Columbia kicks conservative conference off campus

Human Events, Dec 4, 1998 by D'Agostino, Joseph A

The protesters "were disruptive and began singing when I spoke," said D'Souza, adding that it seemed like a resurgence of an earlier era. "The protesters' attitude seemed to be that I had the right to speak but that they had the right to shout me down." D'Souza said that "there was plenty of security and there was no reason not to have the conference as planned. I've never had any physical incidents at my speeches on campus."

The protesters counted the move to the park as a victory. "Some chanted, `We're in, you're out,'" said Flynn. Roxanne Smithers, president of the Black Students Association, told the Columbia Spectator, "They were entirely dislocated. The black people have been dislocated for years, and they were dislocated for a couple of hours.

U.S. News & World Report columnist and conference speaker John Leo said that "this has never happened before" in his dozens of campus appearances. He said that college administrators cave in to leftist students because "I think they understand which way the winds are blowing. They know who's got the power on campus.

He said that conservatives should be more aggressive. "We've got the high ground now," he said. "It used to be the right which was associated with intolerance and bigotry. Now it's clearly the left:'

Irvine said that AIA was contemplating a lawsuit. "We would rather have had our conference than get this attention," said Flynn. "But the sight of a predominantly white crowd of Ivy League students calling Ward Connerly and Dinesh D'Souza racist was something."