NEW YORK
Jim Gilchrist, founder of the anti-illegal immigration Minuteman Project who was forced off a Columbia University stage last year, will not be coming back for a return engagement at the school.
The Columbia Political Union, a nonpartisan student group that had been planning the forum, said in a statement on its Web site Tuesday that “it has become clear that this event cannot take the form we had originally hoped it would and could not effectively accomplish the goals we had hoped it might.”
Last Oct. 4, Gilchrist had to cut short his talk at the school after students from the Chicano Caucus and other groups climbed on stage with banners denouncing the Minutemen Project, which is based in Laguna Hills, Calif., and advocates action to prevent illegal immigration from Mexico.
That event was organized by the school’s College Republicans club.
The CPU said in its statement that it had envisioned the event as part of its “Friendly Fire” speaker series, created by Columbia history lecturer and author David Eisenbach.
Eisenbach said he was disappointed by the students’ decision.
