Protesting students find MCC Campus on lockdown

On Friday, two armies converged upon McHenry County College.

A group of Hispanic students offended by the presence of the anti-illegal immigration group on campus attempted to protest an Illinois Minuteman Project seminar at the college's conference center Friday evening.

The students gathered at 5æp.m. in the college's common area in campus Building A, to collect their thoughts and tape "immigrant" signs to the backs of their shirts.

At 6æp.m., they attempted to walk through the campus corridors to Building C, where the seminar was held, but were blocked by campus and Minuteman security.

"MCC is basically on lockdown," said Carlos Accosta, executive director of the Latino Coalition, who attended the event. All doors in Building C were locked except that of the room where the seminar was held.

Guadalupe Ortiz, a 19-year-old business student, agreed. "Normally, classes would be finished by now, but the building doors would be open and you could walk through the campus and use the computers," she said. "I've never seen it like this."

MCC officials were not available for comment.

Many of the students who planned to protest are members of Latinos Unidos, the college's Hispanic student organization.

Latinos Unidos presented college President Walter Packard with more than 400 signatures Wednesday of students who opposed the Minuteman group's use of college facilities.

Packard told the students that the campus is open to the public, and the college's conference center facilities can be rented by any organization that completes an application and pays a set fee.

"If we start picking and choosing which groups can speak and which can't, you're going down a slippery path," Packard said Thursday. "Particularly in our college environment, you have to be prepared to listen to a wide range of ideas in order to learn."

First Amendment rights, Packard said, apply to everyone. "I encouraged the students to attend the event, to listen, and to be advocates for their cause," he said.

But some who listened to Packard's words are crying foul.

Tom Kendzie, an 18-year-old student and student senate officer, attempted to get a complimentary ticket, and was turned down.

"I wanted to see what they had to say, and (the Minuteman Project) basically consciously denied me," he said.

Emmanuel Martinez, co-president of Latinos Unidos, said "any group who divides families … I have to speak out against." To be blocked from expressing his opinion "is unfair."

The Minuteman Project's program began at 6:30 p.m., featuring Rosanna Pulido, former Illinois Minuteman Director and representative for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, and David Gorak from Numbers USA.

Ohio sheriff Daniel Beck, renowned for personally rounding up illegal immigrants, as many as 80 in the past year, was the keynote speaker.

Approximately 150 people attended the three-hour event.

The Minuteman group had planned an August seminar at the Crystal Lake Holiday Inn, but that was canceled after city police informed the hotel that it would have to spend up to $3,500 for security during a planned counter-protest. The Minuteman group announced the MCC venue in late September.

"This could have been such a teaching opportunity for the students," Accosta said.

Latinos Unidos plans to make a statement following their meeting next week.