Posted on 05/07/2005 8:22:50 AM PDT by bgsugar
A student who cursed, gestured after Ann Coulter's speech is escorted out in handcuffs
AUSTIN - Note to hecklers at the University of Texas: When jeering, keep it clean or face possible arrest.
Ajai Raj, a 19-year-old English major, thought he was exercising his right to free speech when he quizzed conservative pundit Ann Coulter on her definition of marriage after a lecture she delivered at the LBJ Library.
Trouble was, he used profanity and then made obscene gestures while walking away from a microphone set up for the question-and-answer portion of Tuesday's event.
Moments later, university police were inside the library's auditorium, handcuffing Raj.
He first thought they were there to tell him to leave, Raj said. Instead, he was told he was under arrest.
"That's the scary part of it ... I asked them what for?" he said Friday. "I kind of recoiled a little bit. They said they didn't know actually. They were just following orders from I don't know who. They were just following orders."
University police say they were following the state's disorderly conduct statute, a Class C misdemeanor that prohibits abusive, profane and vulgar language and obscene gestures in public areas. But some question if Raj's behavior really violated the law.
The chief's explanation
UT Police Department interim Chief Terry McMahan said typically when people protest at events, and they stay on the subject matter, police don't get involved. But Raj didn't do that, he said.
"That's what this college is all about, being able to have that freedom of speech," McMahan said. "But when it goes beyond an issue of speech, and it meets the elements of a criminal law violation, we step in."
Robert Jensen, a UT journalism professor, said he wasn't at the speech, but he said nothing he has heard or read constitutes disorderly conduct.
"If the sole basis for the charge is that he used profanity and used gestures people found offensive, then there's no charge," Jensen said. "Because cussing in public is not a criminal offense. His speech may have been juvenile, and I think it was ... but at least from what I can tell, nothing rose to the level of criminal offense."
Jensen said it sounds like it may have been a pre-emptive arrest to get Raj out of the room.
Paul McGreal, a professor at Houston's South Texas College of Law, also is not convinced that the profanity and gestures should have led to an arrest.
While laws allow government to control forums such as the one at UT, and government entities can ban obscenity because it is not a protected class of speech, it's not that simple an issue, McGreal said.
"The graphic depiction of ... a sex act ... has to be done to serve a prurient interest," McGreal said.
Accounts of Raj's actions seem to indicate that his actions were more of a political nature, not a prurient one.
Raj, who is from Plano, said he made the decision to attend Coulter's speech at the last minute after a friend suggested they go.
"It's being construed as a liberal protest and things like that," said Raj. "I'm not necessarily liberal or conservative, really. I just did that more to point out how ludicrous the whole thing was.
"Like everyone there knew where they stood already on Ann Coulter. It was kind of pointless," Raj said. "No one there's going to change their mind on anything."
Raj was arrested about 9 p.m. Tuesday and first taken to university police offices and then the Travis County Jail, where he was booked on the misdemeanor charge. He was released about 2:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Raj is scheduled to appear before a justice of the peace on May 20. If convicted, he faces a maximum fine of $500.
The incident was not a first for Coulter.
Last March, Coulter called for help when hecklers refused to be silent during her speech at the University of Kansas. But in that instance, authorities escorted the jeering protesters out of the building.
Last fall, two men at the University of Arizona threw custard pies at her.
In an interview on Wednesday on Fox Television's Hannity & Colmes show, Coulter dismissed the UT incident.
"Oh, it's a lot of fun," she told Sean Hannity after she was asked about the heckling aspect of her college appearances. "A good time is had by all."
While the University Democrats did not formally protest the event, Emily Cadik, a spokeswoman for the group, attended and said the audience seemed stunned after Raj spoke.
The questioner before him had asked Coulter to define her view of marriage and she indicated that it was a union between a man and a woman, Raj said.
Raj's turn at the mike
When Raj took to the microphone, he confronted her about that view, lacing his question with profanity.
"They went on to the next question pretty quickly," said Cadik, a junior. "As (Raj) walked out, a lot of protesters walked out with him, they were clapping."
Cadik doesn't think Raj should have been arrested because "using expletives on campus is not a crime and he wasn't posing a threat."
People overlook the fact that Coulter's speech was offensive, too, Cadik said.
"She makes comments that I think she knows people will respond to," she said. "But she got away with it, and he got arrested."
Terri Langford reported from Houston
jeffrey.gilbert@chron.com terri.langford@chron.com
You're right! I forgot about the real cause of his arrest.
Spoken like an experienced practitioner of legal beagle gobbly-goop.
"There were children in the crowd and what he said was:"
Yes, yes. Think of the children. Same excuse the anti-gun lobby makes. Parents need to take responsibility for their children, not the general public.
And I know what he said. That's what college students do. When I was a student, I walked right up to Gloria Steinem and called her a b----. Stupid and immature to be sure. But it upset some fellow students who were feminists and that made it humorous to me and my friends. The lefty thought police hated that sort of stuff back in the early 90s.
The last thing we need to do is promote stifling speech on campus. That's the leftist game, my friends. This jerk getting his yucks is less important than preventing the lefty academics from using these tactics to shut up conservative students.
"IIRC, there were children in the audience. His rights of free speech serve children's public interest, let alone any adults who may have been truly offended?"
Constitutional rights are not about "children's public interest." If your little darlings are too precious for the rough and tumble of the public forum, then leave them at home.
I am sick and tired of all the Hillary-worshipping "It Takes a Village" types out there who think the world should be arranged for the benefit of children.
"If I recall correctly, he wasn't arrested for his 'speech' per se, he was arrested when he refused to leave after being asked to leave."
Haven't heard that one yet. Do you have a source? If he really was arrested for refusing to leave, then this whole discussion is moot.
As usual the scum sticks together.
There is a link to the incident report in post #15. Disorderly conduct.
He's lucky Ann's bodyguards didn't get to him.
I agree. Idiot kid should have been asked to leave. Not arrested.
Our courts have other things to do.
There's an argument for a fighting words exception, though, isn't there? Though I guess that would somewhat depend on the actions of the others present...did anyone actually get up to try to grab the guy (I've heard differing things...)
Zero tolerance for liberal idiots who throw things at people. Deal with it.
"There's an argument for a fighting words exception, though, isn't there?"
"Fighting words" is a very narrow exception, and the words really have to be out there. Otherwise, you run the risk of the heckler's veto problem - i.e. whenever someone says something you don't like, start getting unruly so you can accuse the speaker of using fighting words.
The original articles as well as several post threads here made this point. I'm fairly new to FR, so I'm not sure how to pull up those old posts and threads, or I would post them.
Sorry. I don't have time right now to look into it myself- got things to do, but you might look the original Drudge post, for example...
"Zero tolerance for liberal idiots who throw things at people. Deal with it."
Except nothing was throw was it? Perhaps you ought to read the article before you shoot off your mouth.
"I don't have time right now to look into it myself [...]"
As I thought.
Even if the verbal question regarding men "#(&(^% their wives in the &^%" is taken off the table, how does the separate public act of simulating solo masturbation qualify as having "serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value"?
Oh man, I hope he doesn't read this thread. He'll apply for a grant as a "performance artist."
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