Middlebury College Maps Plan for Moving Forward After Murray Protests

Story updated on March 10

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Nearly a week after large-scale student protests disrupted the scheduled talk of a controversial speaker on the Middlebury campus, and after a violent altercation later that evening involving students and outside protestors, students, faculty, and staff at the College are still working to confront divisions in the community and to cope with emotions brought forward by the events.

Charles Murray, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, was scheduled to speak at the College on March 2 by invitation of the student American Enterprise Institute Club. A crowd of more than 400, most of them students, filled Wilson Hall in McCullough Student Center. Many carried signs. Hundreds of students who had waited in a line that stretched up the hill to Mead Chapel were unable to enter the hall once it was filled to capacity.

in print and online in its March 9 issue, most arguing that the Murray event should not have been scheduled, should not have been co-sponsored by the political science department, should not have been attended by President Patton, or should not have been allowed to go ahead once the controversy emerged.

Middlebury College will continue to provide reports in its Newsroom as events and significant developments associated with the incident emerge.