Campus Lessons: Former U.S. Representative Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (R-VA) delivered a speech at the University of North Carolina on the topic of affirmative action and illegal immigration a week after student protesters prevented former U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) from delivering a speech the same topic. Campus police were on hand to prevent a repeat of Tancredo's appearance when Tancredo left after protesters shouted, waived signs and otherwise disrupted the event.

     My earlier write-up on Goode's visit prompted an unexpected response from former Republican congressional candidate Vernon L. Robinson (R-NC). Mr. Robinson disputed my characterization of the UNC students who prevented Tancredo from speaking. For the record I said, "[F]ormer U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) was heckled by student protesters." The former Winston-Salem City Council member thought a better description would be "terrorists."

"The alleged UNC students did not heckle Tom Tancredo's speech, these terrorists broken [sic] the windows of the building Tancredo was supposed to speak in and the UNC rent-a-cops said 'Oh too dangerous, we have to prevent Tancredo from speaking' without arresting a single "student" terrorist. I have been heckled before. Destroying the venue is not heckling. That is what brownshirts do. "

     Mr. Robinson is entitled to his opinion. And while I agree with the assessment that vandalism is never warranted, as the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, I take great offense at the comparison of the students to Nazis. I was not there, but the accounts that I have read indicate that the students were unruly, disrespectful and engaged in inappropriate taunting. The broken glass was reported in the Charlotte News Observer as "a protester pounded a window of the classroom until the glass shattered." That is not an indication of intent to destroy property.

     I'm surprised that Robinson doesn't understand the general goal of protesters. Their goal was not to prevent Tancredo's from exercising his free speech. Their goal was to garner as much media attention as possible for their own positions.

     Mr. Robinson should understand this. During his unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2004 Robinson engaged in one publicity stunt after another. I said at the time, that

"[Robinson] illegally placed a Ten Commandments Monument on public grounds, described immigrants as soaking off taxpayers, skirted campaign disclosure laws, and falsely accused his opponents of supporting gay rights. But there is a reason for this madness. In a crowded primary field of eight candidates, he needs to stand out. As little as 15% of the vote could win [and] put him in the expected run-off primary."

My prediction turned out to be correct. Robinson came in first place in the first round of voting before losing the Republican nomination to Virginia Foxx (R-NC).

     By calling the protesters terrorists, Robinson is providing them undeserved attention. By calling them brownshirts he has trivialized the atrocities of the World War II. These students were nothing more than a nuisance and should have been treated as such.

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