According to a Western Michigan University senior, Pat Buchanan wasn't the only conservative assaulted on campus last Thursday. Matt Hall, who organized the Buchanan speech, alleges that a woman's studies professor pushed him from behind and boxed him out after he attempted to retrieve a torn-down poster from the professor's classroom hours before the lecture.

The dousing of Pat Buchanan with salad dressing one week ago today was prefaced with WMU's advisor to student organizations denouncing the event in his newspaper column, professors using class time to label Buchanan a "racist," a faculty-directed effort that resulted in the removal of more than 2,500 fliers promoting the event, and a professor allegedly assaulting the student organizer of the lecture. While a non-WMU student attacked Buchanan, the College Republicans who hosted the commentator believe WMU faculty and administrators created a climate that encouraged the assault.

The professor-student conflict took place in the early afternoon last Thursday. "I saw three girls going around tearing down the Pat Buchanan signs," explained WMU student Jeff Tirrell. "As I went to wait outside my class I saw that they were taking the torn-down fliers into a classroom and handing them to a professor." Tirrell alerted College Republican Chairman Matt Hall that a professor was assigning her students to rip down posters promoting the Buchanan event. Hall then confronted the professor, Edith Fisher, in a classroom in Dunbar Hall.

Seeing his $30 glossy poster promoting the Buchanan speech impaled on the pole holding a Mexican flag, Hall attempted to retrieve his club's property. According to Hall, Fisher shoved him from behind and then elbowed him aside when he tried to take his sign. "No, this is official university property and it's been confiscated," Dr. Fisher allegedly told him. Fisher hasn't responded to emails sent Monday requesting her side of the story.

Several witnesses note that Fisher then crumpled up the large promotional poster and threw it in the trash. At this point, Hall noticed scores of his fliers in the garbage bag. Fisher, several witnesses claim, started screaming at Hall. "I was kind of shocked," Hall explained to me. The incident occured during Fisher's class, Introduction to Women's Studies, with the professor informing Hall: "You're intruding on my class, please leave."

That night, twenty-four-year old community college student Samuel Mesick rushed the podium and dumped a large cup of ranch dressing on Pat Buchanan as he spoke. "The campus police were unable to stop the assault on Buchanan," witness Jason Miller told me, "but responded very rapidly to protect the assailant." In fact, the mohawked assailant screamed for the police when a burly College Republican apprehended him. As for Buchanan, "He was pissed," according to Miller, who wondered if the sixty-six-year old pundit was going to take a swing at the man who disrupted the event. Remarking that he didn't even like ranch dressing, Buchanan stopped the question and answer period and returned to his hotel. The event ended prematurely and Mesick was released on $100 bond.

"This was institutionally acceptable," WMU student Matt Hall believes. "Professors telling their students to tear down fliers. Professors telling students that Pat Buchanan is a racist and a bigot. A professor physically attacking me, a student. An administrator, the advisor to registered student organizations, denouncing the Buchanan speech in his newspaper column. This sort of thing adds up and creates an institutional atmosphere where it becomes acceptable to treat people like scum."

A leftist student's assault on Patrick Buchanan at Western Michigan University generated nationwide attention. Allegations of a leftist professor's assault on a conservative student didn't make headlines. It should have.

Thank you, Mr. Flynn, for continuing to highlight events such as this. The atmosphere that Mr. Hall describes is probably the same one that all conservative students must deal with. I keep my mouth shut because I know from personal experience that if I disagree with the professor I will get a significantly lower grade.

This kind of behavior from our nation's universities is 100% horrifically unsurprising. I rarely agree with Mr. Buchanan, but I am appaled, though sadly not shocked, that people could be so mindless as to resort to physical violence on an issue of political debate.

I don't even have to throw salad dressing on my coworkers in order for somebody to pronounce that I have created a "hostile atmosphere". Were I to throw salad dressing on my coworkers because I disagree with them, I think they've got a good case against me. There can be little doubt that the professors have "fostered" your classic "hostile atmosphere".

The question only remains does it not count only because it's in an institution that liberals already control and not in one where the people with the power were snippy enough not to include them in the power structure?

On the subject of campus silliness, Michelle's got something on her site about campus "watchdogs". Does anybody think that conservatives could try anything like this and not cause 24pt headlines referring to Krystalnacht?

It's no big deal really. Apparently somebody flunked logic class and couldn't figure out that if the job fair contained non-miliarty recruiters it was already providing an alternative to a military career.

It's not fair, but it's probably never going to be fair either. We can at least laugh at these liberals getting all bent over not understanding that an alternative was already provided. But I guess the real issue was whether it was provided with their voice.

It is unreasonable not to ask the liberal's advice on everything: should the military or Pat Buchanan be allowed on campuses? They think not. That's what's important. And as long as you comply, their voice has been heard.

On the subject of tossing salad. Oops, I meant tossing salad dressing. Sorry for the Freudian slip. Emanuel Lewis and I are disgusted at that students behavior!

Comic genius, truly a diamond in the rough has been found.

I have sent the following msg to Dr. William Wiener (william.wiener@wmich.edu), dean of the WMU grad school:

Dear Dr. Wiener:

As a recent transplant from Michigan, and as an ordinary citizen of the US, I am appalled at the actions attributed to your employee Dr. Edith Fisher. (http://tinyurl.com/3vk8h). It borders on the unbelievable that a professor would lead her students in such a blatant assault on free speech.

You *must* take action one way or the other: If this story is false, you have a responsibility to protect the reputation of WMU; if it is true, this Fisher person has no place on the faculty of any academic institution (with the possible exception of the University of Colorado, where she can join Ward Churchill).

I look forward to hearing of your response. I expect that you will be hearing from FIRE (http://www.thefire.org/) as well.

Thank you in advance for your thoughtful consideration of this matter.

As a WMU student and member of the College Republicans, I am glad the story of the student assault is finally getting some attention! The administration is not responding to any of our concerns regarding the events of March 31, 2005.

I find it interesting that Professor Edith Fisher not only attacked Mr. Hall, but this Thursday (April 7, 2005) was one of the speakers at "Take Back the Night" an event at WMU to alert people of the dangers of sexual assault. http://www.westernherald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/04/07/425474435fe49

Professor Fisher also spoke to members of the Greek community this week, giving them advise on how to prevent sexual assaults at WMU. I find it rather disturbing that a member of the WMU faculty who has been accused of assaulting a student is now giving speeches about precenting sexual assaults. What is this world coming to...

Does Western Michigan University actually think they are going to recruit Conservative students in the future?

If you want to contact WMU, the best people to contact about this event are:
President Bailey: judi.bailey@wmich.edu
Vice President Beam: robert.beam@wmich.edu
Vice President Anderson: diane.anderson@wmich.edu
Director SALP,Pat Daniel: patrick.daniel@wmich.edu

Hopefully this helps

The rest of the story:
Pat Buchanan had been invited to WMU intentionally on Caesar Chavez day, and his speech was promoted with flyers announcing "Viva Buchanan", "the former Chavez Day",..."risk on our borders with Mexico", and "America First Day". There was also a poster showing two men holding hands displaying a "just married" sign. These flyers appeared to many to be racist and homophobic, and were posted mainly in campus buildings housing classes in Sociology, Africana Studies, Women's studies and other Arts and Sciences classes, and in the building housing the offices of Africana Studies and Women's studies faculty. I don't think Buchanan knew how his speech was being promoted, and these posters clearly set him up for the incident with the salad dressing perpetrated by an anarchist from the local community college.
I welcomed Mr. Buchanan's speech, and was ashamed (for him and for WMU) that he was splattered with dressing. Dr. Bailey, our University President, was sent copies of the Campus Republicans' posters beforehand, and acted to try to calm the situation.
Many if not most of the flyers were illegally posted by taping them to painted walls, not to the bulletin boards provided for that purpose. WMU authorizes its employees to remove unauthorized and illegally posted signs, and many employees did just that. The "$30" Buchanan poster was not University authorized, and was posted illegally.
Matt Hall invaded an ongoing class in Women's Studies that had been in session for 15 minutes, along with at least one other man. They failed to leave when told to do so by the instructor, but were instead taking pictures with cell phones. There were at least 25 students in the class, who not only witnessed the event and saw that no pushing occurred, but had their education disrupted. That is very serious matter for a university.
Mr. Hall filed a complaint with the campus police, but it was immediately dismissed. However, he told the local press only that he had filed charges. He spread his side of the story to anyone who would listen, including the national press, and is now attempting to make a case with the Western Student Association.
Meanwhile, Dr. Fisher took her case to the University Ombudsman (as prescribed), and has filed five charges of academic misconduct with the office of the Dean of Students, where they are being investigated. We await the outcome. In the meantime, Dr. Fisher has been harrassed by persons unknown and vilified in conservative weblogs and on talk radio.
Mr. Flynn indeed contacted Dr. Fisher, but said only that he was a "writer", and asked leading questions of her. Since Dr. Fisher had no idea who he was, she did not answer his email. Evidently Matt Hall had contacted Mr. Flynn and given him Dr Fisher's name. Not all Campus Republicans approve of Hall's tactics, and I believe that he has violated his organization's charter to pursue the conservative agenda by "honorable means". We'll have to wait for the University and for the Western Student Association to pursue their prescribed inquiries, but outcomes should be forthcoming within a week. I'm sorry that conservative students have to confront a what they feel is a hostile environment. Mr Hall created a hostile environment for Mr. Buchanan's speech and for our university as a whole.