Bruce Friedrich, Vice President for Policy at PETA, was prevented by University officials from appearing at an on-campus event Thursday. He provided the following editorial to Spectator.
I'm frequently invited to college campuses to debate the ethics of using animals for food. Over the past 18 months, I've engaged in this discussion with student debaters from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell and more than 30 other universities. Last Thursday, I was supposed to engage Columbia University debaters on the topic, but five hours before the event was supposed to commence, I found myself disinvited by the University.
The event was already the most contested of any of the more than 100 talks I've given on college campuses in my 15 years at PETA: No campus has ever raised security concerns or insisted on restricting attendees, as Columbia did two days before the event was scheduled to take place. And no campus has ever canceled one of my events, as Columbia did five hours before the event was to begin. For the record, there has never been a security concern at any talk I've ever given.
So what was Columbia's explanation? "The University Rules of Conduct apply to all students, faculty, staff and guests on our campus. When individuals who are not members of the University community violate those rules, one of the consequences is loss of the privilege of campus access."
