Caleb Stekl
Template:TOCnestleft Caleb Stekl lives in Marion, Iowa. From Mitchell, South Dakota.
Suppressing "Hate" group
A group of student senators at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) denied recognition to a Students for Life chapter, claiming it was a “hate group” and arguing the organization uses “clear militant language” to advocate for the unborn.
The student government at UNI held a Zoom meeting on October 7 2020 to debate whether or not official recognition should be given to a proposed pro-life group, Students for Life.
“Approving this bill is the same thing as approving a supremacist group,” one senator noted. “You’re saying you support them to violate women’s rights.”
“This is a hate group, this is hate speech, this is hateful rhetoric that is infringing on basic human rights that is healthcare,” senator Max Tensen noted.
Other senators claimed that their constituents would not want their tuition dollars supporting events and advertising for a pro-life group.
Senator Triet Ngo said that the denial of the group “should serve as an example of us not tolerating any infringement to human rights.” He added “I would argue that not all opinions are equal, there are opinions and there are opinions that get people killed.”
Caleb Stekl, a senator and member of the campus Young Democratic Socialists of America group, was warned by a fellow senator of potential litigation if they chose to deny the pro-life group based on viewpoint discrimination, noting that the group had already gone through the proper channels and had been signed off on by the student organization office.
Stekl slammed the senator’s argument, noting it wasn’t his problem but the university’s, if the school was sued.[1]
Officers 2019
UNI Young Democratic Socialists officers 2019.
- Faculty advisor Gregory Bourassa
- Secretary Whitman Cler
- Treasurer Caleb Stekl
- Chair Mohammed Rawwas
- Chair Jeffery James Jones
- OtherSpeaker/Chair Cade Olmstead
- OutReach Coordinator Mohammed Rawwas[2]