{"id":908,"date":"2025-04-03T12:01:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T12:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/?p=908"},"modified":"2025-04-03T12:41:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T12:41:35","slug":"i-got-crucified-kaya-walker-on-her-resignation-from-the-college-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/i-got-crucified-kaya-walker-on-her-resignation-from-the-college-republicans\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I got crucified\u2019: Kaya Walker on her resignation from the College Republicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Monday, Feb. 17, CAS senior Kaya Walker <\/span>publicly resigned<\/span><\/a> as president of the NYU College Republicans after facing backlash for calling Stern first-year Barron Trump \u201can oddity on campus\u201d in an interview with Vanity Fair. Both her comments and her resignation were reported by major publications like <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>People Magazine<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>The Daily Mail<\/span><\/a>. In the wake of the controversy and in response to Walker\u2019s \u201cinappropriate\u201d words, Will Donahue, the president of the College Republicans of America, <\/span>invited Trump<\/span><\/a> to join the student organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over one month after her resignation, Walker opened up to WSN about her side of the story. She discussed what it is like to be a Republican at NYU, facing national pressure to resign and why she no longer wishes to remain quiet.<\/span><\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: What ignited your interest in politics?<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: I\u2019m from Massachusetts originally, but I grew up in Manhattan. Both my parents are from there, so we moved there when I was pretty young. My parents were very liberal, and I think I appreciate that. They have their strong convictions, but I just didn\u2019t. I just grew up in such a way that I didn\u2019t agree with them. I was more conservative \u2014 it just turned out that way, my beliefs skewed right, and there\u2019s nothing I can really do about it. People are surprised that I\u2019m a woman, people are surprised that I\u2019m a Black woman. I don\u2019t want to be pigeon-holed into agreeing with my parents just because I\u2019m a certain race or I\u2019m a certain sex. I just think that\u2019s ridiculous.<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: What led you to join the NYU College Republicans?<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: When I went to college, I was looking for people who shared my views because I just missed out on that my entire life \u2014 and I found them. I was a first-year club member at that point. That was really my entry to politics officially, although it was more that we all shared a political affiliation. I\u2019ve just gotten more involved in actual party politics as it\u2019s progressed. Especially in this last election, we\u2019ve grown from five people to sometimes upwards of 40 people, and I\u2019m really proud of that. I\u2019ve spent four years working on that. And it\u2019s only up from there.<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>:<\/span> What was your reaction when the <\/span>Vanity Fair article<\/span><\/a> was first published?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: I was actually really happy when the article came out. I sent it to the national organization, actually, because when something comes out about us that looks good, they like to repost it. I was like, \u2018Yeah, sure, we need more engagement on our Instagram or whatever. Let me send it to their press secretary.\u2019 I sent it to her, and she read it, and you want to know what she told me? She was like, \u2018slay.\u2019 It\u2019s so freaking stupid that that happened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: It was <\/span>an X post from the AF Post<\/span><\/a> that first circulated the negative commentary on your statement about Barron. What was your initial reaction to that?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: I\u2019m in London right now, so I\u2019m in a different time zone. It was like the wee hours of Monday morning and people were sending me that Twitter post about the Vanity Fair article I had done. They circulate the quote where I said, \u2018Barron is sort of an oddity on campus. He goes to class, he goes home.\u2019 It seemed like I was saying that Barron Trump was weird because he\u2019s a commuter student. I\u2019m a commuter student. It was a really stupid controversy, and people just ate me alive online. I didn\u2019t sleep at all that night. The juicy details of what happened with me resigning \u2014 it was actually terrible and very disappointing, because these are your own people that are doing it to you, really.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: What were you trying to convey by calling Barron an \u2018oddity?\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: What it was trying to interrogate was how conservative culture doesn\u2019t really have a young person as an icon, and right now, Barron is like a stand-in for what a conservative icon would be. That\u2019s all people want to know about when they ask to interview me, they want to know about Barron, and I would give the same response:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People act weird. They record him in class. At Club Fest, people would go up to us and be like, \u2018Is Barron in the club?\u2019 Stuff like that. It\u2019s not a usual thing to have the sitting president\u2019s son on your campus, and have him being followed by security and for people to be acting weird and inappropriate about it. So that\u2019s what I was trying to convey, but it was kind of lost. I express sympathy for a situation like that. That must be terrible. He can\u2019t have a normal college experience like the rest of us are having.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: How did that lead to your resignation?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>:<\/span> I got a call in the middle of the night from Will. He told me that he would talk to me to prepare a statement that ended up being my resignation letter, addressed to John Parker, the chairman of the New York Federation of College Republicans. Will ended up saying in his press release that I had resigned Saturday night, but that didn\u2019t happen. It was Monday morning. He called me and he was like, \u2018Yeah, we have to get you to resign.\u2019 I was definitely emotional. I don\u2019t really cry or anything like that, but I was like, \u2018Dude, I\u2019ve been working at this for four years of my life.\u2019 I\u2019m one of their best people. I had been getting so much praise, even especially for our campaign work, for press appearances that I\u2019d done. He had said a couple months before this, \u2018Keep doing the good work you\u2019re doing at NYU.\u2019 He said that I could keep acting as president. Even though I didn\u2019t have the title anymore, it was more for show, really.<\/span><\/p>\n

He also told me in that phone call that I could either resign and not be thrown under the bus so much, or I could not resign and be thrown under the bus. So faced with those two options, my heart hurt. I wasn\u2019t eating. I hadn\u2019t slept. I was just really scared. I told my mother that something was wrong, but I didn\u2019t tell her what was wrong. I\u2019m sure she found out, but she didn\u2019t tell me that she knew until a couple days later. And I was just in a fairly bad place. I was like, \u2018Let me just resign, and I can keep running the club like I have been the past four years.\u2019 I didn\u2019t have much foresight, and I wanted things to go back to normal and be quiet.<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>:<\/span> Do you have any regrets?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: I mean, I regret resigning now. There were a lot of people who supported me through rain or shine, but some people \u2014 I mean Will and his entire board \u2014 I think that they\u2019re cowards. They\u2019ve really disappointed me. They told me to shut up, essentially. I was told by many people that I once admired and respected to shut up, let this die. Will was going on a press tour talking about this, but I was told not to speak to anybody. What ended up happening were the most one-sided articles, where Will gave a comment and I couldn\u2019t really speak, because they told me to be quiet or else I\u2019m over in this whole world \u2014 not in this whole world, but in politics. I was afraid of retribution, really.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish I would have gotten to talk to people and clarify my statements, and to hold accountable these cowards who don\u2019t stand up for people who they\u2019ve otherwise been praising, and who are really dedicated to the movement. I don\u2019t think that they are representative of the movement, it\u2019s just very disappointing. I think that we\u2019re better than this, not even just as Republicans or conservatives, but as Americans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: How did it feel to see those negative comments about you and the organization online?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: Our political discourse has devolved, and it\u2019s so sad to see. I would have arguments in high school with my friends, but we would never levy heinous racist slurs against each other, which I was seeing online. It was stuff about my race, stuff about me being a woman \u2014 and you know that stuff is out there, but it\u2019s so gross to see it written about yourself. Not even just that, but criticizing my appearance, speculating what race I am, saying that they hope that I end up working as a janitor or something. People were saying that I want to date Barron, which is weird, as if I gave the comment because I have a crush on him or something. I\u2019m a grown woman.<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: Do you think the pressure to resign was less about what you said, but more about how your comments were perceived?<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: Yeah, it was entirely because of how it was perceived, because the CRA wanted to save face. If you read the press release that the organization put out on their Instagram and all their socials, it said that I was asked to resign because my statement was inappropriate or because I didn\u2019t ask for permission, but also because Barron Trump is the future of the conservative party and the CRA would love for him to have a meeting with us. That\u2019s something that they had been asking me to do for months, since he first matriculated into the school. I told them that that\u2019s not realistic, and that I\u2019m going to focus on the kids who want to be here. So essentially, I got crucified so that this guy Will Donahue could possibly get a meeting and a handshake with a 19-year-old.<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: Do members of the NYU College Republicans agree with the CRA\u2019s decision?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: We all just thought it was so stupid. Most College Republicans in the New York metropolitan area think it\u2019s stupid because we know each other. People keep telling me I\u2019m the sweetest person ever, that I\u2019m not meant for politics. It\u2019s very unfortunate, people were telling me, \u2018Don\u2019t resign.\u2019 But it was that fear, like I said. Everybody\u2019s saying that they\u2019re waiting for my return and I\u2019ll be back next year, and we\u2019ll figure it out. So they support me, and they\u2019re not \u2014 we\u2019re not \u2014 happy with the CRA. Nationals\u2019 handling of the situation was definitely \u2018inappropriate,\u2019 to use their word against them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: Has your view of the Republican party changed?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: I like to think of these things on an individual level. I named some names during this interview, like Will Donahue, John Parker \u2014 people who I thought I could trust, but I learned that I couldn\u2019t in this game of politics. People have been asking me if my party affiliation has changed in any way. No, not at all. I\u2019m a Republican, I\u2019m a conservative, and I\u2019ll always be, till the day that I die. I can\u2019t really do anything about the way that I think. I\u2019m going to stand firm in what I believe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: Has this experience affected your overall outlook on politics?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker: <\/b>I always considered us to be the party of free speech. I feel like we need to be stronger as a party and as conservatives, especially when it comes to young people. We need to know who our friends are. I consider myself to be a part of a conservative movement in America. I\u2019m proud of that, and I\u2019ll continue working at that. But for our movement to have longevity, we can\u2019t do this. I don\u2019t think that all the people who were saying things were Republicans or conservatives at all, a lot of them were like, white supremacists and stuff like that, and that\u2019s disgusting, and we can\u2019t let those people win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A lot of times the right will say the left eats itself. This is an instance of the right eating itself. And I am the self that got eaten. It\u2019s ridiculous. It\u2019s part of the whole sensational aspect of politics right now, and it\u2019s really bad, and I look to a day when it\u2019s not like this, but I doubt it\u2019ll happen. I just want to keep working to change the world like anybody else would.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

WSN<\/b>: What does your future look like, in politics and beyond?<\/span><\/p>\n

Walker<\/b>: I am planning on running again for president next year. I might not because I want to focus on grad school, but we\u2019ll see. I really do want to. I am going to stay involved, and I\u2019m going to work my hardest to make sure that we succeed. It\u2019s always been my dream to do this thing called Judge Advocate General\u2019s Corps. So I want to join the military and be a lawyer there \u2014 I\u2019m committed to a life of public service, no matter what I do. I don\u2019t know if that fits into a career in politics, but I really just want to make sure that conservative interests aren\u2019t sidelined. I feel like it\u2019s in my interest to advocate for myself. You can be a lawyer and advocate for other people, but I want to advocate for myself and my interests as an American citizen. And if I can do that by going into politics, I will \u2014 although I know the rules of the game now. I\u2019m going to be very careful, even though there\u2019s nothing wrong with what I said. There is nothing at all wrong. I\u2019ll die on that hill till the day that I die.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact Emily Genova at\u00a0egenova@nyunews.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

This story \u2018I got crucified\u2019: Kaya Walker on her resignation from the College Republicans<\/a> appeared first on Washington Square News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday, Feb. 17, CAS senior Kaya Walker publicly resigned as president of the NYU College Republicans after facing backlash for calling Stern first-year Barron Trump \u201can oddity on campus\u201d in an interview with Vanity Fair. Both her comments and her resignation were reported by major publications like The New York Times, People Magazine and The Daily Mail. In the wake of the controversy and in response to Walker\u2019s \u201cinappropriate\u201d words, Will Donahue, the president of the College Republicans of America, invited Trump to join the student organization. Over one month after her resignation, Walker opened up to WSN about her side of the story. She discussed what it is like to be a Republican at NYU, facing national pressure to resign and why she no longer wishes to remain quiet. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. WSN: What ignited your interest in politics? Walker: I\u2019m from Massachusetts originally, but I grew up in Manhattan. Both my parents are from there, so we moved there when I was pretty young. My parents were very liberal, and I think I appreciate that. They have their strong convictions, but I just didn\u2019t. I just grew up in such a way that I didn\u2019t agree with them. I was more conservative \u2014 it just turned out that way, my beliefs skewed right, and there\u2019s nothing I can really do about it. People are surprised that I\u2019m a woman, people are surprised that I\u2019m a Black woman. I don\u2019t want to be pigeon-holed into agreeing with my parents just because I\u2019m a certain race or I\u2019m a certain sex. I just think that\u2019s ridiculous. WSN: What led you to join the NYU College Republicans? Walker: When I went to college, I was looking for people who shared my views because I just missed out on that my entire life \u2014 and I found them. I was a first-year club member at that point. That was really my entry to politics officially, although it was more that we all shared a political affiliation. I\u2019ve just gotten more involved in actual party politics as it\u2019s progressed. Especially in this last election, we\u2019ve grown from five people to sometimes upwards of 40 people, and I\u2019m really proud of that. I\u2019ve spent four years working on that. And it\u2019s only up from there. WSN: What was your reaction when the Vanity Fair article was first published?\u00a0 Walker: I was actually really happy when the article came out. I sent it to the national organization, actually, because when something comes out about us that looks good, they like to repost it. I was like, \u2018Yeah, sure, we need more engagement on our Instagram or whatever. Let me send it to their press secretary.\u2019 I sent it to her, and she read it, and you want to know what she told me? She was like, \u2018slay.\u2019 It\u2019s so freaking stupid that that happened.\u00a0 WSN: It was an X post from the AF Post that first circulated the negative commentary on your statement about Barron. What was your initial reaction to that?\u00a0 Walker: I\u2019m in London right now, so I\u2019m in a different time zone. It was like the wee hours of Monday morning and people were sending me that Twitter post about the Vanity Fair article I had done. They circulate the quote where I said, \u2018Barron is sort of an oddity on campus. He goes to class, he goes home.\u2019 It seemed like I was saying that Barron Trump was weird because he\u2019s a commuter student. I\u2019m a commuter student. It was a really stupid controversy, and people just ate me alive online. I didn\u2019t sleep at all that night. The juicy details of what happened with me resigning \u2014 it was actually terrible and very disappointing, because these are your own people that are doing it to you, really.\u00a0 WSN: What were you trying to convey by calling Barron an \u2018oddity?\u2019\u00a0 Walker: What it was trying to interrogate was how conservative culture doesn\u2019t really have a young person as an icon, and right now, Barron is like a stand-in for what a conservative icon would be. That\u2019s all people want to know about when they ask to interview me, they want to know about Barron, and I would give the same response:\u00a0 People act weird. They record him in class. At Club Fest, people would go up to us and be like, \u2018Is Barron in the club?\u2019 Stuff like that. It\u2019s not a usual thing to have the sitting president\u2019s son on your campus, and have him being followed by security and for people to be acting weird and inappropriate about it. So that\u2019s what I was trying to convey, but it was kind of lost. I express sympathy for a situation like that. That must be terrible. He can\u2019t have a normal college experience like the rest of us are having.\u00a0 WSN: How did that lead to your resignation?\u00a0 Walker: I got a call in the middle of the night from Will. He told me that he would talk to me to prepare a statement that ended up being my resignation letter, addressed to John Parker, the chairman of the New York Federation of College Republicans. Will ended up saying in his press release that I had resigned Saturday night, but that didn\u2019t happen. It was Monday morning. He called me and he was like, \u2018Yeah, we have to get you to resign.\u2019 I was definitely emotional. I don\u2019t really cry or anything like that, but I was like, \u2018Dude, I\u2019ve been working at this for four years of my life.\u2019 I\u2019m one of their best people. I had been getting so much praise, even especially for our campaign work, for press appearances that I\u2019d done. He had said a couple months before this, \u2018Keep doing the good work you\u2019re doing at NYU.\u2019 He said that I could keep acting as president. Even though I didn\u2019t have the title anymore, it was more for show, really. He also told me in that phone call that I could either resign and not be thrown under the bus so much, or I could not resign and be thrown under the bus. So faced with those two options, my heart hurt. I wasn\u2019t eating. I hadn\u2019t slept. I was just really scared. I told my mother that something was wrong, but I didn\u2019t tell her what was wrong. I\u2019m sure she found out, but she didn\u2019t tell me that she knew until a couple days later. And I was just in a fairly bad place. I was like, \u2018Let me just resign, and I can keep running the club like I have been the past four years.\u2019 I didn\u2019t have much foresight, and I wanted things to go back to normal and be quiet. WSN: Do you have any regrets?\u00a0 Walker: I mean, I regret resigning now. There were a lot of people who supported me through rain or shine, but some people \u2014 I mean Will and his entire board \u2014 I think that they\u2019re cowards. They\u2019ve really disappointed me. They told me to shut up, essentially. I was told by many people that I once admired and respected to shut up, let this die. Will was going on a press tour talking about this, but I was told not to speak to anybody. What ended up happening were the most one-sided articles, where Will gave a comment and I couldn\u2019t really speak, because they told me to be quiet or else I\u2019m over in this whole world \u2014 not in this whole world, but in politics. I was afraid of retribution, really. I wish I would have gotten to talk to people and clarify my statements, and to hold accountable these cowards who don\u2019t stand up for people who they\u2019ve otherwise been praising, and who are really dedicated to the movement. I don\u2019t think that they are representative of the movement, it\u2019s just very disappointing. I think that we\u2019re better than this, not even just as Republicans or conservatives, but as Americans.\u00a0 WSN: How did it feel to see those negative comments about you and the organization online?\u00a0 Walker: Our political discourse has devolved, and it\u2019s so sad to see. I would have arguments in high school with my friends, but we would never levy heinous racist slurs against each other, which I was seeing online. It was stuff about my race, stuff about me being a woman \u2014 and you know that stuff is out there, but it\u2019s so gross to see it written about yourself. Not even just that, but criticizing my appearance, speculating what race I am, saying that they hope that I end up working as a janitor or something. People were saying that I want to date Barron, which is weird, as if I gave the comment because I have a crush on him or something. I\u2019m a grown woman. WSN: Do you think the pressure to resign was less about what you said, but more about how your comments were perceived? Walker: Yeah, it was entirely because of how it was perceived, because the CRA wanted to save face. If you read the press release that the organization put out on their Instagram and all their socials, it said that I was asked to resign because my statement was inappropriate or because I didn\u2019t ask for permission, but also because Barron Trump is the future of the conservative party and the CRA would love for him to have a meeting with us. That\u2019s something that they had been asking me to do for months, since he first matriculated into the school. I told them that that\u2019s not realistic, and that I\u2019m going to focus on the kids who want to be here. So essentially, I got crucified so that this guy Will Donahue could possibly get a meeting and a handshake with a 19-year-old. WSN: Do members of the NYU College Republicans agree with the CRA\u2019s decision?\u00a0 Walker: We all just thought it was so stupid. Most College Republicans in the New York metropolitan area think it\u2019s stupid because we know each other. People keep telling me I\u2019m the sweetest person ever, that I\u2019m not meant for politics. It\u2019s very unfortunate, people were telling me, \u2018Don\u2019t resign.\u2019 But it was that fear, like I said. Everybody\u2019s saying that they\u2019re waiting for my return and I\u2019ll be back next year, and we\u2019ll figure it out. So they support me, and they\u2019re not \u2014 we\u2019re not \u2014 happy with the CRA. Nationals\u2019 handling of the situation was definitely \u2018inappropriate,\u2019 to use their word against them.\u00a0 WSN: Has your view of the Republican party changed?\u00a0 Walker: I like to think of these things on an individual level. I named some names during this interview, like Will Donahue, John Parker \u2014 people who I thought I could trust, but I learned that I couldn\u2019t in this game of politics. People have been asking me if my party affiliation has changed in any way. No, not at all. I\u2019m a Republican, I\u2019m a conservative, and I\u2019ll always be, till the day that I die. I can\u2019t really do anything about the way that I think. I\u2019m going to stand firm in what I believe.\u00a0 WSN: Has this experience affected your overall outlook on politics?\u00a0 Walker: I always considered us to be the party of free speech. I feel like we need to be stronger as a party and as conservatives, especially when it comes to young people. We need to know who our friends are. I consider myself to be a part of a conservative movement in America. I\u2019m proud of that, and I\u2019ll continue working at that. But for our movement to have longevity, we can\u2019t do this. I don\u2019t think that all the people who were saying things were Republicans or conservatives at all, a lot of them were like, white supremacists and stuff like that, and that\u2019s disgusting, and we can\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":911,"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908\/revisions\/911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jtotheb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}