Showdown or ....

When SS arrived shortly after 12, she reported that the state police were lined up shoulder-to-shoulder along the property line south of the main entrance with the riders lined up across from them--face-to-face. From background comments she heard as going through the main security entrance, it sounded as if there was a plan for the riders to cross the line in the next few minutes.

I went to lunch about an hour later and happened to be joined by some of the key PR people for the college. One of them remarked that the pink/purple being worn around campus today by students was generally in protest.

They reported that the riders' press conference had happened at 10:30. The college's press conference took place at noon. A couple of the riders were arrested. By the time the PR people were at lunch, all except one press person was gone from campus and the riders had left for lunch. The general agreement in the PR talk was a surprising "timidity" shown in the questions from the press during the college press conference. I didn't press for details.

The conversation moved on to men who are professing Christians who end up leaving family (wife, kids) for a gay lifestyle, which led into a discussion of "eternal security."

Looking out the window on the way back to lunch, I think the student and I decided that there were a handful of the riders back, but with so many police grouped along the property line between us and them, it was hard to see anything for sure. The student repeated the observation that the signs were unreadable from on-campus.

Maybe most of the colleges where the riders stop have foot traffic much closer to the property line and they weren't prepared to make signs large enough to be readable from the other side of a construction zone AND traffic circle. Or maybe it just proves the point that the signs are for the publicity, not necessarily for the people on campus.

The remaining press person was in the library writing up her story to be e-mailed in by deadline.

Business as usual.