‘All points of our view are welcome’: Jake, Spike call out Whitman College after student senate unanimously blocks Republican club

The Associated Students of Whitman College Senate unanimously voted to oppose the Whitman Republican Club’s application to be affiliated with the university during a March 8 meeting, citing the group’s refusal to criticize the GOP or President Trump. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sent a letter to Whitman President Sarah Bolton demanding the decision be reversed, calling it “viewpoint discrimination.”

The club’s chair, David Dunbabin, said the student senators had made up their minds before his presentation even began. Without affiliation, the club is denied access to funding, institutional support and campus resources that other ideological groups, including Planned Parenthood Generation Action and the Climate Justice Coalition, already receive. FIRE has given the college until Sept. 14 to respond.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, both said the vote reflects poorly on Whitman, a school that markets itself as a place where all perspectives are welcome.

Jake says colleges are the last place you’ll find opposing views

Jake said the unanimous vote confirmed what he already believed about higher education: that the open-minded reputation is a marketing campaign, not a reality.

“Why can’t the club just be on campus? I don’t understand why the club can’t be on campus,” Jake said. “These people don’t seem like they have very open minds, do they?”

He pointed to FIRE’s letter, which noted that the student senate’s own bylaws include an antidiscrimination clause that specifically mentions political belief.

“It is the least place in the world where you’re going to find opposing points of view, in my opinion,” Jake said. “Which you would never hear on a college campus.”

Spike calls the vote embarrassing but says it shouldn’t surprise anyone

Spike agreed the outcome looked bad but said the student senate likely went in with its mind made up.

“On its face, yeah,” Spike said. “They clearly had an opinion going in about the Republican Club and their application.”

He called the vote a contradiction of what a liberal arts college is supposed to represent.

“It’s supposed to be the place where you hear opposing points of view, so you can figure out what matters to you and what you like,” Spike said. “It’s like, ‘All points of our view are welcome.’ That’s a little embarrassing for Whitman College, I’d say.”

Dunbabin, the club’s chair, told “The Jason Rantz Show” on Seattle Red 770 AM that the process felt like an interrogation.

“Apparently, three minutes beforehand, they decided practically to reject us without even thought, without even a presentation,” Dunbabin said. “They were asking just hostile questions, claiming that we’re causing harm because basically we are causing harm and we can’t give you reasons.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3