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Once A Bastion of Free Speech, UNH Falls in Latest Ranking

For years, the University of New Hampshire had a reputation for fostering free speech and a diversity of ideas on campus. But that reputation has been under assault of late, and now its standing in the latest Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) annual rankings for campus speech has fallen from third in the nation to 59th.

“I did not expect such a drop,” State Rep. Daniel Popovici-Muller (R-Windham) told NHJournal. He was the prime sponsor of a new law protecting free speech on campus passed earlier this year.

As disturbing as UNH’s fall may be, it still hasn’t hit Ivy League levels. The university with the worst free-speech climate in the country is right across the state line in Massachusetts: Harvard.

“Harvard University retained its position as the lowest-ranked institution for free speech for the second consecutive year,” according to the report. “Harvard, Columbia University, New York University all received an ‘Abysmal’ rating for their speech climates. The University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College round out the bottom five.”

Dartmouth College was ranked 224, one of the 30 worst-performing schools in the country.

The top five states: University of Virginia, Michigan Technological University, Florida State University, Eastern Kentucky University, and Georgia Tech. UNH, on the other hand, maintains pro-speech policies, according to the FIRE report, but the latest student survey exposes troubling trends. FIRE’s free speech report found a huge majority of UNH students (77 percent) support shouting down speakers with whom they disagree. Another 42 percent indicated using violence to stop speakers they disagree with is sometimes acceptable.

A UNH representative told NHJournal the university has an excellent free speech climate, as evidenced by the many events held on campus.

“The University of New Hampshire has a long and proud history of supporting the First Amendment. Over the course of the last school year, UNH permitted a variety of Free Speech events across the ideological and political spectrum,” UNH Executive Director of Public Relations Tania deLuzuriaga said.

But the ACLU of New Hampshire criticized how UNH handled anti-Israel protests on campus, using the police to stop pro-Palestine protesters from setting up a large-scale “encampment” on campus. While police ended up arresting 12 people during the May protests, but all but one of those charged had their cases dropped.

Popovici-Muller worked with FIRE and UNH when he created the free speech protection law (HB1305), signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu this summer. When he first started working on the issue in 2023, Popovici-Muller said, conservative and religious groups were being silenced at the school.

“There has been a pattern of certain groups being treated differently from others when it comes to free speech,” he said.

The Christian group Free Exercise Coalition (FEC) had to lawyer up and file a federal complaint when it was denied official recognition as a student group at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law by the Student Bar Association (SBA) last year.

State Rep. Ellen Read (D-Newmarket) is one of a handful of Democrats who supported Popovici-Muller’s bill. She was a bit taken aback that more Democrats were not on board. The right to protest was instrumental in the fight for liberal ideals like civil rights, women’s liberation, and against the Vietnam War, she said.

“Free speech is a liberal, leftist concept going all the way back to John Locke,” Read said. “We need to uphold those values. If one side can violate basic rights, that will be used against us as soon as the power shifts.”

New Hampshire Democrats who saw Popovici-Muller’s bill as only benefiting conservatives changed their minds when the pro-Palestinian protests started, Read said.

It shouldn’t matter what the viewpoint of any particular group or individual happens to be, Popovici-Muller said. A public institution like a university must respect everyone’s right to speak and assemble.

“You cannot stack the deck. If you have the power to stack the deck today in your favor, in the future it will be stacked against you,” he said. “The university is facing a very challenging environment where lots of people don’t understand treating all speech equally regardless of its content.”

Cowabummer: Skateboarding Anti-Trump Vandal Sentenced to Jail

The Concord man charged with vandalizing cars outside this year’s state GOP convention, Lawrence Dunlap, agreed to jail time as part of a plea deal reached this week with prosecutors.

Dunlap, 37, was seen skateboarding outside Concord High School in April on the day of the Republican convention. He was later identified as the suspect behind dozens of keyed cars.

The deal he reached Monday in Merrimack Superior Court has all but three charges dropped. On top of that, the remaining three counts were downgraded from felonies to misdemeanors.

Dunlap was sentenced to 190 days in jail on one count, with credit for 108 days already served pretrial. On the two other charges, he is receiving a suspended sentence of 12 months. Those sentences will hang over Dunlap for the next three years to ensure he remains on good behavior. Conditions include undergoing a mental health evaluation, undertaking any necessary treatment, and making restitution to the victims for any cost not covered by their auto insurance. Dunlap is also not to contact any of the victims in the case.

Police zeroed in on Dunlap after viewing surveillance video from outside the high school, including video of a skateboard-riding figure believed responsible for damaging the cars. Once they identified the skateboarder as Dunlap, police executed a search warrant at his South Spring Street home where they found several guns, including an AR-15 rifle. Police also found a bag containing latex gloves, flex cuffs, dark clothes, face masks, a billy club, and a medieval-style mace. Raising more red flags was the document described as a suicide note manifesto Dunlap reportedly wrote.

Based on selections of the manifesto-suicide note released by police, Dunlap echoed some of the anti-Donald-Trump sentiment that appeared on his social media accounts.

“I can’t continue to exist for everyone else,” Dunlap wrote. “I truly despise humanity and all the filth we have accepted as acceptable. This world and economy requires personalities like Scott Herzog and Donald Trump. I’m sorry for the pain I know I will cause with this decision. Have me cremated and throw the ashes in the trash.” The full manifesto has not been made public. Concord Police denied NHJournal’s Right to Know request for a copy in May. On Tuesday, NHJournal renewed its request for the manifesto in light of the resolution to the case.

After Dunlap’s arrest, NHJournal discovered several anti-Trump social media messages he had posted, apparently in response to events in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

““Y’all[Trump supporters] lost your s–t when [Obama] tried to fix healthcare. Never mind the sheer f—ery Trump has pulled for the last for [sic] years,” Dunlap posted.

Dunlap recently lost his job as a realtor and has been suffering depression and suicidal thoughts in the past year, according to comments made by Dunlap’s wife to police.

Plea Deal Working for Skateboarding Anti-Trumper Who Attacked NHGOP Event

Locked up since his arrest in April on charges he vandalized cars outside the state GOP convention, skateboarding anti-Trumper Lawrence Dunlap could be back at a skatepark in time for the general election.

Dunlap, 37, is charged with 11 felony counts of criminal mischief after he allegedly skated around cars parked outside Concord High School during the April 14 GOP event and put deep scratches into the paint of attendees’ vehicles. Dozens of Republican volunteers reported their cars had been keyed when they left the convention venue.

According to court records, Assistant Merrimack County Attorney Carley McWhirk asked on Aug. 1 for more time to bring indictments against Dunlap. The extra time will allow her to work out a plea.

“The State and defense have discussed bail concerns as well as an ultimate disposition in these matters. The parties are working to that result and are anticipating an agreed upon disputation in September,” Whirk wrote.

Dunlap has been jailed since April after it was ruled he is a potential danger to the community and cannot be safely released on any bail conditions.

Police zeroed in on Dunlap after viewing surveillance video from outside the high school. Once they identified the skateboarder as Dunlap, police executed a search warrant at his South Spring Street home where they found several guns, including an AR-15 rifle. Police also found a bag containing latex gloves, flex cuffs, dark clothes, face masks, a billy club, and a medieval-style mace.

Raising more red flags: A document described as a suicide note or manifesto Dunlap reportedly wrote.

In his screed, Dunlap echoed some of the anti-Donald-Trump sentiment that appeared on his social media accounts.

“I can’t continue to exist for everyone else,” Dunlap wrote. “I truly despise humanity and all the filth we have accepted as acceptable. This world and economy require personalities like Scott Herzog and Donald Trump. I’m sorry for the pain I know I will cause with this decision. Have me cremated and throw the ashes in the trash.”

The full manifesto has not been made public, and Concord Police denied NHJournal’s Right to Know request for a copy.

It’s not clear why Dunlap included Herzog in the manifesto along with Trump. In October 2022, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office announced that Herzog of Norwell, Mass., had been sentenced to a year and a half in prison “for failing to report approximately $1.5 million in income to the Internal Revenue Service.” Herzog owned a landscaping business in the South Shore area.

After Dunlap’s arrest, NHJournal discovered several anti-Trump messages he had posted, apparently in response to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“Y’all [Trump supporters] lost your s–t when [Obama] tried to fix healthcare. Never mind the sheer f—ery Trump has pulled for the last for [sic] years,” Dunlap posted.

Dunlap recently lost his job as a relator and has been suffering depression and suicidal thoughts in the past year, according to comments made by Dunlap’s wife to police.

Dunlap’s arrest happened a few months before Thomas Crooks, 20, tried to assassinate Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. Trump’s ear was grazed in the shooting. Rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed while shielding his family from gunfire. Crooks was killed by Secret Service agents. There’s no known motive for Crooks’ attempt, though he reportedly considered killing President Joe Biden and British Princess Kate Middleton.

Skateboarding ‘Person of Interest’ in Vandalism at GOP Event Sought by Concord Cops

Cowabunga, dude!

Dozens of cars were keyed when Republicans gathered at Concord High School two weeks ago for a state convention. Now, Concord Police want to speak with a skateboarding “person of interest” caught on video around the same place and time.

“I just hope someone comes through and identifies this bastard. I want to see him caught, and I want to see him in court,” said Di Lothrop, a Nashua Republican who had her car damaged while she was attending the convention.

Police started investigating soon after the damage was reported, though the image of the skateboarding individual is the first development made public. On Wednesday, Concord Police released the image through the Concord Regional Crimeline website.

The “person of interest” image comes from surveillance video footage taken of the area around the parked cars. The person, wearing a hat and baggy clothing, is reportedly seen skateboarding around the cars, later reported had been keyed, according to police.

Anyone with information about the skateboarder or the vandalism is being urged to contact Concord Police Detective Evan Cristy at (603 )225-8600, or the Concord Regional Crimeline at (603) 226-3100, or online through www.concordregionalcrimeline.com. People can also text a tip to the Crimeline by texting TIP234 and the message.

Party officials released a statement praising Concord Police for the effort in the ongoing investigation.

“The NHGOP is grateful for the diligent hard work of the Concord PD in this investigation from day one and appreciate their efforts to bring those responsible to justice for the thousands of dollars in damage they caused while Republicans gathered for party business.”

Lothrop told NHJournal she believes there may be more than one vandal given the large number of cars damaged. She’s been sharing the image on social media since it was released, hoping someone will come forward with information leading to an arrest. She’s spending a substantial amount of money this week in insurance deductibles to get her car repaired, and she’s also preparing to be without her vehicle for more than a week. All because she volunteers for one of the two main political parties in America.

“It’s still something that sticks in my craw that someone would do this,” Lothrop said.

The state convention is essentially a volunteer-run operation with delegates and representatives getting together to craft policy for the party platform. It’s also a public event held in a public facility, open to everyone. Lothrop is unnerved by the idea she and others were intentionally targeted in this manner, calling the actions malicious and sad at the same time.

There has been an increase in political vandalism and violence from the left in recent years, as evidenced by events on Ivy League college campuses this week. Hundreds of arrests have been made, police officers have been assaulted, and several people hospitalized by progressive protesters denouncing America’s support for Israel in its war with Hamas.

Much of the angry rhetoric and threats is targeting Jews, both in Israel and the U.S. A progressive activist arrested after vandalizing an Israeli-owned business in Merrimack, N.H., has been posting celebrations of the Oct. 7 terror attack and slogans from Hamas on her social media feed.

There is so much concern about the safety of Jewish students at Columbia University that administrators are allowing remote learning until the end of the semester.