Student Says He Was ‘Demoted’ for Expressing Pro-Second Amendment Views

Quade Lancaster, a military recruit and student at a Texas community college, told Campus Reform that he was demoted from president to vice president of the school’s Student Government Association (SGA) as a result of expressing pro-Second Amendment sentiments during a private conversation.

It’s a curious case. Lancaster said an early March discussion in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting became heated. He and some unnamed fellow student government officers grappled with the topic of gun-related legislation — and some salty language was exchanged, according to the same outlet.

The student, who attends Lone Star College Tomball, reported that he is a medically discharged Navy recruit (he had to leave because of a knee injury). He told Campus Reform that the program manager for the Office of Student Life, Shannon Marino, “demoted” him from president to vice president of the school’s SGA as a result of this discussion.

Lone Star College, as described on its website, is “the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and is one of the fastest-growing community college systems in the nation.”

It lists four primary purposes of its Student Government Association:

• to provide for broad professional development of its membership
• to provide input to college administration on student and organizational issues
• to appoint/elect student to college advisory committees as requested by the administration of Lone Star College Tomball
• to serve in an advisory capacity for the allocation of college funds to [the] student organization

“She informed [me] that I had no right to ask for an explanation [of the demotion] and that I was not allowed to express my alternate viewpoint [on gun laws] during a private conversation because as the president I represent all views,” Lancaster told Campus Reform.

“I was censored for my conservative opinions and told that as the president I was not allowed to speak my own views,” he added.

According to the same article, Lancaster wants to be reinstated as SGA president and sees his demotion as representative of a broader pattern of discrimination against conservative students.

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LifeZette reached out to a number of people for comment, including Lancaster, who confirmed some of the above material. But neither Marino, who is listed as the college’s administrative contact for the SGA, nor Lone Star College’s media contact personnel, Jed Young and Bill Van Rysdam, responded to multiple invitations for comment by the time of publication.

This article has been updated. 

Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to LifeZette.