(Raleigh [NC] News & Observer) A gathering that riled Duke University alumni, tested free speech, and cost the school more than $50,000 for security ended Sunday in peace as about 60 attendees of the Palestine Solidarity Movement conference shouted support for Palestinians while about 17 protesters chanted in rebuttal, "Condemn terror now." More than 90,000 people signed an online petition in opposition to the event. While Duke President Richard Brodhead decided to let organizers proceed, saying that denying the conference would stymie free speech, the university facilitated several other happenings during the week, including the display of a burned-out bus from a suicide bomb in Israel and a pro-Israel teach-in Saturday at Duke's Freeman Center for Jewish Life.
2004-10-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive