When blogger and writer Tucker Max arrived at Ohio State Monday night, the stage was set for a typical big-name event by the Ohio Union Activities Board event. More than 900 students said they were attending on Facebook, and students were turned away at the door when the venue reached capacity.
But Max was greeted by more than adoring fans. More than 50 protesters rallied outside and inside 131 Hitchcock Hall.
ZACH TUGGLE/THE LANTERNDozens of students with signs in hand protest inside of Hitchcock Hall Monday during writer Tucker Max’s speech about his book on his drunken and sexual exploits, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. The sold out event turned away some students at the door, and some heckling protestors were kicked out of the event.“There’s a lot more women in the audience than protesters, right?” Max said. “That says a lot more than I can say. Why would this bother me? What is there to be bothered about?”
Max is known for his crude humor on his blog and in his book “I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.”
“If you read his work, it’s almost entirely based on sexually degrading material on women,” said Stephanie Diebold, a member of Womyn and Allies Rising in Resistance. “His work is really promoting a rape culture. He thinks he writes about them in this funny manner, but I think it’s really wrong of the school to fund this guy to come to the university with student activity fee money, when he writes stuff that glorifies sexual assault.”
Many protesters at the event held up signs with quotes from Max’s Website, tuckermax.com. The excerpts included: “Really – consider my thought process. I was going to f— her in the butt and film it without her consent.”
The protesters chanted, “Shut it down, no rapists in our town” continuously outside the event. As the protesters yelled, blew whistles and clapped, officers from OSU Police arrived to oversee the protest. Other bystanders booed, laughed and took videos of the protest on cell phones.
OSU Police Lt. Dennis Hollern said protest is nothing new to campus.
“They just can’t have any noisemakers,” Hollern said. “This is free speech unless they interrupt the event.”
During the event, protesters stood up and whistled, and were forced to leave the room. Max responded, saying, “I can do this the rest of the night if you want. Making fun of people like that is easy.”
At one point during the event, a man with a whistle walked to the front of the stage and blew it in front of Max. The crowd chanted in response, “He’s a virgin.”
Anna Kinsel, a freshman in history, attended the event for only 10 minutes before she left in tears.
“It was the audience reactions to him,” Kinsel said. “I understand this is a show and people want to be entertained, but the way the audience reacted to his jokes was disgusting. People think the issue is a joke, but it disgusts me. After a joke about smart and stupid women, I left. It was enough for me.”
As the event went on, the protesters grew in number. Every time doors to the show opened, the protesters shouted louder. OSU police had to move rope barriers to guard the doors, and at one point, all of the protesters sat down outside the door to chant.
Diebold, a senior in political science, met with representatives of OUAB days before the event to try and get Tucker’s event at OSU canceled. Although the event ran as scheduled, OUAB agreed to work with the OSU Wellness Center and WARR to provide resources at the event, such as information for victims of rape and domestic violence, marketing for the “It’s Abuse” Campaign and Take Back the Night, and counseling for anyone who was offended by Max’s lecture.
“OUAB was indeed aware of the controversial nature of Max’s writing, however, based on survey data it was deemed that a substantial number of students would be interested in seeing Max on campus,” said OUAB president Brooke Bockelman in an e-mail. “Furthermore, the content of Max’s speech is not regarding the content of his book, rather it is discussing his decision to reject societal expectations for his career (a highly successful lawyer) and do what he is passionate about (writing).”
OUAB selects programs based on the cost, expected attendance and popularity of the act, as well as the educational and entertainment value of the act.
“I do want to stress to those that are upset that OUAB does not endorse Max’s viewpoints, nor do we endorse the viewpoints of any artist we bring to campus,” Bockelman said. “We have a large and diverse group of undergraduate, graduate and professional students here at The Ohio State University. This leads to very diverse needs, wants and interests when it comes to campus programming. We do our best to provide a wide variety of events to please the campus community.”
Hallie Foster, a protester at the event, was upset by the choice to bring Max to OSU.
“OUAB has chosen to spend our money to support this guy, when a significant portion of the student body doesn’t want him here,” said Foster, a sophomore in French and biology.
Diebold agrees.
“I’m really disappointed they wouldn’t cancel it,” she said. “I feel like if it was another minority group other than women he was targeting, they would cancel it. I know there’s a lot of community members and parents that are very upset. It’s a community effort. We are outraged that he’s being paid with student activity fees.”
After Max finished his speech, protesters sat in front of exit doors, forcing the audience to push their way out. Protesters then left the venue and marched to High Street.
Caitlin O’Neil can be reached at [email protected].
