A student leader who tried to derail a recent talk by a conservative commentator Ben Shapiro says that the First Amendment right to free speech is not relevant to modern times.

In an interview with ABC News published last week, a University of Utah student and organizer of the anti-Shapiro demonstration said that the conservative pundit should not speak on campus.

“I don’t think he should speak,” the student organizer said. When the interviewer pointed out that such a position is not in line with the First Amendment, the protester replied, “I don’t care.”

“I don’t care...I don’t think that’s, like, a relevant document right now,” the student demonstrator added.

Shapiro has been a target of numerous protests in recent months, with college students frequently accusing the Jewish commentator of fueling fascist rhetoric, discrimination, and systematic racism.

The so-called “Antifa” movement also frequently opposes the First Amendment right to free expression, arguing that the fascist rhetoric ought to be prohibited.

“At the heart of the anti-fascist outlook is a rejection of the classical liberal phrase incorrectly ascribed to Voltaire that ‘I disapprove of what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,’” Dartmouth College Professor Mark Bray writes in the “Anti-Fascist Handbook.”



“After Auschwitz and Treblinka, anti-fascists committed themselves to fighting to the death the ability of organized Nazis to say anything,” he maintains.

[RELATED: Antifa flyer at Berkeley calls Ben Shapiro a 'fascist' thug]

Shapiro, however, remains optimistic about the future, telling ABC that he expects a public backlash against those who oppose freedom of speech.

“I think there is going to be a backlash,” he said. “I think there is going to be a strong backlash for people who are tired of it and want to stand up for basic right that we can all agree on.”

Follow this author on Facebook: Nikita Vladimirov