Thread: Immigration control advocates support Minutemen at Columbia

http://www.silive.com/newsflash/metro/i ... st=simetro


Immigration control advocates support Minutemen at Columbia rally
1/4/2007, 7:37 p.m. ET
By COLLEEN LONG
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A handful of immigration control advocates protested outside Columbia University on Thursday because students haven't been disciplined for storming a stage and halting a speech by the founder of the Minuteman Project, a civilian immigration monitoring group.

"We want these students expelled," said Joanna Marzullo, president of New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement. "The violence cannot be ignored."

The founder of the Minuteman Project, Jim Gilchrist, had to cut short his talk at the school Oct. 4 after students from the Chicano Caucus and other groups climbed on stage with banners denouncing the project, which is based in Laguna Hills, Calif., and advocates action to prevent illegal immigration from Mexico.

Three months later, protesters waving flags and holding signs that said "Illegal immigrants have no rights" stood outside the school. Pedestrians jeered, and one man stopped to argue with the group.

The Gilchrist event was organized by the school's College Republicans club. The fracas was caught on videotape.

Marzullo, who was born and raised in New York, a mostly liberal city, was in the audience the night Gilchrist was supposed to speak.

"I went up on stage to try to protect him," she said. "It's just not right."

The university, whose spring semester doesn't begin until Jan. 16, had no comment on the Thursday protest and referred to a Dec. 22 statement by its president, Lee Bollinger, that stated students involved in the disruption could face disciplinary measures.

Bollinger also has said several people unaffiliated with the university who jumped on stage at the event would no longer be permitted on campus.

University officials would not reveal how many students could be disciplined or give the number of people banned from campus, claiming releasing that information would be an invasion of privacy and a violation of federal law.

The university said the students have been charged with breaking the university's rules of conduct. The students will meet with a dean, who will decide their fate.

The possible punishments range from a warning to expulsion. However, the deciding dean could also choose not to sanction a student.

The Chicano Caucus maintains it did not interfere with anyone's right of free speech and denied anyone had attacked Gilchrist.

While the interruption led to some pushing and shoving and forced Gilchrist to cut short his talk, the videotape showed no real violence.

Marzullo, whose grandparents are legal Nicaraguan immigrants and whose 80-member organization shares the same beliefs as the Minuteman Project, said she felt she needed to protest because the students' actions were unacceptable.

"It's an insult to the people who are here legally," she said of illegal immigrants.

"It's an insult to the people who are here legally," she said of illegal immigrants.

It certainly is Ms. Marzullo.

The Chicano Caucus maintains it did not interfere with anyone's right of free speech and denied anyone had attacked Gilchrist.

Big surprise and why would they believe or state otherwise?