In a class sure to spook liberals, NYU’s controversial anti-PC Professor Michael Rectenwald has enlisted conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos to speak Wednesday about “the politics of Halloween.”
The talk will explore how the holiday “connects to broader issues in our culture concerning free expression.”
Two years ago, NYU scrapped Yiannopoulos’ scheduled talk at the college, citing safety concerns over altercations that erupted on other campuses over his controversial alt-right viewpoints.
Neither NYU nor Rectenwald’s students have been informed of his “special” Halloween guest. The talk to the 14 students in his “academic writing, real world topics” class will also be live-streamed on the professor’s YouTube channel.
“This is a way to get Milo a platform to speak on campus without the problems of protest,” Rectenwald said. “We’ve been working on this for a while but we decided Halloween was the best time because it raises so many issues that he and I are both concerned with.”
“This is not a publicity stunt,” he said.
Rectenwald, 59, railed at the NYU administration and other universities who advise students on politically correct costumes.
“It’s ridiculous! Halloween used to be a night for the inappropriate or raising hell. For tricking and treating — rather harmlessly. But now, the issue is for what’s appropriate. They are talking about giving safe spaces so that people are not offended by Halloween costumes.”
He said the talk comes at a time when “the PC left is all about gender non-conformity and ever-increasing menus of identities” but those same people place “severe limits” on who someone wants to be for Halloween.
Rectenwald was booted from the classroom in October 2016 after colleagues complained about his “incivility.” The ouster came a month after he launched an undercover Twitter account called Deplorable NYU Prof to argue against campus trends like “safe spaces,” policing Halloween costumes and “trigger warnings.”
After a Post story, he was reinstated and promoted.