Latest / Scene Projects Sports Network / Adyn Brenden's Journey: QuestBridge, Campus Challenges, and Advocacy for Education

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Adyn Brenden's Journey: QuestBridge, Campus Challenges, and Advocacy for Education · Scene Projects Sports Network

• 0:02
  Today on the show, we're joined by Jeremy and Aiden Brendan.
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  Jeremy, a passionate advocate and voice for his family, and Aiden, a young man navigating
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  challenges and growth after a high profile experience at Hamilton College.
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  Together, they bring a raw and real perspective on justice, resilience, and what it means to
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  stand strong as a family.
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  Let's get into the show.
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  The following program is part of the Patriot Broadcasting Project brought to you by the seed
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  projects podcast network.
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  Welcome in to a very important episode of the Patriot Broadcasting Project.
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  I am your host, Bubba Sartz, and with me today is Jeremy and Aiden Brendan.
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  Welcome to the show, guys.
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  Thanks.
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  Thanks for having us.
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  We appreciate it.
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  Well, Jeremy, you reached out to me on Facebook and, expressed an interest on coming onto the
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  show to talk about a situation that Aiden found himself in over some art that he had done at
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  the college he was attending.
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  Since then, he's been arrested.
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  He has been charged with some pretty heinous charges, I would say, that are completely
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  unfounded, and, we're gonna get a chance to hear all about it.
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  So I'm gonna give you the floor, let you kind of explain the opportunity that he had to even
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  go to this college, which was a huge deal, and and and how it was all ripped away from him.
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  So the floor is yours.
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  So Aiden, a lot of local people know Aiden is a he's a scholar he's a QuestBridge scholar from
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  Yanken High School here in class of last year in 02/2023.
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  2023.
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  QuestBridge academic low income well, it's for low income families, and it's really
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  prestigious award.
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  Anyways, he got a full ride scholarship that they provide full ride scholarship to go to
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  Hamilton, and he well, he got to choose.
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  He had to go through a program to it.
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  So he got a full ride scholarship to go to Hamilton or college in New York.
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  And, yeah, it's a big deal, I guess.
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  And you can explain, I guess, a little bit more about that scholarship if you want.
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  Well
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  well, the whole point of the scholarship was that it was meant to be an opportunity to help
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  low income students and people who excel intellectually to get full ride scholarships in
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  the colleges, you know, because, usually what happens is that people usually, like, excel at
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  sports or something and then they get in these colleges that way.
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  Well, this was meant to be a program for people who excel intellectually instead of physically.
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  And so they selected me to be one of the people to potentially get a full ride scholarship.
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  And so what you essentially do is you will rank these colleges in a list, and you will go and
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  you'll, like, write, like, a ton of applications for each of these colleges.
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  I, like I believe I put all my application work in a single document.
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  It was, like, what, 13 pages long, and I had to do that in, like, twenty four hours.
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  So it was pretty intense.
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  But at the end of it, I got, accepted at Hamilton College.
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  So that was, like, a big deal for me.
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  Like, I when I saw I was at a loss for words.
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  This was, a big opportunity for me.
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  Like, this was going to be my way that I could make it make it make make my make it in the
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  road and, like, have a thing.
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  Because, like, the big thing for me about college is that it just costs so much.
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  And so for me, as a person who has, like, no experience, no real education that an employer
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  would look at and consider, like, we'll hire you for.
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  Like, I didn't, like, see the value in going to college at that point.
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  And this QuestBridge Garthip, like, sort of changed that for me and gave me that chance.
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  So that was
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  a big thing.
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  So the scholarship is not through the college itself, but a national scholarship, and then
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  you kinda had your choices of colleges, and then it was which one would work out.
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  Is that kinda how the process works?
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  They match they they'll match you with the college, essentially, is what they do.
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  They take these kids, put them through a program, and then you have to meet these
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  certain requirements.
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  Aiden scored a 34 in his SAT with a perfect score in English.
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  So, like, this
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  is Aiden.
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  Congratulations.
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  I got a 25 a little hungover, and I I think I I I went without a calculator.
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  I was pretty proud of that.
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  To score a 34 on your ACT exams is huge.
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  That's massive.
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  This college was happy to have you.
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  Correct?
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  I mean, they were thrilled to have someone on this scholarship coming to their school.
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  So talk about, you know, not just getting the opportunity now, which is huge, you deserve all
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  your kudos for that.
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  But now, you know, actually going to the school, traveling away from home to a very
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  prestigious college.
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  Right?
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  Hamilton College is is world renowned, I think, for some of their, you know, graduates.
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  And
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  Yeah.
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  I'm sorry.
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  Yeah.
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  Sorry.
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  Yeah.
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  They because there's a little Ivy is what they call themselves as far as they're not renowned.
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  You look it up, they their their nickname's the little Ivy.
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  Yeah.
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  They they are considered to be the wannabe Ivy League among the Ivy Leagues.
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  So Yeah.
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  They're they're like just
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  The Ivy League's little brother.
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  Yeah.
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  The CEO of Goldman Sachs currently graduated from Hamilton College.
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  Yeah.
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  They have
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  So for a small town South Dakota kid to be able to enter this school, it's a pretty big deal.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Huge.
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  Yeah.
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  Huge.
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  So, Aidan, talk about your experience as you first get there.
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  You were a freshman when this whole situation occurred.
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  Correct?
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  A sophomore.
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  Okay.
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  So this was your entering your second talk about your experience in that freshman year and
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  kind of being at the school and your experience up until the point when, you know, the whole
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  kinda drama started.
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  So I'd say that my experience in the college was, like, I I went into it, like, I knew,
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  like, this was going to be, like, a, like, a liberal university where people aren't
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  necessarily going to, see things the same way I did.
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  And I sort of was expecting that that, and I sort of, like, went there with a sort of
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  position of, like, well, I'm just going to have to hear these people out and, non politely, you
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  know, like, just go through the motions because I'm because, like, I'm not gonna worry about
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  that.
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  I'm just going to focus on my education.
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  And, like, what I want, I want, like, a scholar I want to get a computer science and stuff.
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  And to me, like, that's that's a very apolitical thing.
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  So it's like, I so it's like, I can do this.
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  I can get through this.
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  I don't have to worry about that is what I was thinking.
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  So I went so I went into college.
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  I was very excited to be there.
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  It was, like, a nice college.
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  It was, frankly, like, a lot smaller than I expected it to be.
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  So it was like so that was also really positive for me, and it was, in the middle of nature and
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  stuff.
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  They had, like, trails nearby so that I could, like, get away and, like, recoup.
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  So that was all so that was also a really good thing for me and for my studies.
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  And more or less, the people there well, they well, they were nice.
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  They acted nice.
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  Like, they smiled at you, and they'd wave you, and they'd be
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  They see if they could see that.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  There's they have pictures and stuff.
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  You can look them online.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  They It's
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  really nice.
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  Real nice place.
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  Real nice weather.
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  It's just
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  a nice So even though you knew politically, obviously, you weren't going to align with
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  these people, being a small town South Dakota kid, having conservative values, You were aware
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  of that going in, but you weren't necessarily at odds with people on a day to day basis.
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  Is that fair?
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  No.
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  I'm no.
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  I wasn't no.
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  I was I was there to, like, to make friends, to, like, open relation to have To
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  be a college student.
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  Yeah.
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  Exactly.
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  Yes.
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  Like like, I joined like, I joined, like, the board game club there, and we had a thing going
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  where we where we'd stay up late on, like, Saturdays, and we play poker.
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  Like like, we had a cool time time together, and that was cool.
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  So you weren't you weren't an outcast at the school up until the point that all all the
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  situation and the incident kind of started.
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  So let's fast forward a little bit.
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  When exactly is the time frame of this?
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  This is now into your sophomore year.
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  And if I was correct in reading some of the things that it was a school kind of founded art
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  project.
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  Correct?
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  Yeah.
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  It's a It was a school formed art project, a mural on freedom of speech and democracy.
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  Crossroads mural.
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  Yeah.
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  That's Crossroads Community mural.
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  I got the I got the little thing right here.
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  The the print well, it's it was an email they sent out to the students.
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  Yes.
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  And it talked about says, we're thrilled to invite you to participate in the community
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  mural celebrating elections and democracy.
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  This collectively created mural explores such things as right to vote, freedom of speech as a
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  cornerstone of democracy, respect respectful expression and diverse opinions, and role of
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  elections in shaping our future.
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  This project is open to everyone on campus as opportunity to affirm the importance of
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  engagement in the in the democratic process.
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  That's the first paragraph of it.
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  So yeah.
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  So, yeah, so this mural was, like, happening, like, in the run up to the to the Trump to the
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  Trump election.
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  And so it was happening in that so it's happening in that context.
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  And what was also happening at the same time was that you had the Israeli Palestine conflict
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  going on that has started, last it actually started last year.
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  My second semester was when it started.
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  So they had established this group called Students Justice for Palestine.
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  And so I was sort of interested in seeing, what they stood for, what their arguments, why why
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  they supported this or that.
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  So I went to one so I went to one of their meetings, and I sat in back and I watched.
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  And, essentially, what they did is they, pointed to a bunch of, like, really refined
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  websites, which were, like, clearly, like, these were put together by, like, well paid
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  organizations, I'm sure, and stuff.
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  And so I went out of this meeting knowing that knowing that Student Justice for Palestine is
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  just I was pretty confident that it's just a front for propaganda is essentially what I
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  concluded.
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  So that's so that's what I got out of that.
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  So but these people were but these people were going around, and they and they were spreading
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  their pamphlets.
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  They were spreading their pamphlets and stuff.
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  And they were at this mural, obviously, because it's it's a mural inviting people to give
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  political speech.
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  So they obviously had, like, two of their own posters there.
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  And and there were and there were people who supported Trump there.
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  Like, there was a poster that said, Trump 2024 on there.
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  Like, there were those people on campus, and there were those people on campus.
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  I didn't know them personally, but I Yeah.
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  But it was there.
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  And, in the end, it ended up getting scribbled out, which, I guess, foreshadowing 01/2001.
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  I guess I guess moving on, I like I guess we're getting to a point that's, like, as a parent
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  looking over this kind of this whole thing, it was this community mural art project wasn't
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  properly handled to begin with.
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  No.
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  Like, they apparently did not supervise this.
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  They put it in a place, gave everybody crayons and markers.
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  They laid the stuff out for kids to do.
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  Then they didn't post any rules on the walls, didn't have anybody there supervising it.
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  They and they just walked away and said, here you go.
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  Have fun.
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  And then see what happened.
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  You know?
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  Set it all out there and see what people put on there.
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  And in the end, they ended up with a bunch of shit that was bunch of stuff that excuse my
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  language, but stuff that's scribbled on.
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  You know?
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  I mean, that ain't of course Yeah.
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  People were defacing 19 year old kids.
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  People were defacing other people's art if they didn't agree with what the post had said.
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  Exactly.
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  Exactly.
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  The whole you know?
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  And then now they're well, essentially, what happened is they're now they're just
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  selectively deciding, okay.
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  Well, you scribbled something out, so you violated their rights because you scribbled
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  something out.
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  And, like, well, what about so and so that scribbled out this or this or that?
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  They're like, well, we didn't catch them.
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  You wouldn't Right.
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  A enforcement of of whatever rules they had that they did not, that they failed to, you
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  know, delegate down to
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  Right.
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  The people.
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  Like, they never posted any rules for it, and they kinda made them up as they as they went.
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  I'm assuming
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  sent an email to the student body and then said it was then left it in a place and didn't post
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  rules.
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  Anybody can walk by that thing.
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  Like, I literally I mean, I don't know if anybody's checked out speaking of which, you
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  should check out my web my Facebook page, obviously.
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  A lot of this information is all on my Facebook page.
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  And and that's either Jeremy Brendan, obviously, just or aide Brendan, you type
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  those, and I've been hashtagging a lot of stuff out there, so you should be able to find a
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  bunch of stuff.
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  But, yeah, they did not did not, like, put anything out there for these parent or for
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  these kids or anybody walking by.
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  And, like, on my, like, on my Facebook page, yeah, I have a flyer, you know, of that of
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  stuff that they've been disseminating from one of the news groups that they have around there
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  of different things that they've been disseminating, and that relates to the Charlie
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  Kirk stuff that just recently happened.
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  You know?
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  And it was the it was like a thing.
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  It wasn't two hundred two hundred yards.
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  It was a 183 public you know?
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  So but, like, there's a lot of this they they just didn't do this, and then they selectively
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  enforced it.
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  And then they took the video.
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  Like, well, they went to video to get him to catch him and what he did wrong, but they
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  didn't do anything.
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  Like I said, I show you other stuff that people did.
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  You know?
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  Well and and let's address that then.
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  Let's address that.
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  So, Aidan, you had taken part in this mural project.
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  You had brought your own piece of artwork to the table.
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  Can you describe what your art and your presentation was expressing your right to free
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  speech and expression?
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  Mhmm.
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  Yeah.
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  So Ultimately, we believe it was over this one in the end.
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  That's upside down.
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  Is it upside down?
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  Yep.
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  Did see
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  that right?
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  Or did I it the right way the first time?
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  I did it right it's right way.
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  I did it right the first time.
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  I'm looking at it on the wrong side.
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  Ultimately, we
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  have that over it was over this one.
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  Hayden contributed to this one and put the black in the you know?
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  So it makes it hard.
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  You know?
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  Right.
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  Honestly, I honestly, I think he made it better because now you gotta stop and look to see both
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  sides.
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  So what did they take offense to with this piece of artwork?
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  I'm very I'm a little lost as far as as why your your piece of art there is being singled
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  out for the charges that they had leveled against you.
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  Through through all my research, it's been really I've been doing lots and lots of
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  research and connecting all
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  the dots.
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  And Yeah.
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  My my dad has been looking more into it.
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  Really?
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  I've been really researched it.
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  Like, we've been told, like, literally had a school teacher, you know, one of Aiden's former
• 16:49
  teachers that was willing to help us, and she's been researching some of these sites.
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  Like, if you go to I'll make them famous right now.
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  The ampersand journals on Substack, if you go there and find that Felipe de Cruz or Felipe de
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  yeah.
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  Felipe de Cool.
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  They have put out a whole bunch of journal stuff, and they got a they like Aiden's name in
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  there several, several times in a bunch of different opinion pieces or whatever you wanna
• 17:18
  talk you wanna call it.
• 17:19
  So we've done a bunch of research on that pen name, and we know who the pen name is now.
• 17:23
  I don't know if I should really tell anybody or whether it matters.
• 17:26
  I'll keep it secret for time being.
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  But, anyways, if you go through that and you could see they obviously have a pretty good
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  inside view and bias of what's going on inside the school.
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  And a lot of these factions are all like, this group this group this group that does this
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  stuff, the SJP group, they're all right they're all in the same building stacked to get stacked
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  together.
• 17:53
  You know?
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  So the I don't know what they call them.
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  CI what this?
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  The what?
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  The Which people?
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  No.
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  The the campus, they're meant to it's what QuestBridge is a part of.
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  The The For the mine for for the minority groups Oh.
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  For the opportunity groups.
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  Oh, the CIF or CIFC.
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  I think it's CIF?
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  Anyways, they're all linked together, so they all work together.
• 18:27
  You know, one person one person says something, whether it's from this community, said
• 18:31
  something to this community, and now it looks like Okay.
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  Well and and, Jeremy, I'm gonna stop you because we're kinda jumping around here, and
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  you're showing us a lot of things, but there's not a lot of context there.
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  So, Aidan, I kinda just want you to walk us through.
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  You you make this poster as part of this mural project.
• 18:47
  And now you had put it up there, but, what really caused the stir?
• 18:51
  I mean, is this the day after you post your piece of art up there that now you're getting
• 18:56
  calls and charges levied against you or kinda how did it all play out?
• 19:00
  Yeah.
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  So, yeah, so how, yeah, so how it plays out is I took is that I took part in this mural, and,
• 19:08
  obviously, like, I wrote a bunch of our stuff.
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  I wrote a bunch of our stuff.
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  Like, the specific things that they give me for is not for the post they show me for.
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  It's actually for what I draw on the Student Justice for Palestine poster.
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  So what I did was that I drew, I added a backward swastika to their Palestinian flags
• 19:29
  that they drew because that flag represents, the Palestinian authority or is the symbol of
• 19:36
  Palestinian authority, Hamas, otherwise known as the terrorist group, which has explicitly
• 19:41
  stated that they want to ethnically cleanse the, holy land of the Jews so that they can
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  remake it into a a exclusively Muslim Palestinian state.
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  So they've already so they explicitly said that.
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  So I just added the backward swastika to make a point that, hey.
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  By the way, these people wanna do what Hitler does.
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  And so that's what so that's essentially what I was trying to say on that poster, and that's
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  what they're essentially going to get me for.
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  So I go off so I go off to
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  Now now meanwhile, other people had been contributing to other people's art during this
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  time as well.
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  Correct?
• 20:25
  Yeah.
• 20:25
  During this entire time.
• 20:27
  Everyone's contributing stuff, and people were scribbling stuff out.
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  They were
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  Because it's a community mural, there were no guidelines that's that that you can't
• 20:37
  contribute to another piece of art when you put the piece up there to contribute to the mural
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  as a whole that it was able to be added to by other students.
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  Correct?
• 20:47
  Yeah.
• 20:47
  Yeah.
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  There's there's nothing stopping people from buying stuff.
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  And and they did.
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  They they add they added doodles.
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  They all they altered people's words.
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  Like, they, like, they'd erase them.
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  They scrubbed
• 20:58
  out.
• 20:58
  Teenagers do to things.
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  We've all seen the insides of bathroom stalls.
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  It's a very a very poor idea for the college to have almost no oversight on this whatsoever and
• 21:09
  ability to do that.
• 21:10
  We're struggling really to see the the pictures on there, Jeremy.
• 21:14
  I appreciate you doing them.
• 21:16
  You can share some stuff with us, and we'll we'll post them posthumously onto our Facebook
• 21:20
  pages and provide some evidence of these things.
• 21:23
  But very hard to see the pictures on the screen there.
• 21:26
  So, Aiden, at what point are you contacted by the authorities after you have added your take
• 21:35
  on on the mural?
• 21:37
  Right.
• 21:38
  So the next day is a Saturday, and I have a a CS project coming up.
• 21:45
  So I'm so I'm sitting down and working on that when I get a knock on on my door.
• 21:50
  And so then I go do it, and it's and it's the freaking cops.
• 21:54
  And I'm like, like, what?
• 21:56
  And they're like, can we walk in?
• 21:58
  And I'm like, well well, this I guess, why not?
• 22:05
  And so they and so then they walk they walk in.
• 22:08
  They look around.
• 22:09
  They obviously see nothing because I don't have anything out.
• 22:13
  And they asked me they asked me, did you draw did you draw stuff on the mirror?
• 22:19
  And I'm like, yeah.
• 22:20
  Of course, I did.
• 22:21
  And they're like, did you draw a swastika?
• 22:23
  And I'm like, well and, like, draw a swastika.
• 22:27
  And I'm like, well, technically, no.
• 22:29
  And they're like and they're like, well, did you draw a swastika?
• 22:33
  And I'm like, well, you can say it's a swastika, but, technically, it's not a
• 22:37
  swastika.
• 22:38
  But so they're like, okay.
• 22:40
  We'll take okay.
• 22:41
  Then we're going to take you to, campus security.
• 22:45
  So they do that.
• 22:46
  And so they do that.
• 22:49
  So I go to campus security and campus security.
• 22:53
  And so I'm sitting there, and then I go to Jeff Landry.
• 22:56
  And Jeff Landry is like, okay.
• 22:58
  You're going to get suspended now because of what you did.
• 23:03
  And I'm I'm like, well, that sucks.
• 23:06
  Well, that sucks really bad, but, like, that's an understatement.
• 23:09
  But you get the idea.
• 23:10
  Like, I felt, like, very, very pained.
• 23:16
  And, also, at the same time, I was also asked by the investigator to go, write a a statement.
• 23:26
  And so then I go write a statement with him.
• 23:28
  And, again, the whole thing when you get to the whole backward Swastika thing, again, he's
• 23:34
  again, he's like, he insists again, he makes sure to insist.
• 23:37
  Like, you drew a Swastika.
• 23:38
  Right?
• 23:38
  And, yeah.
• 23:39
  Whatever.
• 23:39
  Drop yeah.
• 23:40
  Whatever.
• 23:40
  You're the one typing it up.
• 23:43
  And so he does that.
• 23:45
  And so he does that, and then I sign that, and he, like, and he, like, assure and he's, also
• 23:50
  this entire time, he's, like, assuring me, like, don't worry.
• 23:52
  We can don't worry.
• 23:54
  We can get this corrected or whatever.
• 23:56
  Just just sign it already.
• 23:58
  And so then we get out.
• 23:59
  We get that finished.
• 24:02
  You go ahead.
• 24:03
  We get out, and we get that finished.
• 24:05
  And so then we go in.
• 24:07
  And so then it's like, well, you gotta call your well, you gotta call your dad.
• 24:11
  So I call him, and he's like and when I tell him what I did, he's like, what?
• 24:18
  He's like, you're sir you're serious.
• 24:20
  Right?
• 24:21
  Like like, you're serious, but, like, I didn't, like, I didn't think it that way.
• 24:25
  I think, like, he was, like, like, fighting mad at me.
• 24:28
  I was trying to say as little as possible because I know better when the cops are
• 24:32
  involved, you just keep your mouth shut.
• 24:33
  We're on the phone.
• 24:34
  I knew he couldn't talk.
• 24:35
  I'm just Mhmm.
• 24:36
  So yeah.
• 24:37
  Yeah.
• 24:38
  I don't know what you're thinking, but I was just trying to tell you keep your mouth shut.
• 24:41
  Yeah.
• 24:43
  Yeah.
• 24:44
  So, anyways, that happened.
• 24:46
  And then and so then the investigators so then Jeff Landry after that, the Jeff Landry invites
• 24:53
  the investigators into his office.
• 24:55
  So well, before this, Jeff Landry asked him, like, are you going to arrest him?
• 25:00
  And they're like and they're like sorta like like razor shrug their shores and be like,
• 25:04
  don't know.
• 25:06
  Like, depends.
• 25:07
  And so then he invites them into the office to visit visit them while I'm calling dad, and
• 25:12
  then they come back out, and they're like, okay.
• 25:15
  And then Jeff Landry is like, okay.
• 25:16
  They're going to arrest you now.
• 25:18
  And so I and so I get arrested.
• 25:20
  I go get processed.
• 25:22
  I come back, and then they send and then they send me to a a a hotel at the other end of town
• 25:33
  to, you know, to, like, spend some time alone in my misery.
• 25:40
  You know?
• 25:41
  To wait.
• 25:42
  Yeah.
• 25:42
  To wait.
• 25:43
  They wanted you to
• 25:44
  Did they take you to jail that day and process you?
• 25:47
  Yes.
• 25:48
  Yeah.
• 25:48
  Yes.
• 25:49
  Yeah.
• 25:49
  How traumatic that must have been.
• 25:52
  As someone who's been through that process, I know how traumatizing it can be.
• 25:56
  And for a a piece of artwork and not having done what they said you did in the first place
• 26:05
  to accuse you of the things.
• 26:07
  What were the actual charges that they charged you with at the moment?
• 26:12
  Aggravated harassment.
• 26:15
  Felony felony aggravated harassment.
• 26:17
  Felony Felony aggravated harassment.
• 26:20
  And then released on a personal recognizance bond from that then into this hotel because you
• 26:25
  were obviously living on the dormitory of the school that you had just been suspended from
• 26:30
  because of this situation.
• 26:32
  Mhmm.
• 26:33
  Essentially.
• 26:33
  So, yeah, he's essentially evicted evicted out of his place where he lived, you know, some
• 26:39
  sixteen, seventeen hundred miles away from home depending on what route you take.
• 26:42
  And yeah.
• 26:44
  They mister Landry, after he got off the phone, he handed the phone to me.
• 26:48
  And I talked to mister Landry, and he was wanting me to prop Aidan up in a hotel for two
• 26:55
  weeks or better until they could get it figured out what they were gonna do.
• 27:00
  And then he wanted me to put the bill for it and yeah.
• 27:04
  Pretty much.
• 27:05
  Yeah.
• 27:06
  Knowing that request for yeah.
• 27:07
  That's the thing.
• 27:08
  He knows that we're a low income family to begin with.
• 27:12
  So
• 27:12
  Well and I feel like they rushed through any kind of due process on theirs.
• 27:17
  They coerced a confession out of you by intimidating you with the police and with the
• 27:23
  threat of suspension over top of you to get you to admit to something that you did not do.
• 27:31
  Mhmm.
• 27:32
  Because I essentially hauled him in without him and questioned him without even writing him his
• 27:35
  rights.
• 27:36
  Mhmm.
• 27:37
  It's what they did.
• 27:38
  So I mean, they he didn't get any rights or anything like that until it was written on that
• 27:45
  statement that he made he signed.
• 27:47
  So, really, he wasn't even divisive of his rights until that point.
• 27:51
  And we still yet to see any of the videos or any of that stuff from the officers, you know,
• 27:55
  because that should all have been taped or videoed, but not subnet come out yet.
• 27:59
  So and
• 28:02
  No.
• 28:02
  And and currently, have these charges been dismissed at this point?
• 28:08
  Yes.
• 28:09
  They they were dismissed in grand jury.
• 28:11
  Yeah.
• 28:11
  They were dismissed by a grand jury.
• 28:13
  They went all the way to a grand jury, and the grand jury said, uh-uh.
• 28:17
  I don't think so.
• 28:18
  There's there's not enough here to levy charges and to go through the the process of criminally
• 28:23
  charging you.
• 28:24
  Yeah.
• 28:24
  So now that leaves us to the reinstatement in the school.
• 28:29
  If there are no charges, I'm assuming the school has a right to suspend you, but they
• 28:33
  would have to follow some kind of due process as well.
• 28:36
  If there's no evidence of wrongdoing, then it would be very hard, it seems, for them to levy
• 28:43
  the suspension against you.
• 28:45
  So is that the fight that we are currently in now is to have you reinstated and your
• 28:50
  scholarship returned to you at this Hamilton College?
• 28:53
  Is that the, process we're in now?
• 28:56
  Yeah.
• 28:56
  That's that's essentially that's essentially what's going on is that we want, Hamilton
• 29:03
  College to recognize that suspend that what they did suspending me wasn't, by any means
• 29:12
  right.
• 29:12
  It wasn't following their due process.
• 29:14
  It wasn't following, the due process of law or even their own due process.
• 29:19
  It just it just wasn't fair all altogether.
• 29:23
  And
• 29:25
  Well, and at points, it seems unlawful.
• 29:28
  Beyond just being unfair, I have to believe that some of your personal rights were intruded
• 29:36
  upon here.
• 29:37
  No doubt.
• 29:39
  Well, they continue.
• 29:40
  The school's newspaper still continues to well, they released an article, I should say,
• 29:43
  continue within March.
• 29:44
  And on Twitter, if you go back to the spectator stuff, they still release a word rate or word
• 29:49
  articles.
• 29:50
  Like, he's in jail.
• 29:52
  Like, our lawyer was in court on February or trying to get his sentence reduced is what they
• 29:59
  say.
• 30:00
  And then they make no reference to anything after that.
• 30:02
  Well, that's libel.
• 30:04
  Yeah.
• 30:04
  So the publication itself and the school should be held accountable for that as well if indeed
• 30:11
  you are not in jail or trying to have your sentence reduced.
• 30:14
  If people get Google search, it's hell up.
• 30:16
  They're they're doing they did yeah.
• 30:18
  They did all of that.
• 30:19
  Like, part of how part of how they're able to, like, get me, like, permanently suspended or
• 30:25
  expelled was that they was that they pushed it through and they got done before before a grand
• 30:31
  jury could dismiss it.
• 30:34
  Well, which doesn't really make a difference because if a grand jury dismisses it, then that
• 30:39
  means that, well, it should be apparent to anyone that these charges were just, plain just
• 30:46
  made up just for the sake of the school so that they would have a grounds for expelling me.
• 30:53
  Because, if you receive any funding whatsoever from the government, which the school
• 30:58
  definitely does, you have to respect people's freedom of speech rights, whether you're a
• 31:06
  private or public college, especially if you explicitly give people freedom of speech as
• 31:10
  they did with this MERL.
• 31:12
  So the only grounds that they have for that is if I got criminally charged for something like,
• 31:21
  like harassment or like a hate speech violation.
• 31:25
  That those are the only grounds that they could say that they could expel me for any reason,
• 31:29
  which is why they had to push which is why they had to make sure that I got arrested so that
• 31:34
  then they could have legal grounds for expelling me thereafter.
• 31:39
  And, of course, they want to push it to a grand jury so that way they'd have enough time to do
• 31:43
  that before it got dropped.
• 31:46
  And then, of course, during this entire time, they continue to, continue to use their
• 31:53
  connections in the media, with NPR and The New York Times and and everyone else.
• 32:00
  They still use their connections there to make sure to get the word out so everyone knows that
• 32:05
  I'm an anti Semite, and I'm the boogeyman, and that you should be scared of me, and that you
• 32:10
  that you don't want anything to do with me.
• 32:12
  You know?
• 32:13
  Which which makes what we're doing today so important and sharing your story on our
• 32:17
  platforms and and around the world.
• 32:20
  I want to so it's been about a year that you've been suspended.
• 32:25
  You said this happened around election time, so not quite a year yet.
• 32:28
  You're still fighting.
• 32:29
  Are you being represented, by someone that's in the, in the area of where the school is that
• 32:36
  where the the, the court proceedings and the battle with the school to be reinstated are
• 32:41
  taking place?
• 32:42
  Yeah.
• 32:43
  That's where they're happening, but we we don't have representation at this time.
• 32:48
  No.
• 32:48
  Yeah.
• 32:49
  No.
• 32:49
  Actually, we're in the search representation.
• 32:51
  We're actually doing a lot of things pro se.
• 32:56
  He's doing them pro se per se, actually, we'll we'll call it.
• 33:01
  Dad's been doing a lot of filing and stuff with that.
• 33:04
  If you go to the court site, they have a this is one thing I'd really like.
• 33:08
  I'd I'd like to advocate for is New York.
• 33:11
  New York open laws.
• 33:13
  They're open civil laws and open court laws.
• 33:15
  You South Dakota needs to check into that, put that stuff online because they have.
• 33:21
  It's it's awesome.
• 33:22
  You file everything online, and everything's there for the public to see.
• 33:26
  There's no there's no questions about it.
• 33:29
  Everybody can see
• 33:30
  the case and go look at it
• 33:31
  themselves if they want and check the
• 33:32
  whole work out.
• 33:34
  Aidan, Aiden is it your wish to return to school at Hamilton College and to continue your
• 33:40
  education?
• 33:44
  Oh, that's well, that's a complicated question because this is the college that this is the
• 33:49
  college that kicks me out.
• 33:51
  And since that and since my dad has been, like, doing research and stuff into it, like, we've
• 33:57
  been we've been, like, finding connection everywhere.
• 33:59
  Like, there's like, apparently, I've, like, I have, like, enemies everywhere around the
• 34:04
  corner who've been backstabbing me this entire time.
• 34:07
  And I guess to me, that sort of makes sense because, leading up to leading up to this
• 34:13
  event, like, my personal experience in the college was just was just going down a hill up
• 34:18
  to that point.
• 34:18
  Like like, people like, people were sort of, like, treating were sort of, like, treating me
• 34:24
  like I'm infected or something.
• 34:26
  I I don't know.
• 34:27
  It was just I just I just all I know is that I just felt, like, depressed and terrible, like,
• 34:32
  during those last few months leading up to that because and I felt, like, very, very much
• 34:38
  alone.
• 34:39
  So, like and now and now that I know and now that I know for certain that, yes, indeed,
• 34:44
  like, I wasn't just that wasn't just me, like, being crazy.
• 34:47
  Like, people really did, like, hate me there.
• 34:50
  Like, knowing that, that makes me feel like I don't really wanna go back.
• 34:54
  Like, as a point of justice, yes, I do want to be able to have my scholarship back and go to
• 35:00
  school and get an education.
• 35:02
  But if that comes at the cost of, like, me, like, literally, like, rip wanting to smash my
• 35:09
  brain out, like yeah.
• 35:12
  That's a that's a tough offer.
• 35:15
  Yeah.
• 35:15
  Well and there should be a a way for you to get your scholarship returned to you and to be able
• 35:21
  to continue your education at another school, especially with the way things have transpired
• 35:27
  and the treatment that you received there at Hamilton College.
• 35:31
  So I hope that people listening will do everything they can to support this young man
• 35:37
  and his family.
• 35:38
  This is someone who is granted from a small South Dakota town granted an incredible
• 35:43
  opportunity to further their education because they identified themselves and set themselves
• 35:50
  apart as an exemplary student.
• 35:52
  Passing the ACT with a 34 out of 36.
• 35:56
  Correct?
• 35:57
  Yeah.
• 35:58
  A a near perfect score on your college placement test, we should be putting young men
• 36:05
  like you and young people like you on a pedestal and be making sure that you are given
• 36:11
  every opportunity to excel in the world regardless of what your political ideologies
• 36:17
  may be or just your conservative leanings as a, I will say, a country boy.
• 36:23
  Mhmm.
• 36:24
  We are here to help you in every way that we can.
• 36:27
  Again, Jeremy, please state where we can find out more information on the story.
• 36:32
  We're here to help this young man get himself back into school to to have this education
• 36:37
  reinstated and this opportunity reinstated because it was unduly taken from you in the
• 36:43
  first place.
• 36:44
  Yeah.
• 36:45
  Oh,
• 36:45
  absolutely.
• 36:46
  You could go to my Facebook page, which just, jeremybrendan@facebook.com.
• 36:52
  Yeah.
• 36:53
  You can also check out our we have another page that's p y m p or that or it's
• 37:01
  For young men.
• 37:02
  For young men praying.
• 37:03
  That's another Facebook page out there.
• 37:05
  You can also check us out on our GoFundMe page as we're raising funds, obviously, to try
• 37:11
  getting round up another lawyer and all the others legal fees that we're gonna have to
• 37:17
  face, obviously.
• 37:20
  And yeah.
• 37:22
  So that we got that.
• 37:23
  We got a GoFundMe page.
• 37:24
  So at that I'm not sure.
• 37:27
  Just it's all linked to my Facebook page.
• 37:30
  So you should
• 37:31
  have Excellent.
• 37:32
  Well, gentlemen, I appreciate you taking some time for us today to share your story and allow
• 37:38
  us the opportunity to share this with our followers and with the world.
• 37:43
  I wish you nothing but the best, Aidan.
• 37:44
  As a fellow South Dakotan, I am so proud of you for the achievements, that you reached, and I'm
• 37:51
  so sorry that you've had to go through this.
• 37:53
  The traumatizing experience of being arrested, at such a young age for really no criminal
• 37:59
  activity that was done by you is, it's abhorrent.
• 38:03
  And I hope that you are reinstated into another school that will support you in furthering your
• 38:11
  education.
• 38:12
  And I hope that, this, you know, forty five minutes or so that we've spent talking to each
• 38:17
  other has a positive effect on your life.
• 38:20
  Gentlemen, anything that you wanna add, in closing here?
• 38:25
  I'm I'm just imploring people to watch this watch this case and that people need to watch
• 38:30
  out because the this kid is a perfect perfect kid.
• 38:34
  He's done nothing wrong.
• 38:35
  He has nothing done nothing wrong in his life.
• 38:37
  If they can do this to him and get away with doing something like this to him, imagine what
• 38:42
  they could do to anybody else.
• 38:43
  When are we gonna have a chance ever to defend our rights and our freedoms without having
• 38:48
  somebody have some skeleton in the closet, whatnot, that's gonna pop up.
• 38:54
  This kid is perfect for this chance to defend our rights and actually prove a point and do
• 39:00
  what we need to do.
• 39:01
  I mean, otherwise, we're gonna lose it.
• 39:04
  They're gonna be allowed to censor us, and they're gonna let be allowed to do this kind of
• 39:07
  stuff whenever they want, and they're gonna pick and choose.
• 39:10
  That's that's so we need to stand up and just help fight this case because I don't know when
• 39:16
  we're gonna get another chance.
• 39:17
  Just I don't know.
• 39:19
  Yeah.
• 39:20
  And and I just like to say, I'm very thankful for for letting you have us on, mister Starts.
• 39:28
  And I'd and I'd also like to thank you for for your support and for your fans' support as
• 39:33
  well.
• 39:34
  God, god willing, this will come this will come out in our favor.
• 39:39
  Thanks.
• 39:40
  Yep.
• 39:41
  Well, I know that we will all be praying for you, and we will be following closely as this
• 39:46
  story gets out there and as the proceedings continue.
• 39:50
  Hopefully, we can create enough public stir, to get you reinstated, or maybe another school
• 39:56
  will come out of the woodwork out of all of this and want a a bright young man like you to
• 40:01
  come and attend their university.
• 40:05
  Yes.
• 40:05
  That's part of the plan.
• 40:06
  Just get his name out there at least to get him to another school or find another opportunity
• 40:10
  for him because they obviously, he dedicated himself to that QuestBridge Scholars.
• 40:15
  So
• 40:15
  And and he's worthy.
• 40:16
  You've already proven that, Aiden.
• 40:18
  Gentlemen, thank you so much for taking some time for us on the Patriot Broadcasting
• 40:22
  Project, and we will be following closely as this journey continues.
• 40:27
  Have a great day.
• 40:28
  I appreciate it.
• 40:29
  Thank you.
• 40:30
  Have a good one, starts.