INDIANAPOLIS -- A conservative commentator who was hit by a pie during a speech at Butler University this week says he wants the perpetrator to pay in one manner or another.
Video: Horowitz Wants 'Zero Tolerance' For Speech Disruptions
David Horowitz said the pie thrower and any collaborators should be suspended for at least a semester if they are students. If they're not students, he said, they should be prosecuted.
"There needs to be a zero tolerance toward disruption of speeches," Horowitz told
RTV6's Derrik Thomas on Thursday. "The university -- the essence of its mission is that it be a civil exchange of ideas, not a political food fight."
Horowitz, who was at Butler as a guest of a student Republicans group, was hit in the face with a pie as he spoke at Gallahue Hall.
The pie-thrower and three fellow protesters got away. Butler police are investigating the incident and haven't identified the pie-thrower, according to a statement from Butler President Bobby Fong.
Witnesses said some pushing and shoving ensued as people tried to pursue the four. One pregnant student filed a complaint with police, saying Butler sociology professor Marvin Scott -- one of the people who pursued the pie-thrower -- assaulted her.
Scott, a Republican who ran for the U.S. Senate and lost to Sen. Evan Bayh last year, denied the allegation.
"I can tell you it's not true," Scott said.
Scott, who is black, said the student hurled some racial slurs at him.
"This is after I allegedly pushed her down. She was following me down the hall," Scott said.
Horowitz, who has criticized what he calls the leftist domination of college campuses, completed his speech after the pie-throwing incident.
Fong, in his statement, said Horowitz's right to express his opinions was violated.
"We support the constitutional rights of free speech granted to Mr. Horowitz as well as to those who disagree with his opinions," Fong said. "The university does not support this inappropriate behavior."
Horowitz was the second conservative to be hit by a pie at an Indiana college in eight days. On March 29, a pie-thrower interrupted a speech by Weekly Standard editor William Kristol at Earlham College in Richmond.
On his
Web site, Horowitz called Wednesday's pie-throwing part of a "wave of leftist violence against conservative speakers on college campuses."
Copyright 2006 by TheIndyChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
