The College Republicans at the University of Michigan invited sociologist and author Charles Murray to speak, but the event was disrupted by student protesters using the same unfair criticisms of Murray heard on other campuses.
You may recall the incident we wrote about back in March: Student Mob at Middlebury Attacks Speaker and Sends Prof to Hospital
Anthony Gockowski and Nikita Vladimirov of Campus Reform report on this latest incident:
Students aggressively mock, harass Charles Murray at UMichCharles Murray’s event at the University of Michigan was completely overthrown by student protesters, who occupied the auditorium and loudly interrupted Murray for 40 minutes before sauntering out of the room.The event, set to begin at 6:00 p.m. EST, was immediately shut down by protesters before Murray even was given a chance to begin as one demonstrator projected a “white supremacist” hologram above his head.“Charles Murray go away; sexist, racist, KKK! Charles Murray go away; sexist, racist KKK!,” protesters continually shouted, seemingly occupying the majority of the seats in the venue, according to a live stream of the event provided by the school’s College Republicans chapter who hosted the event.At one point a man who identified himself as the school’s director of public affairs took the microphone while attempting to ask student protesters to remain quiet.“We’ve been silent too long!” protesters repeatedly shouted in response, with another yelling “stop silencing students of color!”The administrator appeared to continue delivering the statement he had come make, but was drowned out by protesters, who took to remarking on the presence of police officers in the auditorium.Until protesters left the venue, Murray was allowed only brief periods to speak, as one protester took to the stage to ask him a question.“Do you not understand that your book undermines our very means of speaking?” one protester asked as he walked up on stage to confront Murray personally, mocking Murray’s commitment to free speech.
Here are some related tweets:
Robby Soave of Reason was there:
Here’s more video:
The caption for this photo might as well be: Burn the witch!
Murray tweeted later that he was allowed to finish after the mob left:
M Live adds this:
Murray contrasted his speech Wednesday with the one he delivered in March in which he was shouted down by students from the college. While he faced opposition from numerous student groups protesting his appearance on campus, his appearance did include dialog with students despite the tense atmosphere throughout much of the first half of his speech.Overall, there were no arrests at the event, nobody was ejected from the venue and Murray was able to finish his speech after many of the protesters left.
Featured image source.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY