Barbarians at the Ath

I'll have my remarks on Karl Rove's talks at Res Publica in Newport Beach and at the Athenaeum this evening, but I'd like to first address the lawlessness of the protesters who arrived on campus. It is clear that both security and the Administration's response were lacking, and I'll be putting up photos of just how out of hand it all got.

On the first point, the protesters were within earshot of the Athenaeum talk. We were promised that they would be peaceful and non-disruptive. They weren't and those in the Ath had trouble hearing over the noisy protesters. When several players of the football team started playing heavy metal music to drown out their protesters' noise chants, Dean Huang asked them to tone it down! Curiously the protesters were allowed to disrupt, vandalize, and threaten members of our community and its guest, Karl Rove.

What should have happened was a statement by our dean of students, our president, or some members of the administration relocating the location of the protest and reminding the students of our right under the Consortium to remove problematic students from the campus.

To the many protesters who quietly protested outside of the Athenaeum, you're wrong on Karl Rove, just as I think you will be on the War, the economy, and a whole host of other issues, but you are free to be wrong and I won't push you off campus, only that you be respectful of the people who tolerate your presence.

Unfortunately, many of your co-protesters abused the privilege of higher education. These low-lights included:

• They got on top of McKenna auditorium, draping two political messages without the consent of the people whose building those were. At CMC, if students were to do that, they'd be J-Boarded.
• The fountains in which many Claremont McKenna students are ponded on their birthdays were vandalized with red dye -- symbolizing no doubt the blood of all the Iraqis who are supposedly on Rove's hands.
  
• The loud drum circles clearly disrupted the event.
  
• They chanted jeers and taunts at Claremont McKenna students and faculty who attended the event, making it rather uncomfortable to use the very facilities we pay to maintain.
  
• There was marijuana smoke coming up from the crowd in front of and behind the Athenaeum. Need I remind you of what Pomona did when they discovered a student smoking in his room? They called the police!
  
• The garbage cannisters were overflowing at the Ath, with garbage strewn literally all over the ground. Also, I walked through the place the smell of feces and litter strewn about. So much for not violating the law.
• Apparently, snack is closed because of a bomb threat to Claremont McKenna, which isn't exactly an idle threat as campus radicals during the '60s actually bombed Claremont McKenna and Pomona. (More about this as it develops...)
  
• Towards the end of the night, Pitzer students and others sat down in front of police and residential vehicles behind the Athenaeum so that Karl Rove could not leave in the hopes of giving him a "citizen's arrest." Karl Rove ended up escaping, but not without considerable protests. (One Pitzer student by the name of Raymon Martinez claims to have been "pepper sprayed" by a police officer, to which I have to quip, "good.")
  

President Gann and related of the faculty should demand that Pitzer from where the overwhelming majority of students come, pay us for the added security, the added man hours of our staff, clean up for their mess, etc. -- just as Claremont McKenna students are build for the damage they cause, so too should our guests be billed.

Contrary to what was argued by one of the leaflets outside, questions weren't "pre-screened" by anyone. No official email went out and no -- unlike Bono and unlike President Clinton, Rove took a dozen plus questions from the audience -- one of which was mine. Of course no protesters bothered them and the conservative students who attended came prepared with questions -- only to have the Administration assign questions on a racist basis.

I surveyed the protesters and their drum circle that formed around 5 PM. I walked among them, only to have some of them call me a "hypocrite," a "Fascist pig," and threatened that I would be "roughed up" (to which I replied, "any day, anytime, coward.")

The usual crowd came out against Karl Rove I counted around 150 protesters, of whom only about 4 or 5 were Claremont McKenna students. Many of the protesters weren't students at the 5Cs, nor were they even members of the town of Claremont. Some of the protesters were clearly your typical nuts -- I counted one student dressed in a S.S. uniform, another in a gorilla outfit, and another in a bear costume. (I have a photo of me with the bear, but the gorilla ran away.)

The tragic thing is that these radicals waste the fine resources Claremont continues to provide its students and will make it difficult for Claremont McKenna to bring quality speakers in the future. It is clear that Claremont McKenna was wrong to give these vandals a place from which to speak so close to our facilities. In the future, more leadership is needed from our Administration and serious discussions are needed with Pitzer's Administration on their students' conduct.