Students Peacefully Protest Cheney’s BYU Appearance
PROVO, Utah — The signs were louder than the voices.Three weeks before a commencement speech by Vice President Dick Cheney, more than 100 protesters held a quiet rally Wednesday at Brigham Young University under strict rules set by the school, which is owned by the Mormon church.
Stay in the designated area. No shouting. No bullhorns. No baiting the Cheney supporters. 
So the critics, mostly students, held signs that said: “America One Nation Under Surveillance,” “Faithful Mormons Against Cheney” and “Corruption Is Not A Partisan Issue.”
They passed out leaflets that slammed Cheney’s support for the Iraq war, the U.S. methods of prisoner interrogation and the vice president’s ties to his former employer, Halliburton Co.
“These students have been very responsible,” BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. “This shows the civil dialogue that takes place on this campus.”
Cheney will be the commencement speaker April 26 at BYU, a conservative school owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The invitation from Mormon church officials has drawn criticism from some students and faculty who claim the school is showing a partisan stripe despite church insistence it has no allegiance to any political party.
Campus Democrats were granted space for a two-hour protest Wednesday. About 100 yards away, Cheney supporters in blue shirts passed out brownies and asked students to sign a letter thanking the vice president. They got 400 names in 40 minutes.
“He’s not going to use it as a political forum,” senior Bob Reese of Kaysville said of the commencement speech. “He’s an example of success.”
Campus security officers wearing business suits and earpieces watched both groups and confiscated signs that didn’t meet the rules, including one that had pictures of Cheney, Mormon church President Gordon B. Hinckley and others.
“One of these things just doesn’t belong,” the sign said.
Macrae McDermott, a sophomore from Bountiful, was among 150 people inside the anti-Cheney zone. She distributed leaflets as students passed.
“We’re hoping people will step in and say, ‘Maybe these people have a point,”‘ McDermott said. “I think that political dialogue is essential. I may go against the norm, but I have my convictions.”
A retired English professor, Paul Thomas, was among the protesters. His sign read, “Cheney, Tutor To Our Worst President Ever.”
“I’m here to support the students. … It’s not just Republican,” Thomas said of BYU.
© 2007 The Associated Press.
“He’s not going to use it as a political forum,” senior Bob Reese of Kaysville said of the commencement speech. “He’s an example of success.”
This man has a pretty funky concept of success—but I wouldn’t want to waste my time investigating his ideas.
The students should stone the criminal who has brought America so much worldwide ill will.
I am surprised that there were that many thoughtful students at BYU. I thought most LDS’ers were like Orrin Hatch who recently claimed that Carol Lam had been appointed by Clinton, had never done any prosecutorial work before, and that she had worked on Clinton’s election campaign. All of these statements were totally and completely false, but that didn’t stop him.
I feel qualified to speak, as I was a student there from 1997 through 2000 and received my degree in International Politics. I’m not Mormon, so I was in the 2% of the student body that is not Mormon (about 30,000 students total).
Yes, it was overwhelmingly conservative and Republican. The Political Science department was probably the most liberal on campus, but even then, there were quite a few conservative professors who made potshots at Clinton every chance they got. Things got especially bad for the small group of College Democrats when the Monica Lewinsky scandal hit. In fact, I first read about the scandal in the school paper, but dismissed it because the paper often printed anti-Clinton articles.
When I was there, there was a controversy over the display of Auguste Rodin’s sculptures which some students and faculty considered “pornigraphic” (particularly the famous “The Kiss”). The second controversy when I was there was the death of Princess Diana which some students said was a good thing, because she was such a whore. The third controversy was the visit by Clarence Thomas to the Law School. And the fourth controversy was when MTV came to campus looking for a Mormon to be on their next “Real World” show (the one in New Orleans).
It was a trippy experience being among Mormons and staunch conservative Republicans. But trust me…there are liberal Democrats there as well. Most of them were in the poli sci department.
Isn’t this the same university that made it difficult for Professor Steven E. Jones to stick around due to his research into the World Trade Centers being demolished?