Dear Editor,
RE: ‘Feder’s hate crime speech cut short by protests;’ Sam Butterfield, Mar. 11
In light of the public reaction surrounding Don Feder’s speech two weeks ago cut short by protests, the Republican Club (UMRC), who sponsored the event, feels the needs to clarify some assumptions and misconceptions surrounding the incident.
One: Contrary to words written in this newspaper and the opinions of some people at UMass and online, the UMRC did not invite the speaker to ‘provoke’ people, nor did it ‘want’ controversy. Our purpose was to open up dialogue about an issue ‘- directly relevant to the student body and the UMass administration ‘- which is frequently dictated by a politically correct viewpoint on this campus.
When planning our marketing campaign for the speaker, we realized that such a sensitive topic ‘- hate crimes ‘- was naturally controversial. This is why we did not feel the need to take the extra step and be intentionally provocative with our publicity efforts. We did not bait liberals on our flyers to come to the event and disrupt it; we did not cry out ‘reverse racism’ when people asked us why we opposed hate crimes; and we did not demand that protesters stop labeling our club and ourselves as ‘racists’ when they were urging people to disrupt the event.
Two: The protests during Mr. Feder’s speech were not ‘harmless,’ and it was exclusively because of these protests, and not because of the speaker’s supposed ‘inability’ to cope with the protests, that he was forced to end his speech. These demonstrations included hissing, booing, and laughing when Mr. Feder was introduced, turning chairs around at the start of Mr. Feder’s speech, constant hissing, booing, and laughing during his speech, distributing anti-hate pins and leaflets before the speech urging people to disrupt the event, interrupting and yelling at Mr. Feder repeatedly during his speech, bringing signs into the venue in violation of the school picketing code, flooding into the venue through the side door after admittance was halted, bringing a rat into the Cape Cod Lounge, attempting to enter the venue through the side window, holding up signs that blocked the view of the speaker, screaming at Mr. Feder and chanting repeatedly, ‘Don’t come back’ after he was forced to end his speech. For those who deny that Mr. Feder’s right to free speech was infringed upon, ask yourself if you think you would have been able to express your opinion in such an environment.
Three: The UMRC not only believes in free speech for those who disagree with us, but we encourage it as well. This is why Republican Club President Greg Collins personally told one of the protesters that he supported his right to protest the event, and why we encouraged him to hold up signs and distribute literature, as long as the protests occurred outside the Cape Cod Lounge.
Four: The people most hurt by the disruptions were not Don Feder or the Republican Club. Rather, the people most hurt were the many self-described progressive Democrats who told us that they were genuinely interested in Mr. Feder’s lecture, but were upset that they did not have the chance to hear him speak.
Let’s hope that in the future, all reasonable UMass students and concerned citizens ‘- liberal and conservative alike ‘- can unite against intolerance and stand up for the right to free speech.
Even for those with whom we may disagree.
UMass Republican Club
