Kaitlin Bennett and conservatives students hosted a peaceful march and discussion at UCF on Thursday, and her second visit to UCF looked a lot different than her first visit.
After calling for U.S. President Donald Trump to defund the University of Central Florida and the UCF Police Department during her Sept. 10 visit, Bennett gave thanks and a round of applause to the law enforcement on campus and thanked them for doing their job.
Bennett, conservative students on campus and protestors, marched around UCF’s Student Union and Memory Mall multiple times before coming to a stop next to Memory Mall’s Starbucks.
Everyone was escorted around campus by biking officers from UCFPD and deputies from Orange and Seminole County Sheriff’s Offices. The officers kept Bennett and the students who had similar political views separate from the protestors using bicycles throughout the three hour march and discussion periods.
Compared to Bennett’s previous visit on Sept. 10 — which did not include additional response from Orange County or Seminole County — this visit was calmer, attracted less people and appeared to follow more of UCF’s COVID-19 guidelines.
Bennett is well known for her gun rights activism and her post college graduation photos where she is shown carrying an AR-10 rifle on campus, according to the platform Bennett works for, Liberty Hangout.
Bennett’s following included conservative students holding Trump/Pence 2020 flags and signs and wearing “Make America Great Again” apparel.
Most notably there was a female wearing a pink “Women for Trump” flag and a male flying a gay pride flag mixed with the Gadsden flag, a Revolutionary War flag reading “Don’t Tread on Me” featuring a rattlesnake. The conservatives following her were interviewed first when the march came to a stop by Starbucks.
Jacob Haycook, a freshman political science major, was invited by Bennett to speak his mind — Bennett said protestors tried to “intimidate” the conservatives out of speaking the last time she came to campus during the interview with Haycook.
“She asked me questions about the ongoing political climate, about the vice presidential debate, different ongoing events like the Black Lives Matter movement,” Haycook said. “I got to express my opinion and others got to express their opinion. She even had a point where she told some of us if you bring in one of the protestors, she said she would facilitate a conversation or a debate between two students.”
Haycook said he appreciated the opportunity Bennett provided for individuals to speak and have a facilitated conversation.
“I thought that was a very mature thing for both sides,” Haycook said. “I would definitely say there’s a need for UCF to have more opportunity for people of opposing opinions to discuss, even debate, but do it in a mature manner, do it in a peaceful way.”
Chiara Figueroa, a freshman political science major, said she came out to make sure everyone was being safe, staying hydrated and masked, and that she expressed similar thoughts as Haycook.
“All I want is open communication,” Figueroa said. “I personally might not understand why they believe the things that they do, but if they can sit down and tell me why they believe what they do without some kind of negative connotation and everybody yelling, I think that would be better.”
However, Alexander Harris, a sophomore environmental engineering major, did not believe that Bennett was there to have a discussion.
Harris said he believes Bennett does not want to engage in a good faith, academic discussion involving evidence and logic that could result in better understanding or changed opinions.
“Kaitlin Bennett — and I think to a larger extent the sort of conservative commentator type people that go on campus — aren’t trying to engage in good faith, they’re here to make money, they’re running a business,” Harris said. “Kaitlin Bennett is here to build her brand and her business, she is not here to engage in good faith. I don’t really think her decision to talk with only conservatives and then open it up to other people was really based on anything other than she sees this as the best way for her to make money.”
