While the following personal story has been one I have shared with close friends and family, I feel the need to bring this to the attention of the AU community.
A video recently surfaced of AU students, some of them involved in the leadership of certain campus organizations, recognized within a group of Occupy DC protesters deliberately blocking a handicapped person in a wheelchair from leaving a political conference on Friday night.
This is a shameful and tragic disgrace to American.
While this University prides itself on its dedication to promoting an active student role in public affairs, we are also supposed to stand as a tolerant, open-minded example to the rest of society.
We encourage students to debate issues affecting our community, our country and the world at large. However, it is understood that they must do so respectfully and, at all times, remember that they reflect on the rest of us and the values that this institution strives for.
Friday, Nov. 4, what could have been an inspirational narrative of democracy and free speech in action, took a much darker turn.
At the Convention Center downtown, there was an annual gathering of the conservative grassroots organization, Americans for Prosperity. As an attendee, I can tell you that this was a peaceful, elderly group of people.
Partway through a dinner in honor of former president Ronald Reagan, we began hearing banging and shouting in the halls. A group of Occupy D.C. protesters had surrounded the building, and some had managed to get past security and were running up and down the halls yelling.
When my friend and I decided to leave, the lobby was crowded with security officials as there had been multiple attempts by the protesters to break into the building. We were diverted away from the main exits as mobs of people were pressed up against the glass, trying to get the doors open. There was still a large group of people at the smaller exit, and they had locked arms with the intention of preventing individuals from leaving the building.
We were cursed at, shoved, and pushed around, but after an attempt to clothesline us, we managed to get past. We looked in horror as an elderly woman from the conference was knocked down the concrete steps, writhing in pain.
As the mob overflowed into a nearby intersection, they began stopping cars and forcing them to turn around. A silver Lexus, because it was a “luxury” vehicle, was surrounded and harassed by the crowd. The driver, an African-American gentleman was trying to calm his two-year-old daughter in the backseat.
We circled back to the conference to help escort two elderly women to their hotel a few blocks away.
Eventually, the District police showed up with emergency personnel to attend to the injuries of three individuals who, according to the police report, threw themselves in front of a moving car. The protesters’ treatment of the police was little better than their treatment of the conference goers, leading to arrests.
It is no secret that many AU students actively support the Occupy movement. With the creation of Occupy AU, this now directly ties the name of this school with the actions of this nationwide phenomenon.
Perhaps there is a debate to be had about the perceived injustices of our economic system, but we need to take steps to make sure that all of our students recognize the consequences of their conduct and the importance of civil discourse.
Thomas Jefferson was right when he said, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”
However, like John Adams said, “We must take care, lest, borne away by a torrent of passion, we make shipwreck of conscience.”
Paul Bencivenga
Class of 2013
CAS
