Who canceled Kissinger? Mystery lingers at UT
Austin American-Statesman
Wednesday, February 16, 2000

                   By Mary Ann Roser

                   Who pulled the plug on Henry Kissinger's speech
                   at the University of Texas?

                   The answer should be simple. But like other
                   questions dogging the cancellation of the former
                   secretary of state's Feb. 1 lecture in the face of a
                   planned protest, almost no answer is without
                   misunderstandings, misstatements and mystery.

                   Then there are larger questions: How will UT handle controversial speakers in
                   the future? How should it deal with protesters? And has the cancellation set a
                   bad precedent?

                   Canceling a speech, say national experts on free speech, should be a last
                   resort, especially on a university campus where the unfettered exchange of
                   ideas is a cherished tradition -- just as heckling is a part of American
                   discourse. That doesn't mean hecklers have the right to shout down speakers,
                   the experts said.

                   "I don't think we can afford to cancel," UT President Larry Faulkner agreed.
                   "It's important for us . . . not to suppress dissent, but it's also important to
                   allow people we invite to campus to deliver their remarks."

                   Kissinger did not return calls.

                   UT police had learned that as many as 300 tickets might be counterfeited to
                   stack the 1,000-seat auditorium with protesters who would start chanting
                   three minutes into the speech, said Harry Middleton, director of the LBJ
                   Library and Museum, a federal entity.

                   While protesters acknowledge those ideas were discussed, they say they did
                   not duplicate any tickets but planned to question Kissinger about "war
                   crimes" they say he engineered. They have since accused the university of
                   spying on them.

                   According to documents obtained under open records laws, UT System
                   Chancellor William Cunningham wrote to Kissinger that UT would act against
                   the protesters "once we have an appropriate environment in which to do so."
                   Cunningham was out of town and could not be reached for further comment.

                   Faulkner said that given the planned disruptions, he supported the decision to
                   cancel because many Friends of the LBJ Library who are elderly, including
                   Lady Bird Johnson, planned to attend and might be upset or harmed in the
                   event of a disturbance.

                   The speech, while a function of the library, was being held in a campus
                   building with security by UT police.

                   Faulkner said he understood that Kissinger and Middleton jointly canceled.

                   But Middleton said he understood that Kissinger canceled based on what
                   Elspeth Rostow, a professor and former dean of the LBJ School, said after a
                   conversation with Kissinger. Rostow, however, said Kissinger, who was to
                   speak for free, was aware of the protesters, had planned to answer their
                   questions from the floor and "was intent on coming."

                   Asked Tuesday about a statement she drafted that has Kissinger reluctantly
                   deciding to withdraw, Rostow said Kissinger asked her to take notes on their
                   conversation in case the speech was canceled. He did not use the statement
                   but instead issued one in which he said he regrets "the circumstances that
                   have caused the cancellation."

                   Middleton said regardless of the confusion, the bottom line is this: If Kissinger
                   hadn't canceled, he would have because of the potential for "a chaotic
                   evening."

                   When Kissinger got wind of the protest, he called Middleton at home on
                   Sunday, Jan. 23, Middleton said. Middleton wrote in a chronology of the
                   events that Kissinger was torn between " `I don't need this sort of thing' on
                   one hand; on the other, `If I cancel, that can affect other speaking
                   engagements.' "

                   Middleton said he asked Kissinger to delay canceling because of a meeting
                   being held the next day with UT police, Secret Service agents who protect
                   Mrs. Johnson, and others.

                   That Monday, Kissinger called Middleton out of the meeting. When told 25
                   officers were assigned to his speech, Kissinger responded, " `Ridiculous. Not
                   enough,' " Middleton wrote.

                   UT Police Chief Jeff Van Slyke said the actual number was 35 and that he
                   told everyone he had a team ready to handle the event.

                   Middleton said Kissinger wanted Faulkner to ensure that UT would provide
                   sufficient protection but that Kissinger was planning to back out. "I assumed
                   this meant he would be canceling on his own terms, not under pressure,"
                   Middleton wrote.

                   Faulkner called Kissinger that Monday, Jan. 24, but the conversation "ended
                   abruptly and . . . nothing was said about canceling," Middleton recounted.

                   By Thursday, Jan. 27, Middleton said, he and others met again with police,
                   who revealed the alleged plan to interrupt the speech.

                   Middleton said the "danger to the public safety" led to a "graphic" discussion,
                   including: "Better have emergency medical units on hand. Lots of elderly
                   people. Heart attack situations," according to the chronology.

                   George Christian, a former press secretary to President Johnson who took
                   part in the discussions, recalled that 53 protesters were arrested in 1984, the
                   last time Kissinger spoke on campus. Middleton and Christian relayed the
                   concerns to Rostow, who was to talk to Kissinger.

                   By that Friday, Middleton, joined by Faulkner and Cunningham, who is a
                   friend of Kissinger and served on the Freeport-McMoRan company board with
                   him, announced that the speech was canceled because of public safety
                   concerns. No one took responsibility for canceling.

                   Middleton said he was warned by UT police and the Secret Service that public
                   safety would be in jeopardy but said later he should have left the Secret
                   Service out of it.

                   R.L. Smith, resident agent in charge of the service, said his office issued no
                   such warnings.

                   "People are looking for a scapegoat," Smith said.

                   Van Slyke said UT police apprised officials of what they had learned about the
                   protest, but they didn't make recommendations to cancel. He declined to say
                   whether police considered the situation dangerous.

                   Protesters said they resented the implication that they were going to be
                   violent.

                   They did, however, plan to shout out questions. Phillip Pastrano, a member of
                   Peace Action Austin, a community group, said LBJ Library spokeswoman
                   Kim Head told him Jan. 21 the questions would have to be in writing. Head,
                   who said she did not recall telling anyone that, said Tuesday that written or
                   oral questions from the floor were both options at the time.

                   "What you're trying to do is public education," said Bob Jensen, an associate
                   professor of journalism and adviser to the group Radical Action Network.

                   He said the protesters wanted Kissinger to answer allegations that he aided
                   the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Chile, bombed
                   civilians in Cambodia and encouraged Indonesia to invade East Timor under
                   policies that killed thousands.

                   In the future, Faulkner said, UT might consider separating "disparate groups"
                   in the audience and having a back-up room where a speaker could deliver
                   remarks electronically into the auditorium.

                   The university already has procedures for removing disruptive people after they
                   have been warned three times.

                   When anti-affirmative action leader Ward Connerly came to UT last year, he
                   made a deal with protesters to answer their questions if they would listen to
                   his abbreviated remarks.

                   Faulkner called the heckling and yelling "acceptable at the margins."

                   As for the Kissinger speech cancellation, "there is plenty of blame to spread
                   around," said Paul McMasters, First Amendment ombudsman at the Freedom
                   Forum, a foundation dedicated to free speech and free press.

                   "I believe the officials overreacted, and the protesters oversold themselves," he
                   said.

                   You may contact Mary Ann Roser at maroser@statesman.com or 445-3619.

Kissinger foes angry about UT reasoning
Austin American-Statesman
Sunday, January 30, 2000

By Sharon Jayson

Protest organizers Saturday criticized University of Texas officials for using a free speech
argument in canceling Tuesday's appearance by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

UT officials announced Friday that Kissinger called off his talk because of concern about the audience's safety. In prepared statements, both UT System Chancellor William Cunningham and UT-Austin President Larry Faulkner asserted that the protesters crushed free speech and the right to open discussion at UT.

"To be accused of planning an event that was going to repress somebody's free speech is particularly offensive," said Bob Jensen, a UT associate professor of journalism who had helped organize a protest of the Kissinger address. "We were not jeopardizing Kissinger's free speech. We were exercising our free speech."

Although Cunningham said Friday that Kissinger was the one who canceled, Harry Middleton, director of the LBJ Library, said Saturday he told Kissinger not to come to the LBJ Auditorium.

"I advised him it would be best if he not appear," Middleton said.

Kissinger, 76, served during the administrations of Presidents Nixon and Ford, and during the Reagan administration he led a commission on Central America that recommended increased U.S. military and economic aid.

Middleton said Kissinger's speech was the first ever canceled at the LBJ Auditorium. But Middleton said information about the protest indicated that possibly a hundred or more protesters had received the free tickets and would be inside rather than outside during the presentation.

"It was clear he was not going to be allowed to make his speech, and the chaos that would result inside the auditorium would be untenable," Middleton said.

Cunningham, who has served on several corporate boards with Kissinger, would not say whether he had given advice to Kissinger.

"Any advice I gave him would have been personal advice between the two of us," Cunningham said.

Jensen, who was arrested in 1998 for disrupting an Austin speech by former President George Bush, said the Kissinger protest was advertised as peaceful and nonviolent, and he has "no clue" why UT officials believed otherwise.

Faulkner said Saturday he regrets that the speech was called off because he believed the UT police force of 50 could have "maintained security at some reasonable level."

But, in light of the sometimes violent demonstrations in Seattle at the World Trade Organization conference in November, Faulkner said the Kissinger protest might have been more violent than any at UT in recent years.

"I think we're going to have to develop some methods that will allow us to proceed with these events with the threats," he said.

Rahul Mahajan, a graduate student and protest organizer, said they weren't going to stop the speech. However, he acknowledged that demonstrators knew all questions would be screened, forcing them to shout out questions to be heard.

"There was never any plan to do anything violent," he said. "Our plans were not completely finalized because we had to see how things evolved at the event. We had planned to do what was necessary to get Kissinger to respond to our charges."

Mahajan attended the Seattle demonstrations but was not among the almost 600 arrested.

On Tuesday, Mahajan was among the speakers at a "teach-in" sponsored by the Campus Radical Network. Jensen, who is the network's faculty adviser, said some 200 people showed up to discuss the reasons behind the protest.

"Henry Kissinger was at the center of foreign policy planning that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people," Jensen said.

Austinite Lori Hansel, 47, who had planned to join the protesters, said Saturday she's not upset that Kissinger won't be here.

"It's a victory that it was canceled. What upsets me is the reasoning given by them," she said.

Hansel was among 53 protesters arrested and charged with disruptive activity in 1984 when Kissinger spoke at the LBJ Auditorium. That demonstration, involving about 300 people, protested Kissinger's views on Central America and other issues.

You may contact Sharon Jayson at sjayson@statesman.com or 445-3620.

Kissinger's speech at UT is canceled
Austin American-Statesman
Saturday, January 29, 2000

By Mary Ann Roser

Fearing a planned protest of his speech, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger took the
unusual step Friday of canceling an appearance at the University of Texas next week.

"We were concerned a large demonstration in the LBJ Auditorium could lead to a potentially
dangerous situation for the members of the audience," UT System Chancellor William Cunningham said late Friday, when UT announced the cancellation. "I think it's a very unfortunate situation when people can't come to campus."

Cunningham would not say whether any specific threats, aside from a demonstration, had been made regarding Kissinger's speech, which was scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday. "It's inappropriate for me to comment," he said.

Cunningham said Kissinger canceled the speech. He could not recall the names of other potentially controversial speakers canceling appearances but said it had happened "back in the '60s and '70s."

Free tickets had been distributed to students and members of the public, and Bob Jensen, an associate professor of journalism who objected to Kissinger's visit, posted information on his Web page advising protesters about the ticket distribution.

"At 5 p.m. on Feb. 1, the not-welcoming committee will begin gathering outside the auditorium for speeches, music and chants to send the message to the campus and community that war criminals are not welcome here," Jensen's Web site said.

Jensen said earlier in the week that about 200 people attended a "teach-in" Tuesday night on Kissinger's involvement with former Presidents Nixon and Ford in Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor and Chile.

Jensen could not be reached at his home Friday evening for comment.

Harry Middleton, director of the LBJ Library, said he advised Kissinger that the
UT police department and the Secret Service believed the protest would be "of
sufficient magnitude to pose a threat to the public safety."

UT Assistant Police Chief Silas Griggs declined to comment.

A statement by Kissinger, provided by the LBJ Library, said only, "I regret the
circumstances that have caused the cancellation of this year's Harry
Middleton lecture created by Mrs. (Lady Bird) Johnson, and any
embarrassment suffered by this great former first lady and valued friend."

Cunningham, a friend of Kissinger's who served on several corporate boards
with him, said Mrs. Johnson had planned to attend.

"Those who would shout down an invited speaker at a university lecture
series, or seek in other ways to disrupt appropriately arranged open
discussion, endanger the rights of everyone within the university community,"
Cunningham said in a written statement. "Such protesters are really
demanding that university students trade in their freedom for a set of pat
answers and predigested slogans."

UT President Larry Faulkner also chimed in with a written statement that
lamented that the school would have been unable to assure the audience's
security and "open discourse on issues of public concern."

"It is tragic that threats of assault on a peaceable, academic assembly will, in
this instance, still public discussion on important issues by a distinguished
visitor," Faulkner said. "The tactics are both immoral and inimical to the public
interest."

He added, without elaborating, that "new and appropriate steps" would be
taken to protect future forums.

You may contact Mary Ann Roser at maroser@statesman.com or 445-3619.