LARAMIE — Praise and protest greeted former Vice President Dick Cheney as he visited his alma mater Thursday for the dedication of an international center bearing his name.
About 100 protesters heckled Cheney throughout the dedication ceremony for the University of Wyoming’s Cheney International Center. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, donated $3.2 million for the new center for foreign students and for scholarships to Wyoming students to study abroad.
Protesters made up about a fifth of the crowd of about 500 and hoisted critical signs: “Shame on UW” and “We don’t want your blood money.”
“They violated international law. They had no respect for other countries,” Jennie Bo shell, a senior at the university, said of the Bush administration. “To put Cheney’s name on an international center is ridiculous and it makes the university look stupid.”
Another protester, Dan Depeyer, said he is studying democratization in the former Soviet republics and may well have received some of the Cheneys’ money to study abroad.
“If I were ever to study in a Muslim society — say, Saudi Arabia — I wouldn’t tell anybody over there I was funded by money that came from Dick Cheney,” Depeyer said.
Both Cheneys spoke at the event. Dick Cheney said his time as a student at the university laid the foundation for an “extraordinary career.”
“We hope that this center will provide the kind of support for Wyoming students to travel overseas, to travel internationally, to learn a lot of the lessons that we’ve learned over the years,” he said.
The former vice president endured shouts from the protesters gathered around the back of the crowd but got a standing ovation from those in front.
Another well-known Wyoming political figure, former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, rose to Cheney’s defense in introducing his longtime friend.
“This is a proud state, this is a proud family, and we’re proud of them,” Simpson said.
The last three presidential administrations, he said, all endured a lot of petty criticism.
“It is easy to second-guess. It is easy to protest — takes no brains,” Simpson said.
The Cheneys’ gift came with no strings attached.
“Everyone has a different take on the Cheney vice presidency,” university president Tom Buchanan said afterward. ” I think he is by far the university’s most accomplished alum, both in this state and in national politics.”
