The University again moved the Pacifica Forum to a new building, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday night, a decision that both opponents and members of the controversial group celebrated.
At least for Friday, the Forum will meet at the University’s downtown Baker Center on East 10th Avenue. The group is labeled as a hate organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center, specifically criticized on campus for its attendees’ rhetoric on the subjects of Jews and the Holocaust. Throughout winter term, students and community members have organized vocal protests against its presence on campus. In response to student protests, the University’s administrators moved the forum from the EMU to Agate Hall in the third week of winter term.
One of most vocal and consistent of those protesting the forum, senior Cimmeron Gillespie wrote a letter praising the decision. He wrote: “While it is yet unclear if the move is permanent, it does separate them from the communities they target, namely Jews, Muslims, homosexuals, feminists and racial minorities . For this reason, I am grateful for the administration’s actions in this matter. While the location is University property and does not remove their ability (to) hold a meeting, it does move them away from the communities they target.”
Regular Forum attendee Dawn Coslow said she is also in favor of the move. “It’s a fine building,” she said. “It’s a good location and I think it will be all right. Agate Hall was way too big for us, and they did that to accommodate the student protestors, who are perhaps not so strong anymore.”
Coslow said, though, that she isn’t happy about the University’s decision to shorten the Forum’s meetings to one hour. “It’s debilitating,” she said. “I don’t like it a droplet. I think none of us do, mainly because the easiest place to shorten it is in the Q&A and that’s one of the most important parts.”
University spokesperson Phil Weiler confirmed the change of venues had been made, but said he didn’t know the reason. It is unclear whether future Forum meetings will take place at the Baker Center.
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