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Karl Rove Lecture at UCSB Already Sparking Debate
By Ben Preston, Noozhawk Staff Writer | 
| Published on 02.25.2010 2:30 p.m.
Generating opposition and protest, famed Republican tactician Karl Rove will speak at UCSB on Thursday night.
But debate has already begun on campus, with anti-Rove students having organized a protest against the UCSB College Republicans’ guest speaker.
The architect of George W. Bush’s successful 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, Rove caught the political bug in high school and became heavily involved in both school and national politics while attending the University of Utah in the early 1970s.
Rove has distinguished himself over the years with his political cunning, from a 1970 campaign prank against Democrat Alan Dixon in Illinois to his alleged use of push polls during Bush’s Texas gubernatorial campaigns in the 1990s.
Since resigning from the Bush administration in 2007, where he served as senior adviser and White House deputy chief of staff, he has worked as a political analyst and contributor for Fox News, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal.
The student group SB Anti-War has been a key player in organizing and directing dissent against Rove’s appearance. Alleging that before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 he had a role in falsifying documents claiming Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the group says that makes Rove a war criminal and an unsuitable speaker for UCSB’s campus.
“He lied to people about WMDs,” said Nick Di Masi, a third-year global history major and protest organizer. “He still has congressional subpoenas against him that he hasn’t been brought to justice on.”
The group also has complained that student fees are being used to pay for the event, although UCSB’s Office of Public Affairs said that student groups — in this case, the College Republicans, which sponsored the event along with the conservative Young America’s Foundation — are free to pick their own speakers.
“We got him for half of his usual cost,” said Ryan McNicholas, fundraising chairman of the College Republicans and a YAF member. “(SB Anti-War’s) objections are unfounded, and the debate isn’t even about Rove anymore. What this has come down to is infringing on Republicans’ free speech, and has made the cost of security (for the event) go up to $4,000.”
While some student fees were used to pay for Rove’s appearance, a significant amount of money was raised by the Young America’s Foundation.
Attendance at the lecture, scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in UCSB’s Campbell Hall, is expected to top 700. McNicholas said 692 of the tickets were given to students, with the few remaining given to beneficiaries and members of the media (including Noozhawk; check back for complete coverage). YAF has sent 20 of its student members, culled from campus chapters around California, to attend the event.
Questions for Rove can be e-mailed to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), where they will be vetted by campus Republicans and Democrats.
SB Anti-War representatives said they are also miffed about the format of questioning, saying the moderation and a planned “free speech zone” are a violation of free speech rights.
“We’re not going to let the university marginalize us with this free speech zone,” said Alessandro Morosin, a global studies master’s student and SB Anti-War leader. “We’re not going to be intimidated from telling the truth. People don’t even know who Karl Rove is, and (this protest) brings political awareness to the campus.”
Asked why the College Republicans chose so contentious a speaker, McNicholas said it draws more of a crowd.
“If you get a controversial character, you get a lot more people talking about the issues,” he said, adding that his group invited author and former leftist radical David Horowitz a year ago.
Protesters plan to line up outside Campbell Hall an hour before the event, and leaders said they hope to attract the attention of a lot of students and passers-by.
“If a KKK member came to speak, he’d have the right to speak, but that doesn’t mean we’d have to respect him,” Morosin said. “It’s the same thing here.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Ben Preston can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Comments
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» on 02.25.10 @ 03:07 PM
News flash for Alessandro Morosin. Free speech is not what you may conveniently define it to be at any given time. Just like yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre is not protected free speech, gathering and screaming down someone with whom you disagree, as opposed to having a rational discussion, may raise the concern in Isla Vista that you may, oh gee let’s see here, BURN DOWN A BANK. As the lefties in IV proudly did while protesting 40 years ago today. Read your history, understand how your predecessors behaved, think about how that may result in certain reactions today, and get a grip.
» on 02.25.10 @ 03:41 PM
“We’re not going to let the university marginalize us with this free speech zone,” SB Anti-War leader Alessandro Morosin said.
Yea, because we only beleieve that we have free speech and everyone that disagrees with us should just sit down and shut up. Right Alessandro?
I can imagine that you will be very respectful right? You won’t try to shout down any of the speakers right? You would never deign to deny someone else their right to free speech right Ale baby?
Tell me, does the “SB Anti-War Leader” get to wear some really sharp looking armbands and t-shirts? I’m thinking along the lines of a cool beret with a red star, a tight fitting “I beleive in…..Che” t-shirts complemented with rainbow colored circle logo armband. Coolio man. Daniel Petry
» on 02.25.10 @ 05:08 PM
Nice job, Daniel! As soon as you said armbands I thought of another youth group on another continent back in the 1930s composed of only those who held the right beliefs (oh and were blond, blue-eyed Aryans as well).....
» on 02.25.10 @ 07:15 PM
If there is a God , Karl Rove will one day make one of his speeches to the International Criminal Court in The Hague .
» on 02.25.10 @ 08:22 PM
Karl Rove is coming to town to tell us all who the real Americans are…
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