Wesleyan University sophomore Bryan Stascavage sparked controversy when he penned an opinion piece questioning the Black Lives Matter movement in his college paper, The Wesleyan Argus. Despite the intense pushback he received from students on campus, Stascavage has no plans to stop writing.
In a conversation with HuffPost Live, Stascavage said his article aimed to balance two differing viewpoints on "a knife's edge." It prompted a swift petition denouncing the paper and a response from the university expressing support for both Black Lives Matter and free speech. While Stascavage knew the piece would be "controversial," the negative feedback completely exceeded his expectations.
[RELATED: Activists Want Wesleyan Newspaper To Lose Funding For Running Op-Ed Critiquing Black Lives Matter]
"Once the article was read by the campus, instead of giving me criticisms, [the reaction] was to call me a racist and to try to get me to never publish again -- students screaming at me in public for 15 minutes, people whispering 'racist' as I walk by," he said. "The paper apologized for printing the opinion piece, so for a week there, it was pretty bad."
Stascavage added that he won't let the adverse reactions prevent him from penning another piece.
"It didn't sway me," he said. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't considering Liberty University for a few days there, but overall, I've got another opinion article that I've written and I've submitted it to the school paper."
Watch other conservative students discuss their experiences at liberal campuses in the full HuffPost Live conversation here.
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