There was a war fought in Houston Hall last night.
Stopping in the middle of a speech, Eugene Bird yelled, "I'll debate you anytime, anywhere!" to a man who called himself "Don" and refused to give a last name.
Don, and an anonymous friend, had been heckling the Council for the National Interest president with jabs such as, "You're brainwashing the audience," and, "This is ludicrous."
Bird was attempting to give a lecture entitled "What's Wrong with the Withdrawal?" He focused on his own experiences and views on the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians rather than on Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
At the end of his speech, one of the organizers asked for questions but urged the audience to "keep it civil." The instant Bird declared, "I don't mind an uncivil question," a storm of shouts erupted.
Don and his associate loudly and publicly expressed anger at what they felt was Bird's continued presentation of pro-Palestinian ideas despite the CNI's description of itself as a "nonpartisan grass-roots organization."
Don and his counterpart continued their shouting match with Bird, who first visited the Middle East in the 1950s, accusing him of holding corrupt ideals. Taking off his glasses and calmly sitting on the desk he had been speaking from, Bird said that the men were obviously "zealots. ... But that's all right."
Possibly due to the threat of security intervention or Bird's refusal to back down, Don's associate soon left the room, but not before telling a Penn student that he "was so open-minded his brain will fall out."
Don soon followed suit and abandoned the fight.
