Sara Russo

California State University at Fresno recently sparked a national controversy by sponsoring a two-day conference devoted to discussing the violent criminal tactics taken by radical environmentalists. Titled “Revolutionary Environmentalism: A Dialogue Between Activists and Academics,” the conference was held February 13-14 on the Fresno campus. Featured panelists and speakers included a convicted arsonist, an animal rights terrorist who is currently an international fugitive, and members of terrorist groups such as the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front which advocate using violence and arson to advance their agendas.

Organized by Fresno’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration, the conference was funded with approximately $3,500 of state funds, about half the total cost of holding the conference. Several other university departments, including the Social Science, Geography and Anthropology departments gave money towards this total.

“Across the past two generations, on a cycle of approximately 10-12 years, splinter groups broke off from established environmental organizations….Direct-action tactics, even violent tactics, become more common,” wrote Mark Somma, an associate professor of political science at Fresno State and a conference organizer, in a statement explaining his department’s rationale for holding the event.

“Without advocating their positions or legitimizing their tactics, we, as scholars, have a responsibility to our disciplines and our society, to investigate and elucidate the increase in direct-action activism,” he added.

Criticism of the conference was sharp and swift. “While the FBI investigates a wave of recent crimes by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), notorious ringleaders from these violent fringe groups have been given a friendly academic platform to espouse their tactics of arson, property destruction, and death threats. California State University Fresno will host an event next week dedicated to the topic of “Revolutionary Environmentalism,” stated the Center for Consumer Freedom, the organization which broke the story about the conference.

United States Congressman Richard W. Pombo, a Republican from California, has also chastised Fresno State for holding the event. “This ‘revolutionary environmentalism’ includes sinking ships, burning universities, tree-spiking. That’s a far cry from organizing a recycling drive,” a spokesman for the congressman told the Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Environmental conflict has expanded worldwide over the past twenty years,” Fresno responded in a statement for the media. “A growing movement toward ‘direct-action’ tactics, such as arson and property destruction, by environmental and animal-rights activists prompts a need for debate, discussion, and an academic analysis of these trends.”

“The university does not endorse or condone the use of violence to advance environmental goals,” Fresno’s statement continued. “The university seminar intends to create an opportunity for academic discourse that may provide insight into the motivation of those who engage in ‘Revolutionary Environmentalism.’”

Despite the University’s assertions that the conference merely provided a platform for “academic discourse,” the speaker’s roster for the event featured representatives from a laundry-list of violent eco-terrorist groups.

Speakers at Thursday night’s introductory presentation and discussion included Craig Rosebraugh, a former spokesman for Earth Liberation Front (ELF), who invoked the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination more than 50 times while being grilled about his organization’s criminal activities at a 2002 congressional hearing. ELF publicly encourages individuals and groups to commit acts of violence to “stop the exploitation and destruction of the natural environment.” The organization’s website gleefully takes credit for “direct action” tactics, such as setting fire to several SUV’s at an Erie, PA dealership and for damaging a “luxury” housing development in Northeast Pennsylvania. Both ELF and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) are on the FBI’s list of domestic terrorist groups.

Also granted a spot at the podium on Thursday was “Captain” Paul Watson, from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which describes itself as a “self-appointed policing organization given credibility by the terms of the United Nations Earth Charter.” Watson sails around the world in cement-hulled boats, designed specifically for ramming into and destroying other vessels, and attempts to sink boats and destroy whaling stations across the globe. Watson is presently sought by the Costa Rican government.

“Activist” speakers on Friday’s panels were no less extreme in their views and actions. A panel on “The Ethics of Direct Action” included Rodney Coronado, who has been convicted of multiple counts of arson, and spent 57 months in jail for burning down a Michigan State University laboratory. Rik Scarce, a professor at Michigan State and an old buddy of Coronado’s, also spoke on the panel. Scarce allowed Coronado to operate out of his home during a period of criminal activity in 1991 and was jailed for months for refusing to divulge any details of Coronado’s criminal activities to a grand jury.

Additional conference speakers and panelists included People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Humane Education Lecturer Gary Yourofsky, who has been arrested over a dozen times for crimes conducted in the name of animal rights, and Kim Marks, a spokesperson for Earth First!, a radical environmentalist group. Upon taking the podium Thursday night, Yourofsky claimed that circus and farm animals are subject to torture and stated that, “Those who torture for profit are the real terrorists.”

University administrators admitted that the selection of speakers for an academic event was unusual, but continued to defend the school's decision to host the conference. “The presence of some of the invited participants has created considerable controversy, but unless these issues are given adequate discussion and critical examination, alternative means to address their positions will never be fostered,” commented Fresno State Provost J. Michael Ortiz, in a statement.

Realizing the amount of interest the conference would generate in light of the national news coverage, University officials decided to close the event to the public, admitting only those presenting valid University ID’s or specially issued media passes. Some faculty members took special steps to ensure that their students would attend the conference by using the sessions as class assignments. “The Provost has asked professors to provide alternative instructional experiences for students who do not wish to attend Revolutionary Environmentalism sessions,” noted a statement from the Fresno State.

Though the conference is now over, the controversy may have lasting repercussions for the University. Several California state senators have launched a campaign to cut Fresno State’s funding by the amount that the school spent on the Revolutionary Environmentalism conference. “They should all be behind bars, not feted at taxpayers’ expense,” said State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, a Republican from Murrieta, of the speakers at the conference. “If Fresno State has so much money as to throw it away on this kind of garbage, then they can obviously stand a cut to their funding.”