Thread: 'Illegal Immigration Capture the Flag' thwarted by protester

'Illegal Immigration Capture the Flag' thwarted by protesters'

UC Davis administration 'disappointed' in Davis College Republicans, official says

By Bo Hee Kim
Campus News
May 2, 2007

To the delight of some and the disgust of others, Davis College Republicans organized a satirical game of "Illegal Immigration Capture the Flag" on the Quad on Tuesday afternoon.

Members of DCR assembled on the Quad for the game, but never were able to play as protesters surrounded and blocked their paths.

The game was to be played with two teams: "Team INS" and "Team Illegal Immigrants." In a message forwarded to the members of DCR, "The trick is that the INS will have their hands tied behind their backs, the Illegal Immigrants team will vastly outnumber the INS team, and every 10 minutes the Illegals caught will be granted amnesty and set free."

With the cement walkway in the Quad as "the border," teams were to assemble opposite from each other, with Team INS playing defense the entire time, according to the game rules. While DCR was assembling for the game, other protests concerning immigration, military action in Iraq and contracting out food-service workers were in full swing on the Memorial Union Patio.

According to bystander Kyle Flick, a junior political science major at UC Davis, the capture-the-flag game never played out.

"People from the rally came over with concerns with the DCR activity," Flick said. "After the main group of the rally walked straight through DCR, a smaller group stayed behind and surrounded DCR. The smaller group kept growing, though."

Flick went on to say that DCR members were outnumbered more than 2 to 1.

"They must have felt intimidated," Flick said.

According to a May 1 DCR press release, "A crowd of angry protesters from extremist groups, such as La Raza and MEChA, gathered around the demonstrating College Republicans in an attempt to silence their message. At one point as the [Davis] College Republicans were attempting to exit the Quad, a police escort was needed to restrain the crowd that had encircled the group."

Peter Markevich, a member of DCR as well as the chair for the ASUCD Academic Affairs Commission, wrote an e-mail to the members of ASUCD to explain his participation in the DCR event.

"Having come under scrutiny by several former and current members of ASUCD, I feel it necessary to defend my participation in today's DCR event," Markevich said. "Contrary to the assertions made to me by several students, the event is in no way racist, nor is it aimed at making light of the situation immigrants find themselves in. The 'game,' and the rules of it, are meant as a comment on the unfortunate situation here in America, created by inefficient and useless policies as well as economic conditions in other countries.

"I do not believe there are any racist underpinnings to the event. If I did, I assure you I would not be participating," Markevich said. "I would hope that when DCR holds its demonstration today, you won't be calling us racists."

Markevich said in a phone interview that he was only at the event for a short time and that his role as commission chair had nothing to do with his participation in the event.

Lisa Lapin, assistant vice chancellor of university communications, said she watched part of the DCR event and expressed disapproval on behalf of the UC Davis administration.

"I saw maybe 12 to 15 students gathered on the Quad," Lapin said. "There was a group of unhappy students gathered around them.... Everyone has the right to have their opinions heard, but they need to take care to be respectful.

"The administration is disappointed in DCR for attempting such an event," she said. "It goes directly against the Principles of Community we have at UC Davis. Even though they didn't carry out their game, it still created what seemed to be unnecessary tension."

http://link.toolbot.com/californiaaggie.com/76537

Once again, Americans loyal to their nation, speaking out, are prohibited.

The reaction of the college administration is really disgusting.