Protesters Disrupt Stanford Pro-Kavanaugh Rally; Student GOP Leader Alleges Assault
STANFORD (KPIX 5) -- Politics led to tempers flaring on the Stanford campus and one disagreement among students got physical this week.
Campus Republicans were holding an event in support of Brett Kavanaugh Tuesday when other students came up and started tearing up their posters.
The president of the Stanford College Republicans, John Rice-Cameron, also claims he was shoved by a fellow student Melinda Hernandez. The incident was first reported by the Stanford Daily.
Rice-Cameron is the son of Susan Rice, fomer U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor under President Barack Obama. Last week, Rice made headlines suggesting she might run against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who cast a deciding vote for to confirm Kavanaugh as Supreme Court justice.
Hernandez denied she shoved Rice-Cameron, telling the Stanford Daily she touched Rice-Cameron on the chest after he refused to stop video recording her. Hernandez posted on Twitter that she was issued a citation but not arrested. But the College Republicans said Rice-Cameron will press charges.
Neither was available to speak with KPIX about the incident.
Student Christopher Leboa, says he does not condone violence, but claims campus Republicans are often purposefully provocative, such as leaving chalk messages around campus saying things like "build the wall."
"I'm not saying they were asking for it, but it was not unprovoked, said Leboa. "They've had signs up here like 'affirmative action is racist' and that 'climate change doesn't exist' - all sorts of like ... so they'll host big signs out here and kind of dare you to come, like, talk to them and then kind of yell at you back."
He says students at Stanford do talk about how to respond to certain messages, as politics across the country continues to get physical.
In a statement on its Facebook page, Stanford College Republicans said the incident showed "the violent and totalitarian behavior of the unhinged Stanford left."
