‘Violent suppression of revolutionary speech’
Free speech for the Revolutionary Communist Party USA apparently includes preventing University of Chicago students from having an undisturbed lunch.
The Chicago Maroon reports that a 28-year-old non-student climbed on a table in Baker Hall Wednesday and started preaching for a communist revolution, one of a number of local party members who crashed the hall and were asked to leave “numerous times.”
Noche Diaz was arrested and charged with various misdemeanors. Campus police led the protesters out of the hall after the altercation. Protester Lucha Bright claimed that a female protester had been hospitalized as a result, but a university spokesperson didn’t mention anyone getting injured:
“The fact that on a college campus, somebody can’t stand on a table in a cafeteria and shout out announcements about what the hell is going on in the world […] is outrageous,” Bright said.
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UChicago policy grants the school discretion to “deny individuals access to all or some” property, “normally” after it determines an individual has engaged in “behavior that is or is likely to be threatening, violent or disruptive to University operations and activities,” according to the Maroon.
The University of Chicago is ranked No. 1 for viewpoint diversity in Heterodox Academy’s new college guide, and its so-called Chicago Principles have been widely hailed as the gold standard for freedom of expression.
Communists were on campus Wednesday to protest a speech by Secretary of State John Kerry, and founding RCP member Carl Dix is speaking to a “Marxian left” student group on campus tonight.
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An online fundraiser for the “Get Into the Revolution Tour” claims that protest participants were “viciously assaulted by Chicago police,” though it was the private university’s police force that intervened after protesters refused to leave.
RCP leader Sunsara Taylor claimed Diaz was “leaving” when he was arrested, and that the “pig” told her they were ordered to arrest Diaz. Judge for yourself whether this looks like “violent suppression” or ordinary removal of people who trespass private property and refuse to leave when asked.
He's leaving. Pig: "doesnt matter we were told 2 arrest him." Violent suppression of revolutionary speech @UChicago pic.twitter.com/XHOLvCukp1
— Sunsara Taylor (@SunsaraTaylor) October 26, 2016
The hubbub stands in contrast to previous RCP campus activities: a poorly attended “Meet the Revolution” talk by Dix and Taylor at Columbia University, and leafleting at Saint Louis University that called for the seizure of campus buildings and shutdown of roads if police officer Darren Wilson was not convicted of murdering Ferguson teenager Michael Brown.
MORE: UChicago leads in ‘viewpoint diversity’ in new college guide
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