Protesters Disrupt Speech by ‘Bell Curve’ Author at Vermont College
The left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center describes Mr. Murray as a “white nationalist” who uses “racist pseudoscience and misleading statistics to argue that social inequality is caused by the genetic inferiority of the black and Latino communities, women and the poor.”
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As word spread on Friday about the confrontation, commentators weighed in. Bill Kristol, the conservative analyst and editor at large of The Weekly Standard, said on Twitter:
What happened at Middlebury to Charles Murray threatens not just campus free speech, but free speech--indeed freedom in America--generally.
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Bill Kristol (@BillKristol)
March 3, 2017
Brit Hume, the Fox News analyst, wrote:
Intolerant left strikes again -->Angry Students Disrupt Conservative Scholar’s Speech At Middlebury College https://t.co/jYEbbXm9Na
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Brit Hume (@brithume)
March 3, 2017
But an open letter to the college from more than 450 alumni objecting to Mr. Murray’s presence on campus said it was not a matter of free speech. The letter, written before Thursday’s event, said that his views were offensive and based on shoddy scholarship and that they should not be legitimized.
“In this case, there’s not really any ‘other side,’ only deceptive statistics masking unfounded bigotry,” the letter said.
Ms. Patton, the Middlebury president, said in her apology that there had been “clear violations of Middlebury College policy” against disrupting events. University officials said they were investigating both the disruptions inside the building and the violence outside.
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Bill Burger, a spokesman for the college, said in an interview: “There are people who are eager to portray college students or the entire higher education establishment as hopelessly out of touch, a bastion of liberal indoctrination, and I think that’s fundamentally false. However, events like last night’s do feed that false narrative.”
Mr. Murray had been invited to the campus by the American Enterprise Institute Club, a group of about a dozen generally conservative-leaning students.
Hayden Dublois, 21, a senior and treasurer of the club, said that the students had thought Mr. Murray — whose 2012 book, “Coming Apart,” examines the white working class — would be interesting to hear in light of the presidential election.
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But when Mr. Murray rose to speak, he was shouted down by most of the more than 400 students packed into the room, several witnesses said. Many turned their backs to him and chanted slogans like “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, Charles Murray go away!”
After almost 20 minutes, it was clear that he would not be able to give his speech, said Mr. Burger, the spokesman. Anticipating that such an outcry might happen, Mr. Murray was moved to a separate room equipped with a video camera so that Allison Stanger, a Middlebury professor of international politics and economics, could interview him over a live stream. Mr. Burger said the administration felt strongly that Mr. Murray’s right to free speech should be protected and that “no one should have the heckler’s veto.”
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Once the interview began in the second room, protesters swarmed into the hallway, chanting and pulling fire alarms. Still, the interview was completed and officials, including Ms. Stanger, escorted Mr. Murray out the back of the building.
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There, several masked protesters, who were believed to be outside agitators, began pushing and shoving Mr. Murray and Ms. Stanger, Mr. Burger said. “Someone grabbed Allison’s hair and twisted her neck,” he said.
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After the two got into a car, Mr. Burger said, protesters pounded on it, rocked it back and forth, and jumped onto the hood. Ms. Stanger later went to a hospital, where she was put in a neck brace.
Mr. Dublois, the student, said he was disappointed. “To see protests, which really developed into riots — which is what they were — was incredibly shameful and embarrassing.”
The car drove off to a dinner nearby, but officials say they learned that protesters intended to disrupt it, so they drove to a restaurant out of town.
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