Posted on 10/05/2006 7:41:11 AM PDT by Rodney King
Protestors Rush Minutemen Gilchrist's Speech Cut Short by Ensuing Brawl Laura Brunts Posted: 10/5/06 Protestors took the stage minutes after Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, came to the microphone in Roone Arledge Auditorium Wednesday night, sparking a chaotic brawl involving more than 20 students, other attendees, and guests.
Two students in the International Socialist Organization unfurled a yellow banner reading, "No one is illegal!" which prompted other protestors to rush the stage. Gilchrist supporters then clamored on stage while the speakers were ushered out of the auditorium.
"We were aware that there was going to be a sign and we were going to occupy the stage," said a protestor who was on stage and asked to remain anonymous. "I don't feel like we need to apologize or anything. It was fundamentally a part of free speech. ... The Minutemen are not a legitimate part of the debate on immigration."
Columbia security officers and presidential delegates, University employees who regulate events, broke up the brawl and closed the curtains, forcing 350 attendees to leave the auditorium and eventually the building.
The Columbia University College Republicans hosted Gilchrist and two other speakers from the Minutemen, a vigilante group that patrols the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal immigrants.
No one was arrested and University spokesman Robert Hornsby said that he could not discuss the consequences for those involved because the investigation is ongoing. Immediately following the event, Hornsby said that students would be dealt with under Dean's Discipline, but the response for those from outside Columbia was still undetermined.
Video of the Incident (Courtesy of CTV)
"The specific facts surrounding the incident are under active investigation by the University, so it is premature to make any official statement regarding facts that are yet to be determined," Hornsby told Spectator last night. There were dozens of video and digital cameras in the room, and much of this footage belongs to Columbia groups, but Hornsby would not say whether this footage would factor into the investigation.
The brawl was the culmination of audience dissent which grew louder and more aggressive.
Marvin Stewart, an ordained minister and member of the Minutemen board of directors, was the first speaker. Audience members shouted interjections throughout his address, calling Stewart, who is black, a hypocrite for supporting the Minutemen. Stewart responded by becoming louder and telling the audience that they did not know anything about government.
During a long pause, one audience member shouted, "In Spanish please!" which brought on an enormous wave of stomping feet and applause from the audience. Stewart countered that "one of the requirements of citizenship is that you speak English," before he was completely drowned out by the noise of the audience. Many attendees stood up and turned their backs on the speaker in protest and began chanting "wrap it up."
Eventually Gilchrist and Chris Kulawik, CC '08, president of the College Republicans and a Spectator columnist, called Stewart off the stage. "I clearly had the false assumption that I was at an Ivy League school," Kulawik said as he introduced the main speaker.
"Who's a racist now?" said Gilchrist, putting an arm around Stewart."I love the first amendment!" he shouted. "You're doing a great job, kids. I'm going to have more fun with this than with my prepared speech."
But before he could get much farther, two students stepped on stage with a banner. Student protestors said that the demonstration was meant to be peaceful, but when students with the Republicans and other Gilchrist supporters came on stage, the confrontation turned violent. One student was kicked in the head and bleeding, students reported.
The protestors occupying the stage included members of the ISO, the Chicano Caucus-which organized a protest beforehand on the Broadway sidewalk outside Lerner Hall-and some unaffiliated with either group. Neither student group officially sanctioned rushing the stage.
"We don't condone the actions of members on either side. Either people on stage who were holding up signs, or people who felt that their speaker was being threatened by people holding signs," said Adhemir Romero, CC '07 and president of the Chicano Caucus.
Romero released a statement late Wednesdy from the executive board of the Caucus. "We feel that it is important to discuss and bring to light important issues concerning immigration, though they should be done in a peaceful manner," it said. "While we do not agree with Mr. Gilchrist and his organization's views, we respect everyone's right to freedom of speech and regret that his opinion was not heard."
"I think this demonstrated the immaturity of the protestors," Kulawik said afterwards. "It came to physical violence and rushing the stage, which is never appropriate."
The protest that the Caucus originally organized occurred outside Lerner largely as planned. The event was publicized through the Internet and activist networks, and about 200 protestors, both students and others, came from all over New York to participate.
"I wish that it was larger and I wish we could have a larger impact right away," Xiomara Maldonado, BC '08 and member of the Barnard group Mujeres, said of the protest. "Clearly, it [the protestors] is a very diverse group. It's not just Latinos, it's not just people of color."
The violent clash between supporters and protestors at Wednesday night's event was much more than Kulawik expected, he said. He called the invitation of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft last year "tame" in comparison.
Even though Columbia Public Safety significantly increased its security for Wednesday night's event after the sidewalk protest was announced, Kulawik said, the security for the Ashcroft speech was much higher.
During the Ashcroft event, Secret Service agents secured Lerner Hall while the NYPD deployed a contingent of dozens of officers, including an Assistant Chief, the third-highest rank in the force. At yesterday's protest, fewer than a dozen officers from the 26th precinct were present. Deputy Inspector Mike Cassidy said there was nothing unusual about the demonstration outside Lerner and that these protestors were very cooperative.
Joanna Bernstein, Kate Linthicum, and Eleazar David Meléndez contributed to this article.
Socialist idiots--what they've done here only hardens positions against them--which is a good thing.
Stalin called these type of student "useful idiots".
Stalin was a murderous tyrant, but he knew what he was talking about when he talked about the American Left!
Hi there,
"Mujer" actually means woman, though in some places (like Spain, where I learned Spanish) it also means wife (the other word for wife being "esposa"--spouse). I'm sure in this case it refers to women, or Womyn, as the feminazis like to call them. Hmm, in that case, maybe it should be Mujyres. ;)
And Columbia is one of the worst offenders!
Hope you are right.
Mexico's president's own National Action Party (http://www.pan.org.mx) is now working with its governors in Northern states near the U.S. border to pressure George Bush to veto the border wall. Details (in Spanish) are here:
http://www.el-universal.com.mx/notas/379772.html
These same people hypocritically haven't lifted a finger to make Mexico's own immigration laws less anti-gringo and racist against us down there:
http://www.directory.com.mx/immigration
What do they seek, a conquista of U.S. territory that Mexico claims because a few of its inhabitants relatively briefly occupied the land after they stole it from Spain (which stole it from indigenous tribes)?
To hell with Princess Diana, the answer is STARING us in the face. MINE the borders !!!After a few hundred dead illegals, migration will crawl to a stop .After all they are ILLEGAL
BTTT
I know better than most the importance of protecting freedom of speech and the right of citizens to dissent. But I also know that there is a difference between honest dissent and malevolent hate, between criticism of national policy and sabotage of the nation's defenses. In the 1960s and 1970s, the tolerance of anti-American hatreds was so high that the line between dissent and treason was erased.
Here we go again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.