« Safety and Security receives technological improvements | Main | Heights tune-up planned »
September 19, 2006
Preachers cause ruckus
Students, staff and faculty were riled up last week when a man calling himself Brother Mark preached the Ten Commandments near Hewitt Ave. Mark, who refused to give a last name, was standing under a tree in the public space that extends from the street to the far edge of the sidewalk.
Mark’s companion, Nate, who also refused to give his last name, said Mark was just showing people that they are sinners and that they must seek Jesus Christ in order to avoid being condemned to hell by God. Throughout his speech, he referenced the Bible and said these opinions are not his, but God’s. Among those he called sinners were gays, liars and fornicators. His words made some feel uncomfortable.
“I don’t want to hear I’m a sinner in my workplace,” Coordinator of Service Learning and Volunteerism Sharon Jaffe said.
While in that public space, Mark’s actions were legal, as long as he is not breaking the law of swearing, Director of Safety and Security Shirleen Hoffman said. However, students were complaining that Mark was a nuisance, Hoffman said.
“If we get 20 or 25 people coming into our office complaining, I’d say he’s a nuisance,” Safety and Security Mike Mulvey said.
Mulvey called the St. Paul police, despite their inability to remove Mark.
“We knew the police couldn’t really do anything,” Hoffman said after the incident in a phone interview. Despite that, St. Paul Police Officer Peter Bydzobsky arrived and asked Mark for identification.
“I told him to keep his tone down and he said he’d take his voice elsewhere,” Bydzobsky said. Ten minutes after Bydzobsky arrived, Mark and Nate left the sidewalk, went to their cars and drove away.
Hoffman said the police were called to keep them informed of campus goings-on.
After Mark and Nate left, the 20 to 30 observers that lingered around the Bishop’s Plaza while Mark spoke, left the area.
Posted by dwright at September 19, 2006 09:09 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)