EUGENE, OR (KMTR/CNN) – Dozens of student protesters took over the stage where Oregon University President Michael Schill was prepared to give a State of the University address on Friday.
The protesters were seated in the audience and took to the stage in mass chanting, “Nothing about us without us,” KMTR reported. The audience awaiting the president’s speech got up and left.
The students said they were protesting issues ranging from recent tuition increases to “fascist” propaganda found on campus, the report said.
University officials said they will review the incident to see if the protest amounted to a breach of the student code of conduct.
Schill released a statement following the event:
“Today, I had planned to share with the campus community some wonderful news about investments in three new academic programs, support for student success programming at the soon-to-be-built Black Cultural Center and nine new endowed faculty chair positions for our schools and colleges. We are able to make these investments thanks to an incredibly generous $50 million dollar gift. Unfortunately, I was not able to tell you my good news in person, because my speech was disrupted by a small group of protesters,” he said, adding that there is a link to a video of the speech.
He added that while he strongly values free speech and academic freedom, he had a message for the protesters. “I respect protesters’ rights to share their views, but I do not agree in shutting down another person's right to speak,” he said.
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