Cheerleader Dane leads the anti-Tancredo and pro-illegal protest. AP, 12/01/2006.
Posted on 12/01/2006 5:46:14 AM PST by DarkSavant
A campus discussion about illegal immigration turned violent Thursday evening, when protesters clashed with the MSU College Republicans and Young Americans for Freedom, who sponsored the event.
Kyle Bristow, chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom, or YAF, said he was kicked and spat upon by some of the protesters when he was outside the MSU College of Law, where the discussion was being held.
"It saddens me that my fellow Spartans would display this type of behavior," he said. "They are racist. It's sad we need police to come to control these radical leftists."
Unable to identify the people who assaulted him, Bristow said he wasn't planning to file a police report.
MSU police were dispatched to the event after an employee of the law college called the department, MSU police Sgt. Brian McDaniel said.
"About 10 to 20 protesters disrupted the event," he said. "We believe they were responsible for pulling the fire alarm."
Protesters said they came to show their opposition to controversial Republican congressman Tom Tancredo, of Colorado, who spoke at the event. Before Tancredo arrived and while the event was being set up, protesters gathered on the fourth floor of the law college with signs that read "Ignorant Racist."
Someone in the building set off a fire alarm twice throughout the evening. After the first alarm was pulled, a few hundred people were evacuated from the building. The person or persons responsible for pulling the alarm could face a misdemeanor or felony charge if caught, McDaniel said.
Randy McPherson, whose sign read "Where's the wall to keep you out?" came to protest when he heard that the congressman would be speaking.
"God works in mysterious ways," said McPherson, a food science and premedical junior, after the second fire alarm was pulled. "(Tancredo) shouldn't be here."
Some protesters weren't allowed inside the discussion room because they had signs, which aren't allowed in the law college. The people who attended to oppose the event said they came to represent themselves — not the minority campus groups with which they are affiliated.
Another student who came to protest the event said she wanted to make sure it was known that Tancredo is racist.
"We were here to protest the whole event," said Claudia Gonzalez, an interdisciplinary studies in social science and community relations senior. "It got heated and there was a lot of disagreement and argument. This is a very big issue."
While waiting for the discussion to start, accounting graduate student Matt Ledesma said he witnessed someone being pulled out of the discussion area for spitting on someone.
"They were being disruptive," he said. "Someone pulled the fire alarm, which got us all out here."
After everyone was allowed back into the law college, Tancredo addressed a crowd of more than 40 people, who clapped and booed when he began speaking.
His speech focused on illegal immigration in the United States and emphasized looking at the issue with a clear head.
"Look, you can't get emotional," Tancredo said during his speech. "Let's just talk about the policy."
He also stressed the importance of a single national language, which he believes should be English, but added he supports people who are bilingual.
"I think diversity is a great thing," he said. "But it becomes a negative thing when it's the only thing."
A 10-minute question-and-answer session was held at the end of the event. Students wrote their questions on note cards, and MSU College Republicans chairman Jeff Wiggins asked a few of the questions. Tancredo left shortly after he spoke, ignoring many of the questions.
Wiggins, who helped arrange the event, said he was surprised at the protesters' reaction.
"(Tancredo) was not in the building when this went on," he said. "We were in here setting up. We tried to tell them signs are not allowed in the law college."
Jose Villagran, a interdisciplinary studies in social science senior, asked "Why have you been cited for hiring undocumented workers for personal construction?" His question was not asked by Wiggins, who did not pose controversial questions.
You do the same thing here every day, Dane.
Who mentioned anything about bravery or courage? Maybe he had a plane to catch.
But apparently you have NO condemnation of these leftist 'protesters'. You haven't expressed any on this thread. Do you have ANY condemnation of them and their actions?
You're a mirror image of a giant turd!
I agree with the Congressman wholeheartedly. That, however is beside the point. The actions of the militants however is wrong and should be illegal. It seems civil rights were violated. I wish our govt would prosecute people who try these bullying tactics against free speech.
These moonbats are the same protesters who will violently attack military recruiters, ROTC members, and pro-war college Republicans.
Dimrat Moonbat protesters are the same as those who protested the Iraq war and the War on Terror, and want us to lose over there.
I remember Ayn Rand refusing to answer a "question" asked of her. She said she wouldn't respond because the young lady was insulting her. As I recall, the "question" started something like "I used to hold your views when I was young and naive," Rand didn't let her get her "but" out before telling her she didn't want to hear what the girl thought. She said it was clear the girl was not there to hear Rands views, but to voice her own. It was great. I thought it was about time someone told kids, still wet behind the ears, that they didn't care what they thought.
With Tom, it may have been that, with all the interruptions, he did not have time to answer questions. He may have had a schedule to keep.
There are a bunch of Leftists on a forum I'm on, who don't admit this sort of thing is endemic in academe, and refuse to admit the brownshirt nature of these events. They are so intellectually dishonest on this, it is breathtaking.
Yep!!!
Those be scum and the easily disled. Shutting down the Grand Caliphate is Job #1. Basic common sense dictates that the U.S should have secured it's borders within a few days after 9-11-01. That has yet to be accomplished while enough verbiage concerning it would fill a fleet of hot-air balloons.
Conservatives voted while the wishy-washy confused about the difference in parties were the ones who let down the GOP. Milquetoast leadership, ignoring the majority's wishes for those of primary contributors and buckling under Ted Kennedy more times than not built the apathy of defeat. I only wonder why the Democrats bothered altering a Senate that was already doing it's bidding.
Seriously, though; Tom Tancredo has been consistent throughout. He dares to keep bringing up the open back door despite the accusations of Politically Incorrect muck his enemies keep trying to tar him with. National Security isn't a catch phrase or the name of an agency - it's a mandated responsibility of our elected government. And they are answerable to us, the citizens, on that...not the other way around.
Corruption is now the primary evil in our government needing correction and it's spread turns good people bad at an appalling rate. Call it the "bureaucratic bird flu". I propose recovering who we can under conditional probation while the irredeemable work on the High Wall.
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