I was front row centre at the Ann Coulter "protest" on Tuesday night so I want to clear up a few misconceptions about what happened.
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The U of O Campus Conservatives who organized the event did a very poor job. They were close to an hour behind schedule before they announced to the large crowd of then-agitated students that if we weren't registered, we weren't getting in. It was chaos when frustrated fans and critics of Coulter were then penned inside the building, the organizers were blocking entry into Marion Hall and the large crowd outside made it to difficult to leave.
It's sad that Coulter and Ezra Levant will go around trumpeting this as some free speech disaster when the truth is that this event was cancelled due to extremely poor planning by the organizers, some idiotic decisions by the SFUO and some prankster pulling a fire alarm.
Alex Sellick,
Ottawa
"Crap Planning...in Ottawa"
ReplyDeleteAre you sure your not talking about the Liberal Party on opposition day.
I am sure the Campus Conservatives are an improvement over the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.
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ReplyDeleteRotterdam,
ReplyDeleteBrilliant!!!!!!!
Why do conservatives have such a hard time staying on topic, and on point.
Why do conservatives have such a hard time making sense.
I am sure you laughed your pathetic little head off when you posted that.
You probably amazed yourself with your brilliant repartee.
Pray tell what does your post have to do with the subject at hand?
Go back to your room and play with your inflatable woman, and come back when you can make some sense.
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ReplyDeleteRotterdam is probably having a hard time staying on point since he got the replacement parts for his love doll.
ReplyDeleteWow Conservatives really will defend literally anything.
ReplyDeleteSellick is wrong on attacking SFUO over not allowing posters to go up.
ReplyDeleteStudent unions do not control who puts up posters on campus. They only control who puts up posters in designated student union posting areas, areas designated through negotiations with university administrations.
Posters can also be put up through the administration itself.
Campus conservatives could have also put up posters in disregard to student union and administration policies but at the risk of having them torn down pretty quickly.
Campus conservatives could also have leafleted but they usually never have the cojones to actually make themselves known publicly, just like Coulter and Levant didn't have the balls to carry through their talk despite the fact that violence against them was never going to happen. U of O students have no record of violent protest.
Last but not least, registering online is always how Conservatives organize their events so they can make sure that only their supporters can attend and known opponents are weeded out. The U of O left never puts limits on who can attend their events, including radical speakers who Tories get upset about.
Last but not least, SFUO had no obligation to put up posters and not doing so never stopped the Tories from putting up posters by other means. The SFUO and most other Canaidan student unions have clear policies to not sponsor, support or fund racist, sexist or other discriminatory groups and individuals. Coulter's record is apparent to anyone who wants to dig it up.
Good on the SFUO.
And the entire fumbling of the organizing is typical of the campus Tories. Their control-freakery and general ineptitude at organizing anything more than putting their pants on got the best of them once again.