Freedom of speech tested at Obama rally

An 18-year-old university student held his ground - and onto his Ron Paul t-shirt - despite efforts of security guards to remove him from Sen. Barack Obama’s rally Friday at Arizona State University campus.

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Obama well-received at ASU rally

Barack Obama addresses crowd of 6,000 at ASU

Jacob Done, 18, stood atop a tower in the center of Hayden Lawn on ASU campus proudly displaying a “Ron Paul Revolution” T-shirt above his head as Obama, D-Ill., began to speak to the crowd. First, security approached Done asking him to step down from the window ledge on top of the tower for safety reasons, but then they insisted he leave after he stepped to a lower platform, Done said.

Three men wearing purple ProEM Security staff shirts attempted to remove Done by grabbing him, but Done resisted the force. At the time, Done was standing next to a reporter for the Tribune.

Bystanders yelled in support, saying “Let him stay,” and “It’s free speech!” Security guards eventually agreed to let him stay on the tower along with others who came to see Obama speak, as long as he kept his Ron Paul shirt no higher than his head, saying it would obstruct the views of others if held any higher.

Security guards did not appear to approach people holding Obama signs high above their heads.

“Once he got down, he wasn’t causing a disturbance,” said Maegan Kearns, 23, a secondary education major at ASU. “Everybody, even the Democrats, rallied around the Republican to support free speech.”

Done said he had figured his actions might cause a ruckus, but he didn’t foresee it going so far.

“I expected people to hold their signs up, like trying to block my shirt like they did at very first,” Done said. “I didn’t expect them to bring security in to try to take me out.”

When asked to comment on the situation, one of the security guards who attempted to remove Done said, “no comment,” and “no one from our company will tell you anything.”

Other ProEM staff also refused to comment. And representatives at the company’s Tempe headquarters had no comment when called by the Tribune.

Austin Franke, 21, a bystander at the rally who witnessed the incident, said: “I totally disagree with them asking him to leave. I mean obviously this is a rally for Barack Obama, but this is still America, and he should have the right to express whatever view he wants.”

“There were a thousand people here with signs, he wasn’t the only one holding something up over his head,” Franke added. “The fact that they singled him out, I think, is just kind of suspicious.”

Done said he came to the rally to hear what Obama had to say, but held his shirt high to show that he supports Paul more.

Other Paul supporters gathered near the Obama rally, and some said they were refused entry to the event.

“We weren’t allowed in because our signs said Ron Paul, and I feel it’s a lack of freedom of speech here,” said Jadon Kelly, 17, who remained outside the rally for the entirety of it and held his sign high above his head.

April Lam, 25, who was holding her Ron Paul sign alongside Kelly, said she was told there were no signs allowed.

“I saw posters that people made themselves that said ‘Barack Obama,’” Lam said. “It’s just the fact that it said Ron Paul that it wasn’t allowed in. It wasn’t the fact that it was a sign because, as you saw if you were in there, there were tons of signs up.”