people and forced to sit there and told to be quiet," Manahl said. . . .
Inviting the toxic metal preacher on campus seems like an odd response to concern about public funding for "bullying" individuals in campus programs. Rush Limbaugh untouchable while Toby Keith fair game?
Perhaps Dagel shared what he was thinking by inviting Dean the must-read interview City Pages will be publishing tomorrow. Bluestem is eager to read about what made Dagel decide to expose Bradlee Dean.
Pop some corn.
Photo: Because public money shouldn't be used to attack individuals, Jacob Dagel brought in "pro-family, pro-life, speaker Bradley Dean from Minnesota to send a message to Iowa that pro-traditional marriage and pro-life issues matter to Iowans." Okay then. Dean and Dagel, right, via the Son of Liberty Radio Show Facebook page.
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