Lars Ulrich and a handful of other notable figures recently attended the Ulrich-hosted Front Row event, which was essentially meant to explore the creative community of the Bay Area through conversation between successful figures from the locale and the audience.
Instead, protesters stormed the stage and one allegedly attacked Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff. According to reports, the the Student Labor Committee wasn't happy with the event and planned to disrupt it.
So how'd Ulrich handle it? Like a polite human being, by offering them a chance to talk to the audience. Holy shit Lars, good on you for being incredibly professional in this situation! You can check out video below, and see comments from the UC community, who are kinda pissed about the protestors.
As a community, we unambiguously denounce such behavior. We cannot shrug off these acts as “the exuberance of youth,” “it’s Berkeley,” or “it’s freedom of speech.” It is none of these. This is our community and our campus, our place of work and our place of study. Violence has no place here. No matter what cause the disrupters may believe they are serving, it cannot justify the attempt to destroy a fundamental function (arguably the fundamental function) of the university — namely creating an open space for the free exchange of ideas.
