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Hampshire College canceled a student-organized event hosting Antonia Okafor, a gun rights advocate, two hours before the event was scheduled to take place Thursday.
Okafor -- a conservative Fox News commentator who also voted for President Obama and frames the Second Amendment as an avenue for women’s empowerment -- blasted the move on social media.
Hampshire apologized for the cancellation but said it was due to technical errors in the application submitted by the student wishing to host Okafor, and not the content of the speech.
“The college did not follow its own procedures in sufficiently reviewing the application before we approved it. We take responsibility for that mistake,” a statement from Hampshire read. The application “lacked the necessary details we require in advance of any event, particularly one that might draw large audiences and intense debate, so we can allot the appropriate resources to staff and support the event.”
Hampshire said it would reach out to Okafor and to student organizers to talk about rescheduling the event.
Okafor pushed back on the college’s response in a Facebook post, alleging a conspiracy against her.
“What really happened is this. Someone failed to do a [Google] search on me and then started freaking out once professors, students and the media started calling in, demanding that I don’t speak tonight,” she said. “They caved.”
