An Iowa lawmaker fed up with universities across the U.S. offering students "healing spaces" and "cry-ins" following the election of Donald Trump plans to introduce a bill that would warn state colleges against using tax dollars to fund election-related protests or counseling.
Republican Rep. Bobby Kaufman said he finds "this whole hysteria to be incredibly annoying."
"I've seen four or five schools in other states that are establishing 'cry zones' where they're staffed by state grief counselors and kids can come cry out their sensitivity to the election results," Kaufmann told the Des Moines Register. "People have the right to be hysterical … on their own time."
Kaufmann plans to introduce his "suck it up, buttercup" legislation when the Iowa legislature resumes in January.
The bill would target state universities that hold election-related sit-ins and offer grief counseling that extends beyond what is usually offered to students. Schools that use taxpayer dollars to fund additional programs would be subject to a budget cut worth double the amount they spend.
The legislation would also impose criminal penalties for protesters who shut down highways.
Kauffman, a crop and livestock farmer serving his second term in the Iowa House, is a member of the Farm Bureau and National Rifle Association, according to the Iowa House Republicans website.
While some public universities in the state have held events, like "sharing sessions," to help students cope with the election results, at least three—Iowa State University, University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa—told the Des Moines Register they did not use state funds to do so.
"I think universities are the perfect place to have these types of conversations," Scott Ketelsen, director of university relations at the University of Northern Iowa, told the Registrar. "It's where people learn. It's where they share ideas. I don't consider it coddling."