Indian American Student Claims She Received Threats for Voicing Conservative Views on TV Show

Indian American Cornell undergraduate Neetu Chandak recently shared her experience of receiving threats to her physical safety after she appeared on Fox News for an interview about her objection to a course being taught at the university, which was anti-Donald Trump.

“I want to express gratitude for the support. I also want to make sure that everything in the story is accurate because that is important to me as a journalist. One thing that has been slightly inaccurate in the reports around the internet is that I received death threats. While I received threats to my physical safety, I did not have any credible threats to my life. However, this does not change the main thrust of my story, which is that conservatives face serious discrimination on college campuses, especially from people who preach that they are against discrimination and hate. And with that, I will share my interview on Fox,” she said in a series of tweets.

Chandak’s initial report, called Intolerance at Cornell: After my Fox News appearance, bullying and threats began, was published by College Fix, a higher education news website. It got so bad I sought counseling, she said.

https://t.co/FqTr15t5WV via @youtube

— Neetu Chandak (@neetu_chandak) January 16, 2018

Chandak had said during the show Fox and Friends that being a conservative or moderate is “a very difficult lifestyle” at Cornell. She said that she stepped down from her Research Assistant position since her superiors didn’t approve of her right-leaning politics.

She shared on Twitter one of the hate mails she received, which she dismissed, dubbing it as the “funniest wannabe hate mail.”

Funniest wannabe “hate mail”😂, but let’s get something straight:

The right to speak should not be based on where you go to school or live.

Isn’t it also a bit cheap to hide behind the power of anonymity?

And P.S. I did get into Newhouse 😉 pic.twitter.com/ntFHBLFeKg

— Neetu Chandak (@neetu_chandak) January 14, 2018

In the College Fix report, Chandak defends her decision to go on the show by saying that she did not “show support or disagreement with any particular person, but to show the ridiculousness in comparing eight years of Obama’s presidency to the first 100 days of Trump’s term.”

She alleged that she was called “hateful” and “bigoted” by strangers after the episode was broadcast. One of the messages she received on Facebook suggested that the person wanted to hurt her.