The college where a student shouted 'Remember Chappaquiddick!' as Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., began a speech will not discipline the 20-year-old – even though campus police had warned the man of possible consequences of his action.
Paul Trost, a student at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, Mass., was upset by an introduction of Kennedy given by Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., Tuesday in which the congressman noted how the long-time senator overcame hardship in life on his way to success.
"Lynch said Kennedy had overcome such adversity to get to the place he was, and that's a bunch of bull," Trost said of the introduction, which occurred in the school's student center.
Just as Kennedy began speaking, Trost was walking out of the room when he shouted, "Remember Chappaquiddick!"
"Most of the crowd gasped," Trost said. "Then I walked out of the student center."
The student says a campus police officer went outside and stopped him. He also saw some state troopers go outside, the type who accompany Kennedy around the state to provide security.
Trost says the cop took down his information and told him he would be hearing from school officials about disciplinary action. A spokesman with the campus police verified the incident.
Dick Cronin, a spokesman for Massasoit Community College, said today that Trost is off the hook.
A representative of the United States Justice Foundation offered pro bono legal assistance to Trost had he faced sanctions from the college.
Trost said one of his teachers confronted him after a class Tuesday about the Chappaquiddick issue.
"One of my teachers called me ignorant and told me this was an embarrassment to the school," Trost told WND. "She said to me, 'Can't you forgive him after all these years?' And I said, 'No, he killed somebody.'
"If it had been me or any other person, we'd be in jail," Trost says he told his instructor.
Referring to his two-word shout, Trost said, "I did it because I know about Kennedy's past. I know what happened at Chappaquiddick.
"I wanted to send a message to him that my generation still knows about it. We haven't forgotten about it."
Trost, a liberal arts major who has protested the Iraq war, says he's not a right-winger.
"I tend to have what would be considered liberal views," he explained, "but I go with whatever I think is right."
Sure is good that a citizen is allowed to confront elected officials with protest...instead of having them in "free speech zones" far from the elected official like Bush does.
