URI NAACP, UHURU SASA: HOROWITZ RACIST

Tempers Flared During a Speech by Conservative Speaker David Horowitz Last Night in the Memorial Union Ballroom.

11/30/05 - Sometimes rowdy but mostly calm, University of Rhode Island
NAACP and Uhuru SaSa student members last night filled the rear of the
Memorial Union Ballroom in protest of conservative speaker David Horowitz.

The protesters - peaking at about 125, police estimated - stood in
silence during the speech, turned their backs to Horowitz during a
standing applause and participated in a question and answer session.

Horowitz, editor of Front Page Magazine, answered a few questions with
general statements toward the crowd.

"I've never heard more illogical statements strung together in a
shorter time," he said, adding, "Everyone in this room is a bigot,
everyone has bigoted thoughts - it's just a normal human thing."
Protesters yelled at Horowitz during some responses.

The event, put on by the URI College Republicans, was protested
because it promoted racism, URI National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People Vice President Victor Omoayo said.

"Racism, even in the pretense of intellectual conservative debate,"
Omoayo, a senior, said, "will not be tolerated. It doesn't have to be
okay. It's not okay."

Horowitz spoke about a lack of conservative ideology in URI's
political science department and that America "treats black people
better than any other black country in the world."

College Republican President Ryan Bilodeau said the event opened up a
conversation that challenged audience members' beliefs.

"The discourse within the event encompassed the exact discourse that
David Horowitz is trying to convey in his Academic Freedom campaign,"
Bilodeau, a junior, said.

Bilodeau said that some of Horowitz theories might have been viewed as
racist by protesters - partly causing the protest - but mostly "the
protest was a result of them being offended by certain pieces in our
newspaper."

Monday the College Republicans distributed The Grand Old Paper, a
group-funded journal, around the Kingston campus.

The protest, Omoayo said, was intended "not to interrupt the event, we
just wanted to make our presence known ... we are here, we have a voice."

Horowitz initially asked protesters to sit amongst the crowd, but when
they refused he said, "I'm not recognizing you."

Lynne Derbyshire, the chair of the Communication Studies Department,
asked Horowitz why he assumed the protestors would not behave.

"I merely supported their right to speak," Derbyshire said after the
speech. "I'm embarrassed to have our students talked about that way."

Uhuru SaSa President Princess Garrett said the event was "very telling
of the true ideologies of the College Republicans." She said her group
was not necessarily against any ideologies, but that Horowitz
"blurred" the line with racist comments.

The question and answer session ranged from calm questioning to
yelling matches between audience members and Horowitz.

Some audience members yelled at the stage, saying Horowitz only spoke
over questions and didn't answer questions that were asked.

"I was in line to ask a question, but why bother," economics professor
Richard McIntyre said. "He claims to be interested, but he shouts
everybody down."

McIntyre said Horowitz' statements about a lack of conservative
ideology in the political science department were "red herring"
statements used to divert from actual issues, such as funding and
college access for minority students.

Bob Weisbord, a professor in the History Department, said Horowitz is
guilty of what he accuses liberal professors of.

"What he does is give you half the story," Weisbord said. "I hope
people do some research on what he talked about."

Weisbord said that Horowitz's idea that blacks had it better in the
United States than any other country was not valid.

"In some cases, the crumbs from a thriving society are better than a
bigger piece of the pie in another," he said.

However, the appearance generated more discussion than Weisbord has
seen in many years. "I haven't seen anything like this on campus since
the Vietnam War," he said.

Senior Micah Daigle agreed that the event opened up a discussion on
campus.

"While I disagree with pretty much all of what David Horowitz said and
what the College Republicans said in their paper," the Students for
Sensible Drug Policy national board member said, "I do commend them
because they are one of the most active groups on campus and their
activity is a challenge to people who believe in justice, acceptance
and peace on this campus."