Clueless protesters shout down University of Oregon prez
The protesters complained vaguely about "a huge proliferation of neo-Nazi propaganda" and the fact that they pay tuition, but did not issue any specific demands.
University of Oregon students forcefully disrupted a speech by the school’s president Friday, forcing him to deliver a video address announcing a $50 million gift to the school.
University of Oregon students forcefully disrupted a speech by the school’s president Friday, forcing him to deliver a video address announcing a $50 million gift to the school.
According to The Oregonian, UO President Michael Schill was planning to outline how the school plans to put the massive donation to use, but was driven from the stage by students shouting chants such “Nothing about us without us!” and referring to him as “CEO Schill.”
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The students did not appear to have a coherent message, but shouted vague concerns about tuition costs and “fascist” propaganda.
“Over the summer there has been a huge proliferation of neo-Nazi propaganda plastered all over campus,” declared protest leader Charlie Landeros. “We're here to stand against that.”
Landeros also asserted at one point that “the whole university is financed through our tuition dollars,” though UO is projected to receive almost $70 million from the state of Oregon this year.
“Expect resistance to anyone who opposes us,” Landeros added.
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A recording of Schill’s address was released in lieu of the speech, in which he reminds students that “if someone says something we don’t like, we should not try to shut them down” because “the antidote to speech we don’t like is MORE SPEECH.”
Notably, Schill even pledged that the recent donation would not be used for “business as usual,” saying the money would help fund a new Black Cultural Center, which includes a tutoring and support staffer, along with nine new endowed faculty chairs and initiatives in data science.
“It’s unfortunate that it escalated to the point where we had to go a different path,” UO spokesperson Tobin Klinger told The Oregonian, adding that the protest violated school policy because it impeded "the university's ability to do its work and function.”
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