By Ethan Faverino |

A group of students at Arizona State University hosted a public awareness event on Thursday, October 23, at the Memorial Union to highlight Antifa’s activities on campus and encourage students to confidentially report any known associates for submission to the Federal Terror Watchlist.

The event, hosted by College Republicans United (CRU), featured verified public records and official documents detailing students previously convicted of Antifa-related crimes, including multiple individuals who were active members or leaders of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) at ASU at the time of their arrests.

“Like the Trump administration, we believe that if you see something, say something,” Kevin Decuyper told The State Press. According to the outlet, Decuyper co-founded CRU at ASU in 2018 as a student and is now the chairman of the College Republicans United national organization.

Former law enforcement officer and current Congressional candidate for Arizona’s 1st District, Paul Reevs also told The State Press, “What these students are doing, standing up and simply asking people to help them identify violent people, is courageous. We need that kind of leadership, and I want to support them when they do that.” He attended the event and spoke to students to raise awareness about Antifa-related criminal activity on and around campus.

In a release promoting the event, CRU cited Gabriel Nadales, a former Antifa member and National Director of Our America who spoke at the group’s ASU chapter in 2019 about the connection between ANTIFA and the YDSA.

According to The State Press, YDSA co-chair Isaac Burdge denied any organizational ties to Antifa, stating the group opposes fascism but does not engage in violence.

Despite Burdge’s claims that YDSA is not violent, there have been many documented cases of violence, including Benjamin Cooper, YDSA’s agitprop director at ASU, who has had multiple arrests for assaulting police.

Correction: A previous version of this story said that Gabriel Nadales was a featured speaker at the October 23rd event. Nadales did not speak at the event, but spoke to the group in 2019. The story has been udpated to reflect this.

Correction: A previous version of this story failed to cite reporting from The State Press. The story has been updated.

Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.