Middlebury, Vt.
The last time a controversial conservative speaker came to Middlebury in February — The Bell Curve author Charles Murray — the campus was forced into the national spotlight, and 74 students were disciplined, many for participating in a disruptive protest that left one professor with a concussion.
O’Keefe’s talk, “Middlebury’s Problem With Free Speech,” was announced on Tuesday via a mass email to the student body from a purported student group called The Preservation Society — an apparent front group promoting the Project Veritas talk, according to an email from Middlebury officials.
Bill Burger, spokesman for Middlebury College, wrote that the college had “nothing to do with this event.”
“Mr. O’Keefe has chosen to travel to town to pursue his own political and personal agenda,” Burger wrote. “We also are unaware of any student group called The Preservation Society, which was named in the email as a host for the event.”
Sarah Ray, a college spokeswoman, said it is unclear who is behind the email.
“It’s not confirmed if it was O’Keefe’s organization, or another organization or individual working on his behalf,” Ray said.
After the email made it past Middlebury’s spam filters, the college temporarily shut down its public directory.
The Middlebury College Republicans, one of the student groups that invited Murray to campus, denounced O’Keefe and the methods he used to publicize the event, which was at the Courtyard by Marriott.
“Non-college groups are advancing their political agenda by using Middlebury as a location for publicity reasons,” the college group wrote.
James O’Keefe is best known for founding Project Veritas, a media group that secretly records politicians, journalists and others, purportedly to show abuse, illegal or unethical behavior.
The organization has been roundly criticized since its founding for selectively editing video, and has been in the news this past week after The Washington Post foiled an apparent Project Veritas plot to plant fake news in the Post.
O’Keefe was in Dallas the previous night giving a similar talk at Southern Methodist University. He arrived on Thursday at the Marriott with a small entourage, that helped him with bags and set up the presentation equipment in a conference space. Books on former President Ronald Reagan, copies of The Truth about Gun Control, pins that read “Free Speech is LIT,” were displayed on top of a “Don’t Tread on Me” Gadsden flag.
O’Keefe’s talk was part Project Veritas company history and part journalism lecture.
He detailed self-described “undercover journalism” investigations he and Project Veritas operatives had undertaken. Over the years, O’Keefe and his group have targeted ACORN, a long-running community organizing nonprofit, National Public Radio and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
More recently, Project Veritas has taken on mainstream media organizations like CNN and The Washington Post.
“It’s not about techniques, or journalism ethics, it’s about power,” O’Keefe said.
Correction
Conservative activist James O’Keefe spoke Thursday night at a Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Middlebury, Vt. An earlier version of this story included a photo caption that incorrectly identified where he appeared.