The Yale College alum and conservative talk show host discussed the state of American higher education in a speech to roughly 100 guests.
Jack Olson
Assistant Editor of Interviews & Opinion, The Buckley Beacon
This past Tuesday, conservative commentator and host of the Daily Wire’s “The Michael Knowles Show” Michael Knowles (YC ‘12) spoke at an event hosted by Yale College Republicans, in collaboration with the Young America’s Foundation, or YAF.
The event in Sterling-Sheffield-Strathcona’s lecture hall began with an introduction from Yale College Republicans president Manu Anpalagan (YC ‘26), who revived the organization earlier this academic year. Anpalagan thanked YAF for sponsoring the event and characterized the College Republicans as an organization for those “who want to break free from the mainstream political spectrum.” Knowles was previously president of the organization in 2011.
Knowles’s speech came just several days after a Buckley Institute event was vandalized by student protesters in Yale’s William H. Harkness Hall. The event’s posters, advertising a firing line debate on the topic of biological sex, were ripped and destroyed, with protesters also putting up fake posters advertising a supposed Buckley event for student genital inspection. Knowles, the host of his own show on Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire, has been an active commentator on issues of higher education, transgender activism, and left-wing social politics since 2016.
Knowles opened his speech by addressing the impending departure of Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy, from Yale’s faculty. In an interview with CNN, Stanley cited President Donald Trump’s “fascist tendencies and the imminent collapse of American higher education” as among his reasons for leaving both the university and country.
Knowles decried Stanley’s labeling of the Trump administration as “fascist.”
“Democrats spent years,” Knowles said, “using the FBI to spy on Trump’s campaign, tried to remove Trump from the ballot, tried to imprison Trump, and then justify Trump’s assassination, which came within a hair’s breadth of actually occurring last year.”
Knowles then mocked Stanley’s choice of alternative residence in Canada, calling the country “America’s evil top hat.”
Knowles, himself a Yale graduate, criticized both left- and right-wing arguments on the utility of higher education. “Many leftists,” Knowles contended, “will tell us that the purpose is to open our minds, which, as we have already seen, is ill-advised and practically impossible. If we’re to think, say, or do anything at all, eventually our minds are going to have to close on something.”
Likewise, Knowles furthered, “conservative students give the wrong answer to this question, too,” alleging the right’s attachment to higher education as a means of getting high-paying jobs. “There is little that you can learn while studying medieval history that will prepare you for the actual job of a lawyer, or a doctor, or a banker, or a management consultant.”
Knowles also offered commentary on the left-wing social politics he felt pervades elite university culture. He pointed to “transgenderism” as evidence that elite Yale students are detached from the “average New Haven resident,” someone who, Knowles said, “knows what a woman is, believes that nations have borders, and has common sense.”
During the Q&A session, Knowles encountered pushback regarding his beliefs on issues like abortion and immigration. One student pressed Knowles on his prior endorsements of so-called Great Replacement Theory, an idea that posits, the student alleged, an “elite cabal” of leftists “purposefully allowing” mass immigration to “replace white voters.”
Knowles responded, “I’m not going to recant [my support] because it’s true, and the Democrats tell us it’s true,” attracting both applause and gasps from the roughly 100-person audience.
Anpalagan commented on the success of the night’s event, telling The Buckley Beacon, “I’m incredibly happy to have gotten the chance to bring Knowles back to Yale and have him as our first prominent guest speaker.” He continued, “I absolutely plan on collaborating more with YAF, as well as with other organizations, to bring more incredible speakers to campus and hold exciting events in the future.” Anpalagan did not name any future events or speakers in particular.
Knowles will be speaking at the University of Pittsburgh on April 7, his second speech in the William F. Buckley Lecture Series hosted by YAF.