Minuteman Project Founder May Make Columbia Return
After a tumultuous visit to Columbia University in October 2006, an anti-illegal immigration activist, Jim Gilchrist, has been asked to return for another talk.
When Mr. Gilchrist, whose group, the Minuteman Project, combines pro-legal immigration activism with volunteer surveillance of the Mexican-American border, visited the campus last year student activists cut short his speech at Columbia's Roone Arledge Auditorium.
Protestors jumped on to the stage, knocking over furniture and starting a confrontation that grew violent. Eight students received warnings and censures from the school administration.
A history lecturer, David Eisenbach, who moderates the "Friendly Fire" series on Columbia University Television, issued the tentative invitation.
While Mr. Gilchrist has accepted, Mr. Eisenbach said the event will not be formalized until after a vote by the Columbia Political Union, scheduled later tonight.
"It's long overdue," Mr. Gilchrist said. "This will show the public that Columbia is not this anti-first amendment university that it's been made out to be. I think it's a plus for everything, for all of us, for the Minuteman Project, for free speech, and for Columbia
University."
"I expect there will be rabble-rousers who will try to stop free speech there again," he added.
A University spokesman said he was unaware of the invitation.
"I don't understand how anyone could think it's a good idea to bring him back," a senior, David Judd, who was among the students disciplined after Mr. Gilchrist's first visit, said. "Do his hosts think something he has to say is valid? I can't imagine what. But if they don't, why exactly are they bringing him? Is it just a publicity stunt, a deliberate provocation?"
Mr. Gilchrist says the Minuteman Project, founded in 2004, is dedicated to creating "an orderly queue of legal immigration into the United States."
The group spends about 5% of the time doing surveillance and reporting in border areas, and the vast remainder advocating, Mr. Gilchrist said.
The details of the proposed talk are still being planned.
"I'd like to have somebody of integrity and character to debate me, who can get their point across without calling me a racist," Mr. Gilchrist said.
