UW Students Stage Peaceful Protest at Dennis Prager Talk [PHOTOS]

Students at the University of Wyoming turned out to protest Dennis Prager's talk "Socialism Makes People Selfish," at the Education Auditorium Thursday night.

The students gathered outside the front steps of the Education Auditorium, holding signs. The protest was silent and the protesters didn't speak or interact with audience members lining up outside to see Prager.

Carter Henman, one of the organizers of the protest, said many of those protesting felt that using Associated Students of UW funds to bring Prager to campus was wrong.

"We are here protesting the ASUW subsidized appearance of Dennis Prager," Henman said.

A number of protesters wearing glow-sticks were positioned in front of the other protesters, forming a ring around them. Henman said those protesters had been briefed in 'deescalation' tactics and were there to create a 'buffer zone' for the other protesters who did not want to engage with Prager audience members.

Henman said that some protesters planned to attend Prager's talk and participate in the Q & A session afterwards.

There was no protesting inside the auditorium during the talk. Prager spent the first part of his talk addressing the claims that had been leveled against him by the protesters

"If I am all of the things that were said by some of your fellow students, then we have a real problem because, A. I'm not," Prager said. "And then when the real Nazis and anti-Semites and racists and misogynists and white supremacists show up, there will be no vocabulary."

Prager went on to address the audience about socialism and capitalism.

"The only thing that has ever raised large numbers of people from abject poverty is capitalism," Prager said. "People on the left care about equality, not prosperity."

At the end of his talk, Prager thanked the UW administration and UW President Laurie Nichols for being gracious hosts.