Controversy over the ejection of two Bowdoin students from President George W. Bush's recent rally in Bangor continued this week as the story circulated around the Internet and in local press.
Following the publication of "Bowdoin students ejected from Bush event" in last week's Orient, an article expanding upon the story ran on the front page of the Brunswick Times Record yesterday. The local paper reported that Maine College Republicans Chairman Dan Schuberth '06 questioned whether Bree Dallinga '06 and Ashley Cusick '05 worked in conjunction with the Orient to plan a front-page story about the incident in advance.
Last weekend, the Orient article was quickly added to a number of online political discussion boards, such as www.freerepublic.com and www.democraticunderground.com. This spurred informal debate among online political circles, and caused the Orient's web site to receive its greatest number of page views yet this year.
In an interview with the Orient Thursday night, Schuberth said, "I'm not accusing Bree of setting this up. I'm not accusing the Orient of setting this up. I'm just saying it's suspicious."
He cited other examples of political interference in college news reporting. "It's happened before...not with the Orient, but with other newspapers," he said. "Bree, who was kicked out of the event at 4:00 p.m., returned to campus, and had an article on the front page of the Orient the next day."
The Orient dismissed the allegations. "Dan Schuberth's claims are not based on fact," said Orient co-Editor-in-Chief Brian Dunn '05.
The Orient repeatedly attempted to contact Schuberth late last Thursday night and early the following morning. He was unavailable for comment in the article.
Dallinga and Cusick say they did not initiate contact with any reporters, nor did they have any desire for media attention.
"Reporters just keep calling me," Dallinga said.
According to Schuberth, the main problem with the Times Record article lies in the title itself, "At Bush rally, no 'liberals' allowed."
"The entire premise of the article is incorrect," he said. "There were plenty of liberals there?people who genuinely wanted to get in to listen to the President of the United States of America... [Dallinga and Cusick] were recognized by volunteers from a number of schools as outspoken protesters. These students had no intention of listening peacefully."
Cusick disagrees. "If our only goal was protesting, we would have just gone to the protest, and not bothered to get tickets," she said. "Our goal was to go and listen for as long as we could stand it...we definitely had no intentions of getting any press coverage."
Schuberth described the security procedures associated with the event. "This is a political event for the President of the United States," he said. "The number one concern is security; for this reason, the events are typically private. Regardless of why or for whatever reason, people that the Secret Service deems unsafe cannot attend."
He admitted making the final call for Dallinga and Cusick's expulsion. "It was the right choice," he said. "A reasonable suspicion based on reputation."