Jeanfromfillmore
07-10-2010, 01:22 AM
MNU declines to host immigration event
As rhetoric and planning around an immigration event intensified, MidAmerica Nazarene University, which had agreed to house the event, chose to cancel the use of its Olathe campus.
MNU had agreed to host an immigration forum on Tuesday planned by Kris Kobach, a candidate for Kansas Secretary of State. Kobach helped draft Arizona’s tough immigration law.
Controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio planned to come as well to help Kobach discuss “how to stop illegal immigration,” according to an announcement on Kobach’s Facebook page.
Kobach said another venue has been found.
This week, MNU President Edwin Robinson refused to allow the event on the university’s campus. He said discussion on websites, as well as e-mails he received, made him worry about the safety of the campus and staff as well as the school’s reputation as an impartial place for public discussion.
“I don’t mind a clash of ideology, but the rhetoric on both sides was escalating to the point that I was concerned,” Robinson said. “(The event) was taking on a dimension that was larger than a place of discourse.”
When the university agreed to it, the event was presented to university staff as a “forum on immigration,” Robinson said. He became uncomfortable with the resulting titles as an “Immigration Law Enforcement Rally” and the “Illegal Means Illegal” rally.
“Honestly, the appearance of the controversial sheriff from Arizona just added fuel to the fire,” he said.
Event planners, Robinson said, seemed to concern themselves with the number of signs each side would bring rather than the depth of discussion.
Kobach’s Facebook page invited people to a reception afterward for “Sheriff Joe’s Deputies” and asked people to bring signs because the other side probably would.
Another site called the Democratic Underground referred to Kobach as “KKKobach” and spoke of plans for a counter silent protest.
“Please plan to attend and bring a good sign for the media,” the site read. “We need to outnumber them.”
Immigrant-rights groups celebrated MNU’s decision.
“We are glad to see that the values of inclusion, community building and hope have won out over the politics of fear and division,” Jennifer Rafanan, director of Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates, said in a press release issued by local immigrant rights advocates.
The event will now be at the Ritz Charles, 9000 W. 137th St., Overland Park.
Kobach said it had been planned as a political event with the sheriff included from the beginning and was presented that way to the university. He feels confident that both sides would have been able to present their cases peacefully.
“People have strong feelings about the immigration issue,” Kobach said. “There are certain views that are strongly held, and I think and hope that in a republic like ours, we can express our views and be civil toward one another.”
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/09/2073514/mnu-declines-to-host-immigration.html
As rhetoric and planning around an immigration event intensified, MidAmerica Nazarene University, which had agreed to house the event, chose to cancel the use of its Olathe campus.
MNU had agreed to host an immigration forum on Tuesday planned by Kris Kobach, a candidate for Kansas Secretary of State. Kobach helped draft Arizona’s tough immigration law.
Controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio planned to come as well to help Kobach discuss “how to stop illegal immigration,” according to an announcement on Kobach’s Facebook page.
Kobach said another venue has been found.
This week, MNU President Edwin Robinson refused to allow the event on the university’s campus. He said discussion on websites, as well as e-mails he received, made him worry about the safety of the campus and staff as well as the school’s reputation as an impartial place for public discussion.
“I don’t mind a clash of ideology, but the rhetoric on both sides was escalating to the point that I was concerned,” Robinson said. “(The event) was taking on a dimension that was larger than a place of discourse.”
When the university agreed to it, the event was presented to university staff as a “forum on immigration,” Robinson said. He became uncomfortable with the resulting titles as an “Immigration Law Enforcement Rally” and the “Illegal Means Illegal” rally.
“Honestly, the appearance of the controversial sheriff from Arizona just added fuel to the fire,” he said.
Event planners, Robinson said, seemed to concern themselves with the number of signs each side would bring rather than the depth of discussion.
Kobach’s Facebook page invited people to a reception afterward for “Sheriff Joe’s Deputies” and asked people to bring signs because the other side probably would.
Another site called the Democratic Underground referred to Kobach as “KKKobach” and spoke of plans for a counter silent protest.
“Please plan to attend and bring a good sign for the media,” the site read. “We need to outnumber them.”
Immigrant-rights groups celebrated MNU’s decision.
“We are glad to see that the values of inclusion, community building and hope have won out over the politics of fear and division,” Jennifer Rafanan, director of Missouri Immigrant and Refugee Advocates, said in a press release issued by local immigrant rights advocates.
The event will now be at the Ritz Charles, 9000 W. 137th St., Overland Park.
Kobach said it had been planned as a political event with the sheriff included from the beginning and was presented that way to the university. He feels confident that both sides would have been able to present their cases peacefully.
“People have strong feelings about the immigration issue,” Kobach said. “There are certain views that are strongly held, and I think and hope that in a republic like ours, we can express our views and be civil toward one another.”
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/09/2073514/mnu-declines-to-host-immigration.html