Coverage by Cameron Kast and Bailley Simms.
This is The VanCougar’s developing coverage of the Patriot Prayer groups anticipated visit to the WSU Vancouver campus. Find out more about this story here.
12:00 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24
WSU Vancouver Chancellor Mel Netzhammer has sent a letter to the university community regarding the demonstration held by the Patriot Prayer group Tuesday. The letter outlines “details about opportunities for those who want to come together to process and reflect on the events of the last week.”
3:30 p.m Tuesday, Oct. 23
Clark College has posted a statement from President Robert Knight regarding the Patriot Prayer protests scheduled for the main Clark College campus tomorrow, Oct. 24.
1:58 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Law enforcement walking back to their line of squad cars.
1:48 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
A group of four Patriot Prayer protesters leaves the WSU Vancouver campus, waving as they carry their materials from today. An estimated 12 members of Patriot Prayer were on the WSU Vancouver campus today.
1:36 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Michael McCabe, Clark County sheriff commander and Deputy Jon Shields are present for the demonstration.
McCabe says prior to today he felt “very optimistic” and afterwards he feels today “went well.” He says the Patriot Prayer group seemed to behave themselves.
“Students who did engage with this group seemed respectful,” McCabe says.
In response to WSU Vancouver remaining open today, McCabe says “If you close the campus down completely they’re gonna just wait for you to re-open it. At some point you have to re-open and that’s what Clark college is now dealing with. They’re [Patriot Prayer] going back on Wednesday because they want that audience.”
1:16 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
WSU Vancouver junior anthropology student, Adrienne Hitchcock, says “It’s nice to finally see a little diversity of thought on campus.”
When asked to expand on this, Hitchcock says “It [WSU Vancouver campus] seems pretty polarized as far as how people see things or what they want to talk about.”
She says she gets a lot of “gruff” in classes on the WSU Vancouver campus for having opposing opinions. She adds that “people get really angry” and that she doesn’t understand this because she feels that “As individuals we all have a right to our own opinion.”
She says “Seeing a group here [at WSU Vancouver] who has an unpopular opinion compared to majority of campus feels, redeems my time here, because I’ve had a very terrible experience since I’ve been at WSU, which is just a run on from Clark [College].”
12:54 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Speaker invites questions from the crowd on initiative 1639.
An audience member asks the rally speaker, “How do you feel about mental illness and guns?”
Speaker responds to the audience member question stating, “That’s a legitimate question, but I don’t know the answer to that. We can’t determine who should or should not have guns in terms of mental health problems.” He continued, “I don’t believe doctors should be deciding who should or should not be able to purchase guns, that’s my problem. Unfortunately that means once in a while someone is going to get access to a gun who mentally should not do it.”
12:32 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Protestors are currently speaking to a crowd of bystanders and media.
12:20 Tuesday, Oct. 23
WSU Vancouver Director for Student Development Eric Scott says, in response to the rally, he “Doesn’t love that they [protestors] are interrupting student life on campus.”
12:13 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Patriot Prayer protestors have started handing out pamphlets.
11:58 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Law enforcement currently standing at building entrances accessible from the campus quad.
11:38 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
First round of Patriot Prayer protestors arrive at WSU Vancouver campus.
11:09 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Robert West, who identifies as a “cop watcher” who films the police and protests, is currently on the WSU Vancouver campus with a NX70U Sony camera. Filming the cops for “five years” West says he is at WSU Vancouver today to “support Joey Gibson.”
West says he was at the demonstration at Clark yesterday and that it “Went good. There was no violence. A couple people showed up that tried to agitate things and nothing happened.”
When asked what he is expecting today at WSU Vancouver he says “I don’t know, honestly.”
When asked about a man with an American flag who was being talked to by law enforcement, West said the man was “asked to put the flag pole in the car, because the pole could be used as a weapon.”
10:20 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Signs from the “Having Our Say: Creating banners of inclusion and solidarity” event line the courtyard of the WSU Vancouver campus, along with chalk on the quad where protestors are expected to be later today.
10:07 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Law enforcement are currently lined up along the hill with a direct view over the WSU Vancouver campus.
9:06 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
WSU Vancouver Chancellor Mel Netzhammer has sent a “final update” on what to expect on campus today. The letter addresses the outdoor “limited public forum area” at WSU, stating that “Demonstrators are restricted from our [WSU Vancouver] buildings, and are prohibited by law and university rules from behavior that disrupts campus operations.”
Netzhammer added “Weapons are not allowed on campus.”
“A stronger than usual law enforcement presence” is already visible ahead of the rally set to start at noon.
5:05 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23
Clark College President Robert Knight sent an “Update on public demonstrations” letter Monday evening to the college community with regards to the “small demonstration” on the Clark campus Monday. In his letter, Knight said “no violence occurred.” He acknowledged that Patriot Prayer has expressed plans to return to the Clark campus on Wednesday, Oct. 24 and said in response that the college has been “actively working with law enforcement and other partner agencies to ensure your safety.”
Knight provided a list of action items the college is doing “to help protect all members of the college community” in the event that the group returns to Clark unannounced. Amongst that list is having an increased number of security on the main campus, “effective October 22” along with the potential to issue lockdown alerts “to help keep faculty, staff, students and visitors safely inside buildings should a disturbance occur.”
He also added a list of safety recommendations for college community members, including staying indoors while demonstrators are on campus and walking in groups “if you do not feel safe walking outside.”
Similar to the messaging from WSU Vancouver Chancellor Mel Netzhammer sent last week, Knight recommended “don’t engage with the demonstrators. Ignore them.”
Patriot Prayer is expected to be on the WSU Vancouver campus at noon today. Dave Stephenson, WSU Vancouver police lieutenant and director of public safety says the campus will have support from local law enforcement. Stephenson says he is expecting a peaceful event, similar to what happened at Clark College.
9:08 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22
WSU Vancouver student Adrienne Hitchcock shares a video in a comment on the WSU Vancouver Facebook page of a Patriot Prayer protester today at Clark College speaking to the WSU Vancouver campus. Source in video says, to WSU Vancouver, “We’re coming. And don’t worry, we’re not there to hurt anybody, we’re just there to educate everybody.”
4:37 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22
WSU Vancouver students are making signs at the “Having Our Say: Creating banners of inclusion and solidarity” event in the student commons ahead of tomorrow’s Patriot Prayer rally. The event is being facilitated by Sky Wilson and Shameem Rakha and is “not about political discussion,” but instead “about student voice and safety” according to Wilson. He says the student commons will also be available between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Wilson says the WSU Vancouver campus director of equity and diversity, Dr. Obie Ford III, will be providing a self-care and empowerment space tomorrow from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. in VLIB Rm. 240.
Wilson mentioned the letter created by students that circulated the WSU Vancouver campus early last week. He explained how because some students feel unsafe coming to campus tomorrow, other students “didn’t want their voices to be not here [at WSU Vancouver].”
Wilson says tonight’s event is “an opportunity for people to do art projects and have their message present.” He adds that the signs give “Folks a platform to let their voices be heard, even if they’re not here that day [tomorrow].”
3:42 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22
WSU Vancouver Police Lieutenant and Director of Public Safety Dave Stephenson says, in light of events at the closed Clark College campus today, “We still don’t know what to expect [tomorrow at WSU Vancouver] because Clark was closed for traffic today.” Stephenson added, “We are expecting a peaceful event similar to what happened there [at Clark]. We are ready for less than peaceful events to happen and we can address it, but I really do believe they’ll show up, they’ll do their thing and they’ll leave.”
1:04 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22
Patriot Prayer protestors currently rallying at Clark College campus, despite closure, according to The Columbian’s Katie Gillespie.
9:43 a.m. Monday, Oct. 22
The Red Cross blood drive, supported by the WSU Vancouver Human Development club, originally scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 23 has been canceled “As a result of the Patriot Prayer being on campus during this window of time.” See announcement here. According to a member of the club, the blood drive will still happen on Wednesday, Oct. 24.
7:17 a.m. Monday, Oct. 22
Patriot Prayer plans to go to Clark College again on Wednesday, Oct. 24 according to The Columbian
1:15 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19
– WSU Vancouver Police Lieutenant and Director of Public Safety Dave Stephenson has attended a student government senate meeting, discussing the Patriot Prayer visit. Answering various questions, Stephenson is telling students and staff in attendance to be prepared to travel in pairs on Tuesday. He adds that if the protests turn violent to avoid the main entrances of campus buildings. Full story here.
As a part-time evening student at Clark College (CC) and a prior student of Washington State University Vancouver (WSUV), I find it interesting how each school of higher education responded to this group. The group’s primary conversation was about first and second amendment rights, but historically racial exclusion, violence, and hate have been a primary focus. It is important that we differentiate between first amendment rights and hate, racism, or violence. The students and student body at both CC and WSUV have obviously united in the differentiation between free speech and propagation of exclusion or hate. My concern is that these hate groups, and fear of violence from them, will lead to legislation that allows administrative bodies to gag any group, including students, educators, and staff without judicial oversight. It is in no citizen’s interest to empower any administration to gag or prohibit self-expression, political views, or peaceful gathering.
It is interesting to note that the evergreen school district teachers and their union were informed that accessing school property, public property, while on strike was criminal trespass and that picketing was illegal and unpermitted; while, Clark College administration claims they cannot stop, or prohibit, access to public property or the possession of firearms by demonstrators. This double standard and claim of helplessness draw the question as to why access cannot be denied to armed protesters with a history of violence while access can be denied state educators.
The use of a large police presence while enforcing location, time, duration, and access limitations appear to be a very effective means to address this group who claims to lobby for non-violent solutions but consistently appears to be in the middle of violent events.
There are very real problems with the legislation that Patriot Prayer is on campuses to talk about. Unfortunately, these folks aren’t going to help the issue or change anyone’s minds, their reputation is too polarizing. Worse is that it is easy for others to lump people like myself in with PP because they have decided to be as publicly vocal on an issue we unfortunately agree on.
I decided to stop by Clark College yesterday afternoon (admittedly toward the end of their gathering) to see for myself what this group is about. By from what the news coverage has been on this group, I honestly was expecting flags with swastikas and people dressed in white robes with white hoods. This was not at all what I saw.
The news outlets (print and television) consistantly refer to this group as “Alt-Right”, “Far-Right” and “Radical Right”… but this couldn’t be farther from the truth based on what I saw yesterday.
There wasn’t even a hint of violent language or behavior. I honestly attribute this to the fact that there was a decent police presence in the area which likely kept the violent “Antifa” groups at bay; knowing that Clark County Police Officers seem to have far greater authority to control violence than Portland Police are given… I do believe that Antifa members had a much greater fear of finding themselves in jail here.
I fully understand that the school directors wanting to keep their students safe but directing them to avoid interacting or conversing with this group seems outright bias.
I was able to briefly speak with one of the group members at the end of their gathering and he stated that they whole heartedly just wanted to introduce themselves to college students in an attempt to enlighten them to a different perspective and to show them that they are not the cause of violent outbreaks that have occurred at prior gatherings.
I truly hope that the school will refrain from expressing their bias and actually encourage their students (and staff for that matter) to take a moment to practice actual open-mindness by respectfully conversing with someone who may or may not share your thoughts. To advocate otherwise and to instruct those subordinate to them to refrain from hearing the thoughts or political beliefs counter to their own is in itself FASCIST!