NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly did not receive a warm reception at Brown University. Credit: Photo by Michael Stewart/FilmMagic
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was invited to speak at Brown University on Tuesday, but angry student activists were more interested in shouting him off the stage than listening to what he had to say.
Kelly was supposed to deliver a lecture on “Proactive Policing in America’s Biggest City” to an audience of about 100 students at the Providence, R.I. school. Instead, students who oppose stop-and-frisk ended up lecturing him.
“Racism is not for debate,” one person shouted as a school official asked the students to give Kelly a chance to speak.
“We want you to stop stopping and frisking people!” another person yelled.
After about 30 minutes, officials canceled the lecture and cleared the auditorium.
“Loud shouting, persistent interruption and coordinated chants made it impossible for the lecture to take place,” the school said in a statement.
“The conduct of disruptive members of the audience is indefensible and an affront both to civil democratic society and to the university’s core values of dialogue and the free exchange of views,” said Brown University President Christina Paxson.
Students had originally petitioned to get the lecture canceled, but the school had decided to go ahead with the event.
