Kirk Mottram and Travis DeNeal

Waving a copy of the Constitution around like a preacher with a Bible, Col. Oliver North declared that the Constitution does not guarantee any rights whatsoever, only God can bestow people with those rights.

This document is a list of what the government cannot take away from you, North said. But if government can give you those rights, then it can take them away from you.

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These rights aren’t given to you by the government, these rights were given to you by the God Almighty.

North, speaking in front of about 1,200 people at Shryock Auditorium Tuesday night, asked audience members to define the concepts of freedom, justice and government for themselves.

The former Marine Corps colonel was brought to SIUC by the College Republicans in an attempt to foster political awareness at the University.

Andy Volpert, former College Republican president, said all of his expectations for the event were blown away, and that its resounding success signals that there is a silent, but tenacious group of conservatives at the University.

People said that there was no way we could pull this off, Volpert said. This proves that there is a big, conservative block on campus that are interested in hearing another point of view from the one they hear in the classrooms.

This is better than we could have imagined.

Volpert’s remarks mirror North’s attacks on university college professors, whom North says spread distorted ideas of government and politics, and who engineered the North protest outside Shryock Auditorium.

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About 30 protesters, including members of the Southern Illinois Patriots League, dressed as soldiers peddling guns and drugs and the Shawnee Free Radicals lined up outside the main entrance to the auditorium and demonstrated against North’s presence.

Sitting in his wheelchair with the small band of protesters who held signs stating Real heroes don’t peddle guns and drugs, Carbondale resident E.G. Hughes explained why he and others protested.

This group of people lived through those times and saw what Oliver North did, Hughes, a Vietnam War veteran, said. He is an affront to our sensibilities. He wore a uniform and I wore a uniform, but he did things I wouldn’t do.

North said he expected protesters to turn out, and that it would be ludicrous for someone to say they shouldn’t, as wars are fought to preserve liberties like the freedom of speech.

If they are not here we got a young fellow here with us to dial 1-800 Rent-A-Kook and make sure they show up, he said at a press conference prior to his speech. You can usually find somebody to change their sign and protest something.

It’s usually organized by college professors who are about my age and were the ones who were out burning their draft cards while I was getting my backside shot off in Vietnam.

North is best known for his role in the Iran Contra affair of the 1980s when illegal funds raised from the sale of weapons to Iran were used to finance Nicaraguan Contra rebels. North was exonerated in the affair on a technicality. But many say that because he initially lied to Congress about it and admitted taking part in the venture, he should be remembered as a criminal.

Not a lot was said about the affair Tuesday night. Rather, North focused on the question of freedom and justice. He pronounced that America is the greatest country in the world and is of unique personality.

We, as Americans are unique on this planet, North said. We have bounty beyond measure. We have the refuge to which others come seeking life and liberty, and we have become the most generous planet on earth.

North, after asking people to think about the questions of freedom and justice, proceeded to condemn what he believes to be ideas antithetical to these two concepts.

He denounced the EPA, accusing the agency of stealing citizens’ private property. He also condemned high taxes, affirmative action programs calling them affirmative racism programs gun-control measures, abortion rights, reducing the defense budget and homosexuals in the military.

All of these positions, he said, contradict the fundamental principles of freedom and justice handed down by God and the framers of the Constitution.

North also spoke defiantly against the United Nations, saying, In the future, we will have a commander-in-chief who understands that the United Nations isn’t worth a drop of American blood.

Serving as a moment of comic relief, North was asked if he had any access to documents concerning aliens and UFO’s, to which he said, I don’t believe in aliens and I’ve never seen a UFO, so no, I can’t really answer that.

Jeremy Cahnmann, a junior in education from Carbondale, said that though he was impressed with the event’s organization and eloquence of its featured speaker, he could not decipher a lot of truth in the speech.

It’s an interesting slant on the truth, Cahnmann said. He’s an eloquent speaker, but some of his visions and statements are way off base.

And, he made a lot of back-handed statements that weren’t necessary.

Volpert said North was an expensive speaker to retain and that the College Republicans did not match North’s usual fees, which he said exceed $10,000. He could not say how much the group raised, but said that none of the money came from the University.

Cathy Field, an SIUC English graduate and Shawnee Free Radical member who protested North’s speech, was disgusted that North was paid to speak.

If he (North) can come here and speak, why don’t we bring other people like him here to speak for $10,000? she asked. Why not bring Pol Pot in here to tell about his little escapade in Cambodia?

We have dead people in Central America and dead people in our own cities as a result of policies formulated by this man.

Prior to the speech in a press conference, North said he would not be seeking political office until his youngest child graduates from high school. His youngest child is 16 years old.

I have been encouraged to run by the Virginian Republican Party twice now and I will not even consider it until such a time as my youngest son is out of high school, he said. I’m just not going to do it.