Letter to the Editor: When protesting becomes rude

I was present in the Nelson Hall auditorium during the Wells Fargo CEO presentation when the Occupy NCSU protesters made their presence very known. However, in response to Mr. Goldentyer's comment about the protest being a success, the only achievement of their evening was successfully misrepresenting our university, particularly the business students there interested in hearing Mr. Stumpf speak.

One of the great rights granted in this great country is the right to petition and protest, and I'm thrilled to see the Occupiers taking full advantage of their American rights. However, I think their message could have been carried out with just as much fervor entirely outdoors. You see, the Occupiers did not solely attend the event, they interrupted the speech with jeering and chanting a written assemblage of facts about Wells Fargo, which was then echoed by protesters in the audience.

I congratulate the protesters on their use of rude, ineffective tactics in an effort that proved pointless other than to provide an image of unruly, graceless college students to the visiting business people of the Raleigh community. Nonetheless, the rest of the evening was carried out successfully, including a question and answer session that allowed both students and non-students to ask questions directly to Mr. Stumpf. To those who posed questions in a respectful yet pointed manner, thank you.

Emily Ericksen

sophomore, agricultural business management