Wilson’s Visit to Chapman Protested

Gov. Pete Wilson helped Chapman University officials break ground for a $15-million technology center Friday while some students of the normally staid campus launched a protest of his political policies.

The group of about 40 black, Latino and Christian students directed the protest at Wilson’s stands against affirmative action and in support of Proposition 187, the anti-illegal- immigration initiative.

“We, as students of Chapman, feel there is some hypocrisy in bringing Wilson here during Latino Heritage Month,” said Isa Ismail, a 22-year-old Chapman senior with the African American group Harambe. “I don’t think Mr. Wilson’s policies represent diversity.”

The protesters, who chanted, rapped and marched in an area on the edge of the groundbreaking, contrasted with about 500 sharply dressed politicians and local community and business leaders who came to hear Wilson’s keynote address.

The governor said later he found it “ironic” that students chose this occasion to protest because he was speaking of the need for all students to be fluent in technology. The protest was barely audible during his speech.

To the assembled dignitaries, Wilson said Chapman’s new business school will keep the state competitive in a “global marketplace.”

“We are definitely in a global arena,” Wilson said. “One in which ideas fly at the speed of light. Or, more precisely, at the speed of e-mail.”

The state-of-the-art Business & Information Technology Building is expected to open in fall 1998.

“Students will be able to sit in this building and draw information off the Web, they will be able to download a satellite feed,” Wilson said. “They will be able to videoconference with teachers a continent away. All of those abilities will make California a cutting-edge contender and a leader in education.”