Y. campus protests to be rather decorous

PROVO — Students in the Republican and Democrat clubs at Brigham Young University will stage dueling campus protests today at 11 a.m. to air their opinions about the upcoming visit of Vice President Dick Cheney.

The College Democrats club will demonstrate in the Joseph F. Smith Building Quad, which is the area between the front of the building and the Harold B. Lee Library.

The College Republicans will counter with a rally in the Marigold Quad between the W.W. Clyde Building and the Thomas L. Martin Building, commonly known as the MARB.

Both protests will last two hours, but "protest" might be too strong a word.

Leaders on both sides plan to follow strict guidelines laid out by the BYU administration when it approved the Democrats' rally under the university's policy regarding public forums.

First, only students, faculty and staff are allowed to join the demonstrations. BYU policy does not allow off-campus groups to use the campus as a public forum.

BYU administrators asked protesters not to attack them, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — which owns BYU — or the church's First Presidency.

Demonstrators are not to yell, shout, chant or carry signs that include personal attacks.

"They expect us to self-police it," said Spencer Dorsey, secretary of the College Democrats club. "They didn't give a specific consequence if we didn't follow the rules."

The Democrats are making extra signs to replace those people bring that might be too edgy.

"We're trying to provide a platform for dialogue," Dorsey said, "so we're not going to do a ton of censoring, but if someone is obviously not following the rules, we'll ask them to stop."

The Republicans, well, they agree.

"This is not a gang war but a counter-rally and pro-BYU party," the student Republican club said in an e-mail sent to state Republican leaders and other supporters on Tuesday. "We don't want to have any problems or conflicts."

That said, the e-mail took a typical political dig at the other side: "Although, if the Democrats got upset at us and lost their tempers, it might make great news. Remember Howard Dean?"

The College Democrats obtained permission from BYU for their protest last week, while the Republicans received the OK Tuesday.