A college in California was caught using tuition dollars to send students to an anti-Trump rally, which could lead to future problems with the IRS.
Pomona College in Claremont was found to have sent 70 students to the “United Against Hate” march, a rally held in different parts of the country that protests the election victory of Donald Trump as the next president of the U.S., according to the school paper Claremont Independent.
The school promoted the event through Facebook and paid for the students’ expenses, including transportation, through its Draper Center for Community Partnerships. Those who were willing to join the protest accomplished an online application form.
“We are sponsoring a group of 70 students to go to the anti-hate rally in LA tomorrow morning! Please share with your communities--as of now, this is open for Pomona students only. Read the information on the form carefully and only sign up if you can commit and be on time!” the Facebook post read.
Pomona College enjoys 501 (c)(3) nonprofit status. However, using funds from the students’ tuition violates IRS regulations that prohibit the school from participating in events involving partisan politics.
Pomona College is not the only one that could be in violation of the law. Students from different states across the U.S. have launched anti-Trump protests, and some schools have accommodated them by setting up “cry rooms” where they receive counseling for their grief and anger over Trump’s win. The schools use taxpayer’s money to fund this.
Iowa Rep. Bobby Kaufmann wants to address such practices in his state through the ‘Suck It Up, Buttercup’ Bill, which specifically targets schools that spend for “cry rooms” or grief counseling for students who can’t get over the election results.
The lawmaker said he has seen “four or five schools” in other states where this practice is being done, with state grief counselors manning the rooms, according to the Des Moines Register.
"That's a waste of taxpayer dollars and that also doesn't prepare kids for life. In life there's winners and losers and when your car breaks down, your kids get sick or you have to take a second job to pay your mortgage, you don't get to go to a cry zone, you don't get to pet a pony,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “You have to deal with it.”
Kaufmann also seeks to impose greater penalties for protesters who block the roads, which he said puts people in danger.
"That's incredibly dangerous. What if someone had been trying to go to the hospital or was in an emergency and you had these spoiled brats blocking interstate 80?" Kaufmann said.
He clarified that he is not against people protesting, but they should do so in a way that does not put others in danger.
“People have the right to be hysterical … on their own time,” he said.
