Gale-force winds. Mangled sidewalks. Abandoned construction equipment. Lawless bicyclists. Newspaper hawkers. Panhandlers. LaRouche supporters.
There are many things that make Commonwealth Avenue sidewalks unpleasant, and Boston University students tolerate most of them with grace. But when part of Comm. Ave. follows us into our classrooms, we quickly lose our cool.
That’s what happened last Tuesday, when a dozen or so LaRouche supporters took their protest off the streets and into the classroom. The supporters, who are so often ignored as they try to harass passersby on Comm. Ave., decided to take their inane and unwelcome message to a captive audience: 300 students waiting for an international relations lecture to begin in Morse Auditorium.
It was the third time since September that LaRouche Youth Movement members have trespassed onto BU property to disrupt classes and annoy students. While usually content with taunting pedestrians and forcing literature on confused visitors, the LaRouche youths occasionally decide to enter an academic building, sing profane songs and leave abruptly. The pattern is easy to recognize: Much like infants, the LaRouche youths get frustrated when ignored and will throw a tantrum until someone pays attention.
This page always has and always will fight for the right of individuals to express their views, no matter how paranoid and dellusioned. But there is a line between expression and harassment, and the LaRouche youths crossed it when they stepped off the sidewalk and into the classroom.
But even for students, it is often unclear where the city ends and the university begins. BU officials should make it clear that students have the right to keep harassing parties out of their schools and classrooms, and that the BU Police Department is available to throw out unwelcome visitors.
Personal expression and political dissent should be nurtured and encouraged at a dynamic and diverse institution like BU. But no one should be forced to tolerate the abuse of groups that insist on being so loud while having so little to say.
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