Intellectual thuggery at Brandeis over Heston's speech (long)

Oatka

New member
In line with the over-reaction by the antis on other threads, check out the crap the school administration pulled to suppress a speech by Charlton Heston.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3911965b3f34.htm#1

1. Press Release from Young America’s Foundation

Students Want Heston; Administration Asks for Blood … Literally!

Although the administration at Brandeis University has approved a student-sponsored lecture by Charlton Heston, it is now attempting to put up roadblocks to make it impossible for the lecture to take place.

The administration is making absurd requests of the students trying to organize the Heston lecture. Most of the requests are related to security, a typical leftist administration dirty trick to stop conservative speakers from coming to campus. So far they have requested a bomb sniffing dog, ten police officers, two full body metal detectors, two metal detector wands, a paramedic team, and four pints of Mr. Heston’s blood type.

They have also forced the lecture into a larger ballroom that holds 1,000 people instead of the original smaller auditorium that the sponsoring group preferred. The administration claims this move is for security reasons, however, the cost of the additional chairs in the ballroom is nearly $900 plus the cost of the administration shutting down half of the student center. The smaller auditorium was free.

In addition, if there are any protestors at the event that have to be removed by the police, the students have to pay that bill as well. The total costs of these demands are between $5,000 and $7,000. The administration also reserved the right to increase security at any time (even up to an hour before the event) and then charge the student organizers.

"Instead of discussing Heston’s beliefs, the administration is playing games to try to silence ideas different from their own," stated Young America’s Foundation Lecture Director Patrick Coyle who is advising the students.

The Foundation has previously sponsored Mr. Heston at the University of Colorado, American University, Penn State University, and Northwestern University where the administration took reasonable security steps but did not impose needless and costly security measures upon student organizers.

2. Brandeis University’s Response

March 15, 2000

Dear Mr. Coyle:

I am writing in response to the Young America’s Foundation Web posting concerning Mr. Charlton Heston’s visit to Brandeis University ("Students Want Heston; Administration Asks for Blood — Literally").

First, while I would never divulge specific details pertaining to the security of Mr. Heston while he is on our campus, let me assure you unequivocally that there has never been any discussion or mention from anyone in the administration regarding "blood." Let me also correct some other errors.

Brandeis welcomes the visit to campus by Mr. Heston, and the university’s president plans to attend the event. My office, the Office of Media Relations, stands ready to assist the students in any way it can, and the students involved have known this for weeks now. The university’s Office of Public Affairs volunteered to use its contacts to assist in publicizing the event to the media. While there were some meetings with the editor of Freedom Magazine, one of the sponsors of the event, he declined the offer of specific assistance and chose instead to distribute the media advisory on his own.

The various student groups that have helped to organize the visit are to be congratulated on their initiative. The university is providing equipment for Mr. Heston’s press conference and plans to do a story on his visit for The Brandeis Reporter, the official staff-faculty newspaper.

Additionally, let me say that for all visits to campus by prominent individuals, we make appropriate security arrangements. The procedure for student groups, who wish to bring prominent speakers to campus, is to apply to the Student Senate for funding. This was done, and the necessary funds for security have been fully provided by the administration and the Student Senate, based on an estimate confirmed by our director of Public Safety.

I hope this information is helpful.

Sincerely,

Dennis Nealon

Director, Office of Media Relations

3. Student Response to Brandeis’ Letter

Dear Mr. Nealon:

I recently became aware of a letter which you sent to Young America’s Foundation regarding its posting concerning Charlton Heston’s visit to Brandeis on March 28th. Please be advised that upon review of this letter, I realized that there were several factual inaccuracies within it, which I would like to bring to your attention for future reference.

"[L]et me assure you unequivocally that there has never been any discussion or mention from anyone in the administration regarding ‘blood.’"

On March 8th at a 3:15 p.m. meeting with myself, Michael Regunberg, Chris Clark, Stephanie Ruark and Roman Cermak, the Acting Director of Public Safety, Ed Callahan, requested Mr. Heston’s blood type. Again on March 10th, a student organizer of the event was called by Mr. Callahan to follow up as to whether or not we had inquired as to Mr. Heston’s blood type because it would need to be on reserve at the Waltham-Deaconess Hospital as a precaution.

"The university is providing equipment for Mr. Heston’s press conference."

Equipment for the press conference will cost at least $200. Although the university originally offered to provide us with some of the equipment, your office has since told us that we must rent the equipment ourselves.

"[T]he necessary funds for security have been provided by the administration and the Student Senate."

In order to cover the cost of the outrageous security demands, the Student Senate has agreed to contribute money towards the events. The Senate money came from the Student Activity Fee, not administration money. Currently, the administration has offered only to pay for one metal detector for the event, a $1250 value; total security costs for the event could be in excess of $6000 when all was said and done. The only other administration funds received were $500 from the Dean of Arts and Sciences towards the event.

Even this misses the point, however. As the saying goes, "actions speak louder than words." The university administration says they want to see Mr. Heston come to campus, yet, at every step along the way, they place additional financial and bureaucratic obstacles in the way. These unreasonable obstacles are nothing short of censorship, plain and simple.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I trust that in the future these mistakes will be rectified.

Very truly yours,

Bryan G. Rudnick

4. Students Tell How It Ended

Brandeis University Loses Control During Heston Event

When student organizers informed the administration about Charlton Heston’s visit to Brandeis University, they were informed they would have to pay for expensive security precautions. But by the time the event began, two metal detectors, one bomb-dog and fifteen police officers were not enough to maintain order inside or outside the building, according to Bryan Rudnick, one of the students.

He tells Massachusetts News that nearly one hundred security breaches occurred and the Acting Director of Public Safety, Ed Callahan, was not even on the campus for over an hour during this time. The officers who were on hand were unaware of their responsibilities and thus chaos erupted, he says.

Demonstrators blocked guests from entering the building, intimidated them and refused to clear the area when asked, Rudnick says.

According to Brandeis Senior Jim Couture, "I am appalled by the administration’s inaction. Although they forced us to pay a lot for security, people entered the building by evading the metal detectors."

Administrators are now taking credit for Heston’s visit and for the expenses, says Couture. However, Heston was invited by Students for the Second Amendment club and Freedom Magazine, a student publication. "The administration made it clear that unless we paid for everything, Heston could not visit. After the media paid attention to the event, the University became willing to aid us only slightly and provided a small amount of money for the costs. The rest of the budget for the event was provided through student fees, Young America’s Foundation and the Massachusetts Gun Owners’ Action League," said Couture.



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