October 29, 2013

H/T to WPRO's Steve Klamkin for the video clip.

A small but vocal group of protesters Tuesday shouted down New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly at Brown University, leading administrators to cancel his lecture after he delivered only a few words.

Kelly has been heralded for bringing crime in New York City to the lowest point in more than 50 years, but he has also been in the spotlight after a federal judge ruled that the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practice was unconstitutional because it disproportionately targets minorities.

Kelly was scheduled to give a short lecture followed by a question and answer session. The speech was intended to cover the NYPD's approach to policing and stop-and-frisk.

Students booed Mr. Kelly as he was introduced by Marion Orr, the director of the Taubman Center, and began loudly talking over him when he began to speak.

“From NYC to PVD, stop police brutality,” they chanted as Kelly fled the stage.

Brown University president Christina Paxson was none too pleased with the protests: “The conduct of disruptive members of the audience is indefensible and an affront both to civil democratic society and to the University's core values of dialog and the free exchange of views,” she said in a statement.

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