WashU police chief: 250-300 protestors last nite, no arrests
I bumped into WashU Police Chief Don Strom last night as I was leaving the athletic complex where the VP debate was held. It was sometime after 11 p.m. and he was standing near the MSNBC stage set up in the middle of campus where Chris Matthews was broadcasting a late-night version of Hardballl.
Don Strom is the police chief for Washington University.
In any case, Strom told me that the debates had drawn about 250 to 300 protesters to the area. Pro-Biden and pro-Palin folks were in the mix. Many of them were anti-war protesters, but they represented a number of different causes and groups.
One gathering took place in nearby Northmoor Park. The protesters then walked to the debate site from there. Other crowds gathered in the public viewing area on the intramural field across from the athletic complex. WashU had set up that spot as a place for speakers and peaceful protests. Strom said there was also some protesters lingering along the east entrance to campus along Skinker.
He said there were no arrests. (In 2004, seven people were arrested outside of the presidential debate held at WashU. Two of them were presidential candidates from alternative parties who wanted to crash the event.)
During the actual debate, Strom was in a conference room on campus that had been set up to be the debate security command center. He — along with other public safety officials from around the region — used that space to oversee the efforts of dozens of officers from various agencies.
After we chatted, Strom contended with two gentleman standing near the MSNBC stage who were attracting lots of looks with their interesting signs and costumes. They were dressed up as a polar bear and a moose. They were not students, so Strom asked them to leave.
Kavita Kumar covers higher education for the Post-Dispatch. 
“In 2004, seven people were arrested outside of the presidential debate held at WashU. Two of them were presidential candidates from alternative parties who wanted to crash the event.”
Um, no. Two of them were presidential candidates (Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party and David Cobb of the Green Party) who were attempting to serve a court order (issued by a federal judge) on officials of the Commission on Presidential Debates (ordering them to show cause for excluding those two candidates, as said exclusion obviously constituted a candidate contribution well in excess of FEC limits to the non-excluded candidates).