Fair/Foul:Protesters boo NYC Police(Gestapo) Commissioner Ray Kelly from stage @ Brown University...

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providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20131029-protesters-boo-nyc-police-commissioner-kelly-from-stage-at-brown-university-poll.ece
Protesters boo NYC Police Commissioner Kelly from stage at Brown University / Poll, video

PROVIDENCE — Whatever Ray Kelly had to say at Brown University Tuesday will forever remain known only to him, because a raucous crowd drowned out the New York City police commissioner with cries of “racism” and demands for “peace and justice.”

A grim-faced Kelly left the List Arts Center via a side door after university officials gave up their attempts to bring order to the auditorium and closed the program 27 minutes after its scheduled start. Kelly declined comment as he departed.

Kelly had been expected to speak on “proactive policing,” a policy more commonly known as stop-and-frisk, and one that was declared unconstitutional by a federal court in August. Under the policy, New York City police officers were stopping and questioning tens of thousands of pedestrians annually, and frisking them for weapons and other contraband. Marissa Quinn, vice president for public affairs, was shouted down when she pleaded for the crowd to let Kelly speak.

“I have never seen in my 15 years at Brown the inability to have a dialogue,” Quinn commented.

Her remark was greeted with cheers.

Christina H. Paxson, university president, said afterward that she intended to contact Kelly to express her regrets about the incident.

Many of those who disrupted the program appeared not to be Brown students.

A protest organizer later identified some of the audience groups as Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Olneyville Neighborhood Association, Providence Youth Student Movement, and Fuerza Laboral.

Various factions seemed organized and rehearsed, standing in unison to chant slogans. Many individuals stood and recited short speeches from cue cards — squares of cardboard onto which had been pasted typewritten sheets.

An hour before Kelly’s planned appearance, several dozen students gathered on College Street outside the List Arts Center and marched in a picket line to the thumping of makeshift drums — trash cans and paint cans were popular. They carried picket signs declaring “Ray (cist) Kelly” and “Don’t honor the police state,” among others.

High-ranking police officers, including Providence Police Chief Hugh T. Clements Jr. and Deputy Chief Thomas F. Oates III, filled the front row of the auditorium. U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha also was in the audience.

Marion Orr, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy, which sponsored Kelly’s visit, opened the program with a plea for “open and civil discourse.”

As a sign of what was to come, his request was greeted by derisive laughter.

Orr said the university’s policy was to include “topics that provoke controversy.” He went on to say, “There are many perspectives in this room. Protest is a necessary and acceptable means.” He added however, “Halting a lecture is an unacceptable form of protest.”

As Orr continued with his introduction of Kelly, cheers and applause interrupted him when he mentioned that the New York City stop-and-frisk policy had been declared unconstitutional.

Kelly was met with clapping and jeers as he stepped to the lectern. He was immediately interrupted by a group standing and chanting in chorus.

Kelly waited until the noise died down a bit, then pointed to an audience member. “How about you, young man. Anything to say?”

“I don’t agree with your policy,” the man replied, drawing laughter and more jeering.

“I thought this was the academy where you exercised free speech,” Kelly commented, bringing another round of chanting.

One man stood and said, “You want us to be civil? This is a one-time conversation.” Applause broke out.

Quinn, the university vice president, again stepped to the lectern. “There is a basic principle of free speech at Brown,” she said. “Right now there is no dialogue.”

Audience members rose in response and chanted: “No justice! No peace! No racist police!”

Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life, told the group that if order was not kept it would be necessary to clear the auditorium.

“Clear it. Clear it,” the crowd responded.

“We have just lost an opportunity,” Quinn told the group.

Cheers and laughter greeted her lament.

As the room cleared, Orr said he didn’t want to talk about the experience.

“It wasn’t very good,” he said.

The university later issued a statement blaming the disruption on “activist students and members of the local community.”

Paxson in a personal letter called it “a sad day for the Brown community.”

She added, “… our university is — above all else — about the free exchange of ideas. Nothing is more antithetical to that value than preventing someone from speaking and other members of the community from hearing that speech and challenging it vigorously in a robust yet civil manner. … Not only was Commissioner Kelly denied the right to speak, members of our community were denied their right to challenge him.

“That is unfair to everyone involved and disrespectful to the rights we all embrace and should be vigilant in upholding as members of an academic community. … Protest is welcome, but protest that infringes on the rights of others is simply unacceptable. We must work together to sustain this and the other core values that define us as a community.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qch6b7GaJM

Fair and well deserved...
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