Nationally-syndicated conservative talk show host Dennis Prager will speak at Colorado State University Monday, Oct. 29 in the Lory Student Center Grand Ballroom.

The event, titled “Dennis Prager: Why America Needs Traditional Values to Flourish,” was funded in part by the Board for Student Organization Funding of CSU’s student government, the Associated Students of CSU. BSOF funded $13,999 towards the event. 

The total cost to bring Prager to campus was $15,000, said Isabel Brown, president of CSU’s chapter of Turning Point USA. TPUSA is the student organization hosting the event.

Several students spoke to the ASCSU Senate a month ago to voice their concerns about the use of student fees to bring Prager to campus, an action they considered to be dangerous to “queer, Muslim and female students” after Neo-Nazis visited campus during Charlie Kirk’s visit to CSU last February.

The ASCSU Senate was not consulted on these student fees being used, as the $13,999 TPUSA requested was one dollar below the $14,000 threshold needed for Senate approval.

During the ASCSU session on Wednesday, Brown told the Senate that TPUSA wants those who don’t agree to speak at the event.

“Per Turning Point USA policy, if you have a dissenting question or you disagree with the speaker, you can move to the front of the line for Q&A so you’re guaranteed to ask him pretty much any question that you want,” Brown said.

Brown encouraged students, whether they agree or not, to attend the event with Prager to attend the event.

“Public discourse is the cornerstone of our nation, and exposure to different ideas is a vital aspect of a university setting,” Brown said.

Stuart Smith can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @stuartsmithnews