YAF FILM

The following movie was taken during a campus presentation by Chris Simcox, the co-founder and president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a controversial group of citizens who claim to protect the U.S. border from illegal immigration. MSU police ushered protesters out of the Conrad Hall classroom where the event took place. Police arrested five people, including four MSU students, and released them less than two hours later.

The film contains language some may find offensive.

Possibly related:

Director of School of Journalism asked to resign

Rebuilding Brody

MSU freshman found dead in apartment

Struggling for same-sex equality

Michigan Promise Scholarship might not be kept

YAF-sponsored event draws 5 arrests

Five people were arrested and released Thursday night during a protest at a Conrad Hall classroom.

Students and community members were protesting Chris Simcox, co-founder and president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, who spoke at a presentation sponsored by MSU's Young Americans for Freedom and MSU College Republicans.

The five were zip-tied and taken into police custody. Four were MSU students, said MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor. They were released by 9:30 p.m. Thursday just under two hours after their arrest.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps is a controversial group of citizens who claim to protect the U.S. border from illegal immigration.

Jason L. Van Dyke, who practices law in Texas, introduced Simcox to the podium after he addressed the protesters: "Remember, the First Amendment protects ya'll from using four-letter words. I got two more for you — work and soap."

About 200 protesters leaped to their feet, where they remained for about 20 minutes.

MSU police Chief Jim Dunlap then issued a 30-second warning for students "to not disrupt the event or we're going to clear the room."

Police ushered most of the protesters out.

"Under ordinance and statute, there was an event and the speaker has the right to relay a message," Dunlap said. "We closed the event to those people who were being disruptive."

Of the five arrested, two were men taken into custody for resisting and obstructing and violating a university ordinance, McGlothian-Taylor said. One had to be held down by five officers after he attempted to run away.

The others — two men and one woman — were arrested for violation of MSU Ordinance 15.02, which states, "no person shall disrupt the normal operation of any properly authorized class, laboratory, seminar, examination, field trip or other educational activity of the university."

Police plan to seek warrants from the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office for the two men arrested for resisting and obstructing, McGlothian-Taylor said, while the other three protesters were expected to receive misdemeanor tickets.

Once the room was cleared of most of the protesters, only a few rows remained of Simcox's audience of about 65 supporters and a handful of protesters.

"I see we're clearing out some of the riffraff," Simcox said as rows were emptied. "It's about time."

While police ushered them out, protesters argued with officers and Simcox supporters. Some officers walked away in sweat, some students in tears.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," physiology junior Crystal Cuevas said. "This is not what we came to do. We were just saying what we believe and then, all of a sudden, they asked us to leave.

"That's why we were saying, 'No.' Nobody was protesting. Nobody was hitting anybody. The cops started pushing people — we had to stand our ground."

Simcox referred to audience members as "gangbangers." He responded to the protesters' chants of "Sí se puede" — "Yes, it can be done" in Spanish — with his own cry: "Close the border."

The beginning of Simcox's speech was barely audible as students screamed out "murderer" and "you are a criminal."

In an interview earlier Thursday, Simcox said his presentation would be about "the state of border affairs — what's happening, what's not happening and how we need to continue to find a solution to the problem."

MSU police had been prepared for a protest.

About a dozen officers were stationed inside the lecture hall, in the lobby and outside the building at least a half hour before the event was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

Police also blocked off roads leading to Conrad Hall. And after audience members walked through a metal detector at the building's entrance, officers went through their bags.

McGlothian-Taylor also said police increased lighting in the building.

"There was enough information, formal and informal, to lead us to conclude that a situation similar to what just occurred would occur," university spokesman Terry Denbow said, referring to prior Minuteman events that had been protested at other venues in the past.

"Superseding everything is safety — protection of people. That was why we had the police and metal detectors," Denbow said.

Simcox had planned to take his own precautions.

A press release issued by the MSU College Republicans prior to the event stated Simcox "will be wearing at least a level-two bulletproof vest."

Denbow said that all decisions made, from holding the event to taking extra precautions, were determined by MSU policy, not based on the event's subject matter.

"The opportunity to be heard and be challenged in a way to be allowed for was not heard," Denbow said. "We're not talking about the words either were using — we're talking about the behavior."

Published on Friday, April 20, 2007