Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) was forced to cut short his lecture about democracy at the University of Maryland following chaotic interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters, which the university’s president endorsed as a show of “democracy and free speech.”
A few minutes into Mr. Raskin’s speech, titled “Democracy, Autocracy and the Threat to Reason in the 21st Century,” protesters in the audience began yelling and screaming, accusing Mr. Raskin of backing what they called a “genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Raskin, Raskin, you can’t hide, you are complicit in genocide!” a group of protesters yelled at the congressman, who offered to prioritize answering their questions if they allowed him to finish his lecture.
“You give me five minutes to finish my speech, and I'll call on you first and you can ask your question, how is that?” the lawmaker asked the protesters.
“Do your five minutes matter more than the over 30,000 people [killed in Gaza]?” one of the protesters replied, turning down the offer.
Mr. Raskin is among a handful of House Democrats calling on the Biden administration to push for a deal that would involve both the Israeli military halting its campaign in Gaza and Hamas releasing all the hostages it kidnapped during the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. But his support for a ceasefire didn’t prevent pro-Palestinian protesters from accosting him during the lecture.
Both the lawmaker and University of Maryland President Darryll Pines both called for civil dialogue from crowd, but the protesters continued to yell.
“Representative Raskin, when are you going to stop sending weapons and aid to Israel? You’re funding genocide,” a female protester shouted from the crowd. “The only uncivil thing here is you sitting here and standing and talking while children are dying and being murdered.”
The protesters’ disruptive behavior prompted several supporters of Israel to yell back, only adding to the chaos.
“If Hamas surrenders, the war ends now!” one attendee shouted in reply to the pro-Palestinian protesters.
No More Speech
In an interview with student newspaper The Diamondback, the university president said he wasn’t expecting the protest to take place during the lecture, but that “democracy happens in real time and that is not always perfect.”“I just felt like all the students had made all their points, and I think he got the message and he tried to respond to them,” Mr. Pines said. “It was time to conclude the lecture and let those who wanted to talk about other topics come up and talk to him.”
Mr. Raskin, meanwhile, said he felt disappointed that the young protesters—some claiming to be his constituents—wouldn’t engage in a dialogue.
“I’m a little bit disappointed in today’s generation of hecklers because they just want to drown out the speech and not engage in a conversation,” the Democrat said as some protesters walked out, according to The Diamondback. “I would have loved to invite them to have a conversation with me about what they were saying.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a nonpartisan organization known for advocating for First Amendment rights in higher education, disagreed with the idea that the disruption of Mr. Raskin’s lecture depicted democracy happening in real time.
“What you saw play out was mob censorship,” he continued. “It was a bastardization of free speech and the antithesis of democracy. These shout-downs happen far too often on college campuses—and with the approval of college administrators.”
However, Mr. Milchberg spoke positively about what happened during the lecture.
