MONTEVALLO — Thursday afternoon, 1819 News CEO Bryan Dawson visited the University of Montevallo campus for the recently rescheduled "Prove Me Wrong" event hosted by Turning Point USA. During the event, left-leaning students on campus hosted a protest against the visit.
Protesters held signs of Dawson's face, encouraging students to walk up to draw on it.
Several protesters, wearing and carrying various pride flags, sat together eating pizza and talking among themselves, not chanting or organizing.
At the protest, students also held signs related to Dawson's prior criminal history, an issue he addressed during the event when prompted by a student's question.
During the event itself, protesters sitting across the plaza only booed occasionally, though they remained out of earshot of event attendees. The majority of the crowd listened and clapped after each answer by Dawson.
The weak protest follows the University of Montevallo's rescheduling of the event, citing security concerns after multiple threats against Dawson's safety. There was a campus walkout following the rescheduling of the event from weeks prior, with students upset that the university was allowing it to move forward.
Over 150 students gathered to listen to Dawson, while a fraction of that, around 30 students, gathered to protest, a majority of whom only sat down to eat pizza and leave.
While the protest started with around 30 students, less than halfway through Dawson's event, most left, leaving only a handful to blare loud music, dance, and bang on drums.
When asked why they were there to protest, the protesters refused to comment.
"I support their right to protest," said Clay Callahan, vice president of the Turning Point USA Chapter at the University of Montevallo. "I also encouraged them to come ask a question."
The event itself was an open-format, question-and-answer session in which those who opposed Dawson's viewpoints were encouraged to step up to the microphone to ask him a question.
Trenton Buffenbarger is a senior at the University of Alabama and is the Chairman of the UA Young Americans for Freedom.
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