Sheriff Arpaio cut short by protestors at Cronkite School

Tempe, AZ – Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio left the stage Monday during a Meet the Press style interview Monday after being interrupted by singing protesters.

As a part of The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Must See Monday series, Sheriff Arpaio agreed to come address students and faculty about his relationship with the media.

Roughly 48 minutes into the conversation, Sheriff Arpaio was cut short while talking about his stance on immigration by a group of protestors singing to the tune of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

After efforts to quell the crowd failed, Sheriff Arpaio and the panel of journalists interviewing him promptly removed their microphones and exited the stage of the First Amendment Forum.

As soon as the protestors were exiting, Dean Christopher Callahan of the Cronkite School took to the stage in an attempt to calm the crowd.

“I understand your passion about this issue,” Callahan said, “But it seems to me, misplaced.”

Others in the audience felt mixed emotions.

“There was a good crowd here, but I’m not sure if they were here for the right reasons,” sophomore broadcast student Courtney Olish said. “I think it is unfortunate and I think even if you have a different opinion about Sheriff Joe that you should respect him.”

Susan Green, Broadcast Director for Cronkite News Service, was one of the moderators of the discussion, also had strong emotions towards the events of the evening.

“I’m sort of sad, we had a lot of great questions we still wanted to ask, and to have that happen, it’s like we lost out,” Green said.

Some students weren’t able to witness the conversation, but watched it elsewhere.

Alexandra Hogue, a sophomore broadcast student, watched the live stream in her political science class, but still felt the impact of the protest.

“I think the interruption of the protestors was not only embarrassing to the school, but it also really affected the way the rest of the evening went,” Hogue said. “It brought it to an abrupt end and they didn’t get finish asking him the questions that they wanted to ask him.”

While students and other faculty did get a generous portion of the allotted time and a good source of information from Sheriff Arpaio himself, they were cut short an opportunity to watch three top notch journalists interview a controversial public figure, Callahan said.

Many also commented on the irony of the event, because it happened in the aptly named First Amendment Forum.

“While the protestors don’t want [Arpaio] defending himself, it’s an open forum, and while they have the right to protest, he has the right to respond, and that was taken from him tonight,” Hogue said.

Before the protest began, however, the interview was running smoothly with moderators Susan Green, Steve Elliot and Rick Rodriguez, all elite faculty at the Cronkite School.

Among topics covered were Sheriff Arpaio’s opinion on public records, press conferences and media coverage of his legislation.

Guest article contributed by Rachel Korchin, Student
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

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