RI College Blocks Tancredo Speech 04/29/09 - Moved to VFW

Received from Tom Tancredo:

Subject: Protestors at UNC Arrested...Another School Tries to Silence Me

Date: 4/24/2009 3/31:06 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time


Dear Friend,

I am writing to update you on the situation at UNC, and also let you know about more trouble that's brewing at another college.

The group behind the protests said they would continue their attacks if the student group Youth for Western Civilization who invited me "continues to invite people like Tom Tancredo, who espouses a philosophy of hate."

This did not dissuade the brave students who followed up by bringing my good friend Virgil Goode on Wednesday. It shouldn't be a surprise that their president interned for Team America last summer.

With all the pressure we put on the administration and city, they made sure that Virgil could give his talk. This time when the protesters tried to stop Goode's speech, they were arrested! Six in all! They also finally arrested one of the students who shut down my speech.

Other protesters cowardly tried to disrupt Goode's speech without taking responsibility by setting off noisemakers and a pulling a fire alarm, but he was able to finish his speech. I will be back to UNC next year, but I'm glad Virgil was able to get his voice heard in the meantime. (You can watch some video here, here, here and here.)

Unfortunately, I'm having more trouble brining our views to students at Providence College in Rhode Island next Wednesday. Their chapter of Youth for Western Civilization is trying to host me, but the school won't let them reserve a room. They have not given a clear answer why, but they mentioned that my stance on immigration conflicts with the Catholic Church. This is a school that invited the virulently pro-abortion Senators Ted Kennedy and Shelden Whitehouse to campus!

Whatever their reason, I'm still going to make sure our message is heard. I will give a speech outside the campus gates, and then I'll speak at the local VFW post.

If you'd like to come the speech is on Wednesday April 29 at 7:00 PM at the Euart Elwood J Capt Post 602 of the VFW * 55 Overland Ave* Pawtucket, RI 02860 Contact tdioniso@providence.edu if you have any questions.

Thanks for all your support, and I'll keep up the pressure.

Tom


Paid for by Team America PAC
501 Church Street | Suite 315 | Vienna | VA | 22180
(703) 255-9119| http://www.teamamericapac.org

God, this is really getting sickening.

I pray for Mr Tancredo's safety.

This whole thing has gone insane. Since when is it anyone's right to quash free speech from an opposing point of view? I have no idea what colleges and schools are teaching about free speech these days. If they have done it right, these little nuts would not feel the boldness to deny those interested in hearing any opinion from hearing it. These brats do not realize that their flamboyant and violent protests shutting off free speech is not going to sit well with the majority of Americans. Cut off nose to spite face, or organize a lecture to present your views. It is called civility and respect. All they have proved is a penchant to violent insults--good job.

There are several links contained in each of the original sources below.

Providence College refuses to let Tom Tancredo speak, thanks to Bishop Thomas Tobin

Former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo was planning to speak at Providence College in Rhode Island on Wednesday, but college officials denied the request (link)*. Instead, he'll be speaking at a VFW hall and in front of the college's gates. (*see full story below)

One reason given for the rejection is that the group that invited him - Youth for Western Civilization (link) - is not accredited. However, they're actually open about the real reason:

Just as important, [PC spokeswoman Pat Vieira] said, were Bishop Thomas J. Tobin's views on immigration and how immigrants -- whether here legally or illegally -- should be treated, which contrast sharply with Tancredo's... "The Bishop of Providence ... is a member of the College's Board of Trustees," Vieira said in a written statement. "If a similar request to host a speaker on this topic is made in a future semester, the College will encourage and facilitate a format that allows for multiple points of view to be expressed."

The school - home to such notable alumni as Janeane Garofalo and Chris Dodd - is a private institution run by the Dominicans. The president's email isn't listed, but if you want to send a polite suggestion try bbartoli *at* providence.edu and chaberle *at* providence.edu.

Point out to them that Tancredo wants to treat illegal aliens better than Tobin. Tancredo wants them to return home and press for reforms in their own countries. Tobin is engaging in false compassion and what he supports would lead to even more people dying in the desert and a host of other negative impacts.

From: Lonewacko Blog
http://24ahead.com/providence-college-r ... thanks-bis


*PC won't permit illegal-immigration opponent to speak

1:27 PM Mon, Apr 27, 2009 |
Jennifer D. Jordan

PROVIDENCE -- Tom Tancredo, former congressman from Colorado, Republican presidential candidate and outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, is scheduled to speak in Rhode Island Wednesday. But he will not be addressing students at Providence College as he had originally planned, after college officials rejected a request from a student group to invite him to campus.

Instead, Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement will host Tancredo at 7 p.m. at the Capt. Elwood Euart VFW Post, 55 Overland Avenue, Pawtucket.

Tancredo has said he plans to deliver a speech outside the Providence College gates earlier that day, said Terry Gorman, executive director of RIILE.

Student group Youth for Western Civilization asked PC officials if they could also host Tancredo, but the request was denied, said PC spokeswoman Pat Vieira.

"They are not an officially recognized group," Vieira said. "They asked very late in the semester when there was not enough time for the request to go through the usual channels."

Just as important, Vieira said, were Bishop Thomas J. Tobin's views on immigration and how immigrants -- whether here legally or illegally -- should be treated, which contrast sharply with Tancredo's.

"The Bishop of Providence ... is a member of the College's Board of Trustees," Vieira said in a written statement. "If a similar request to host a speaker on this topic is made in a future semester, the College will encourage and facilitate a format that allows for multiple points of view to be expressed."

Gorman said he and other anti-illegal immigration advocates are angered by the college's refusal to allow Tancredo to speak.

"This college allowed Senators Kennedy and Whitehouse to speak, and they are virulently pro-abortion," Gorman said. "That goes against Church teaching, but they were invited to campus."

http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/04/providence-coll.html

Update: 300 PC students silently protest Tom Tancredo
6:14 PM Wed, Apr 29, 2009 | Permalink

Story by Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- An estimated 300 Providence College students protested Wednesday afternoon outside the school gates against former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo, a past Republican presidential candidate and outspoken opponent of illegal immigration.

The students -- who wore multicolored paper-plate masks, which they said represented their diversity -- stood in silence as Tancredo started speaking against "the cult of multiculturalism."

"I would have though I would have the opportunity to be inside the college, but that is not to be," Tancredo said, referring to the school's decision not to allow his talk on campus.

Western civilization, Tancredo said, "is under attack at this institution."

"Yes, diversity is a good thing, but it cannot be the only thing around which we hang a society."

About 15 minutes into his speech, the students turned their backs on him.

"I know what you've been told about me," Tancredo said. "You've been told that we are a racist group . . . This has nothing to do with race. This is an issue of western civilization."

Meanwhile, several dozens Tancredo supporters yelled at the student protesters.

"Why do you cover your faces?" yelled Salvator Robert of Providence. "Take off your masks. Hamas (the Palestinian group) covers their faces."

Tancredo is scheduled to speak Wednesday night at a meeting of Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement (RIILE), in Pawtucket. A photo gallery on RIILE's Web site includes a picture of RIILE president Terry Gorman with Tancredo -- then a presidential candidate -- at a 2007 meeting of the Republican National Committee.

At least 20 RILE members attended his appearance outside Providence College, said former Marine Corps Lt. Stephen Struk, who called Tancredo a "true patriot."

Providence College rejected a request by Youth for Western Civilization to have Tancredo speak on campus, noting the group is not officially recognized and that they had made the request "very late in the semester when there was not enough time for the request to go through the usual channels," said Pat Vieira, a spokeswoman for the college.

Providence College "did not ban or censor the appearance by Congressman Tancredo," said the Rev. Brian J. Shanley, the school's president. Shanley said the group, Youth for Western Civilization, "has not followed the process outlined in the student handbook to achieve official recognition" by the Student Congress, and were not allowed to host the event on campus.

Moreover, Shanley said, "on controversial issues where the U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops and our own Bishop (Thomas J. Tobin) have taken a clear position, the College has a responsibility to ensure, to the best of our ability, that the Church's position is represented." In that case, the college would "encourage and facilitate" a forum so multiple sides of the issue could be heard.

Youth for Western Civilization identifies itself on its Facebook page as "the West's right-wing youth movement" for students "who believe Western Civilization is moving in the wrong direction and want to do something about it."

It says the group "is focused on the support of Western history, identity, high culture, and pride and opposition to radical multiculturalism, political correctness, racial preferences, mass immigration, and socialism."

The Southern Poverty Law Center recently put the group on its watch list because of suspected ties to white nationalist groups.

PC sophomore Timothy Dionisopoulos said he recently started the PC group because the College Republicans -- whom he identified as "right wing" -- are not taking on the issues."

"We're interested in activism and spreading the message of Western civilization -- that it's okay to identify with your own culture and that it's important that you preserve that." Dionisopoulos added, "It's not white culture -- it's American culture ..." Dionisopoulos said its Facebook group has "about 30 members."

Kevin DeAnna, who said he founded the Youth for Western Civilization last fall, said in a phone interview Wednesday that there is another YWC chapter at the University of Rhode Island, and six other chapters at campuses around the country, including the University of Connecticut. He said there "are at least double that" that are in the process of forming.

Three weeks ago, protesters halted Tancredo's speech at the University of North Carolina that was also sponsored by Youth for Western Civilization. Police pepper-sprayed some of the protesters after demonstrators broke a window, according to the Associated Press.

According to The Tennessean newspaper, protesters outnumbered YWC members 10 to 1, at a YCW-sponsored event in March at Vanderbilt University.

This story was originally posted at 5:02 p.m. and updated at 5:59 p.m.
http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/04/hold-until-upda.html

Pawtucket Speech, 04.29.09:
"Amid Protestors, Tancredo Balsts Illegal Immigration"
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-891900.html#891900