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World Bank Official Pied at CMU Campus
by Breaking reports
Thursday, Mar. 13, 2003 at 6:10 PM
An official for the World Bank who was giving a speech on the Carnegie Mellon Campus was apparently pied this afternoon.
Bruno Lanvin, program manager for the World Bank's outreach program, was on the Carnegie Mellon campus as part of the Verizon Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series. The lecture, which was given in an intimate setting during lunch in Hamburg Hall, was focused on the global "digital divide."
During the lecture, apparently a man flung a cherry pie directly into Lanvin's face. The man who threw the pie took off running but was apprehended and taken into custody by the CMU police shortly thereafter.
More news as details come in.
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by --
Thursday, Mar. 13, 2003 at 8:01 PM
Whoo hooo!!! Maybe they'll think twice about trying to represent murdering-neo-liberal institutions in Pittsburgh!
Too bad the fellow was caught ... we should help him if anyone knows who it was.
BLESS AMERICA!
by OH MY!
Thursday, Mar. 13, 2003 at 8:10 PM
A CHERRY PIE!!! good work mate!!!
long live humor!! long live pies!
long live the humilation that fool must feel!!
great work..
oh my
by Evan N
Thursday, Mar. 13, 2003 at 10:00 PM
whoever threw the pie you are my hero no kidding - it shoulda been a whipped cream pie though. but for real lets all have a round of applause for whoever pied him.
..
by ..
Thursday, Mar. 13, 2003 at 10:22 PM
hell ya. too bad the person was caught. if whoever it was needs help with anything please contact pog at pog@mutualaid.org and I'm sure people would do what they can.
mr
by please
Thursday, Mar. 13, 2003 at 10:25 PM
Pictures are needed immidiately! please please please.
and awesome job whoever did it. that so needed to happen.
Statement of the organizers
by Quinten
Friday, Mar. 14, 2003 at 11:29 AM
I spoke with the organizers of the lecture, who had the following written statement. I still have not got in contact with the thrower of the pie, but I hope that other people might share their own accounts. The following statement is from Peter Shane the "emcee" of the lunch and director of the organization that hosted it.
"At the conclusion of a lecture and question-and-answer session yesterday by Mr. Bruno Lanvin, program director of infoDev, I invited students who wanted to talk to Mr. Lanvin personally to step down to the front of the room and do so. I saw a young man approach Mr. Lanvin, who was standing next to me, and throw something at him. I think he said somwething like, 'Here's your pie.' The young man immediately turned and ran, and several faculty colleagues and I chased him into the parking lot, calling for anyone around to assist in stopping him. Some students did stop and hold him outside Newell-Simon; we called campus police who came and took the assailant away. They also briefly interviewed the student who had apprehended the assailant, and then took information also from Mr. Lanvin and me.
"As director of the Carnegie Mellon program that was hosting Bruno Lanvin's lecture on bahalf of the entire university, I am glad, of course, that the particular form of assault involved in yesterday's incident apparently did not ultimately pose a serious threat to anyone's health or safety. Of course, this could not be determined until after the assault took place. My inclination, when someone is throwing a substantial object in my direction, is not to take their word that it is harmless. Having said that, the assault is regrettable for a great many reasons.
"First, I think it is offensive to treat people this way, although Mr. Lanvin was utterly gracious in responding to it. It is not acceptable for individuals to take upon themselves depriving other people of their physical security and dignity to make a debating point. Personally, I am tired of people who think they can bully others into their point of view, no matter how otherwise sympathetic that point of view may be. Second, although the World Bank has a great many critics -- including, for example, George Soros, who recently lectured also at Carnegie Mellon -- it's not clear that Mr. Lanvin's program has anything to do with whatever this particular assailant was trying to protest. It strikes me, in retrospect, a little bit as if this young man had "pied" a Peace Corps director in order to protest the war in Iraq. Third, as protests go, this one seemed pathetically ill-calculated. If the assailant had something he wanted to say about the World Bank, the floor was open to him to say it. He could have challenged Mr. Lanvin on any point he made, or, indeed, asked him questions about any World Bank policy at all. Given that Carnegie Mellon students are awfully smart folks, I think that Mr. Lanvin would have been happy enough to hear what this fellow had to say and to respond. Also, if the assailant wanted the audience to know that he was a protestor, I'm fairly sure that the campus art store sells poster board and markers. Instead, the assailant chose a form of protest that was utterly inarticulate and calculated to inform and persuade no one. Finally, we were privileged to have Mr. Lanvin's company for only a few hours. When this incident occurred, several students were lined up to chat with him. I knew at least a few of these to be international students with deep personal interest in how information technology might be deployed in their home countries to improve education and health care, make government more accessible and democratic, raise standards of living in poor and rural areas, and facilitate citizen engagement in programs of environmental protection. This incident deprived these students of a personal contact they would have found valuable."
hmm
by another cmu student
Friday, Mar. 14, 2003 at 2:21 PM
While I always like to see nonviolent civil disobedience where appropriate, it seems from the comments that quinten quoted that this wasn't quite harmless, especially if it deprived people of an opportunity to have a productive discussion with this guy.
Seems the guy probably deserves to be smacked down, but I hope the punishment is proportional to the crime. In this day and age with everyone called a "terrorist" I suspect not, unfortunately.
Should make interesting reading in Monday's Tartan if they manage to finish their epic research project on the incredibly arcane art of marginally competent journalism first. :-P
give 'em a break
by emma
Friday, Mar. 14, 2003 at 8:30 PM
Give the tartan a break. I used to be a tartan editor, and i know that those kids put a lot of time into a paper that's really pretty phenomenal when you look at CMU's peer schools' papers. If you want to better the incompetent journalism of the world, the best way is to make your own media (ie, the point of indymedia) rather than to just criticize others' efforts.
you're entirely welcome to research the pie-ing yourself and post an article here.
A Pie in the Eye Leaves the Fish to Fry
by Vega
Saturday, Mar. 15, 2003 at 2:16 PM
Tartan sucks balls.
Hail Eris.
pies is good
by crockett
Saturday, Mar. 15, 2003 at 4:56 PM
so, a person threw a pie in the face of a world bank official. all i can say is: "it's about time"
i call to all my brethren to risk their lives hurling these insruments of assault and terrorism at the greedy capitalist pigs of the world. deprive these people of their saftey and dignity...la la la.
he threw a fucking pie, give him a break.
tartan sucks
Balls?
by Sam
Saturday, Mar. 15, 2003 at 6:40 PM
All hail Discordia! ;-)
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by --
Saturday, Mar. 15, 2003 at 9:31 PM
I can't believe those assholes chased him down and arrested him.
That was not wise CMU. I can't think of a better way to piss off the activist community.
Cherry? and getaway outfit
by tofuman
Saturday, Mar. 15, 2003 at 9:43 PM
Some are saying it was a cherry pie; however the minor splatterings I remember seeing on others looked more creamy. (tofu?) I could be wrong but I thought red was a no-no.
He had a cheap-looking suit on over jeans & so forth that tore when bystanders tackled/stopped him -- it looked like he could have made it away if only he could have shed the suit...
info on pie-thrower and action
by biotic baking brigade
Saturday, Mar. 15, 2003 at 10:40 PM
bbb@asis.com
hey folks,
if anyone has any more info on this action, or knows how to get in touch with the pie-slinger, we want to support him. nice shot!
pie high,
agent apple for the Biotic Baking Brigade
Getting a name
by teamsterturtle
Sunday, Mar. 16, 2003 at 8:05 AM
I think it is important that we get a name soon. I mean, the person has been apprehended. God knows what they are doing to him. Seems odd that no other info. has been issued.
Thanks!
by chris boette
Sunday, Mar. 16, 2003 at 1:25 PM
I'm the person that delivered sweet blueberry justice to
Bruno Lanvin from the World Bank last Thursday.
After reading the comments, I just want to thank everyone
who offered their support. I received two
Carnegie Mellon University internal citations, one for
disorderly conduct and one for underage drinking (a
small bit of cheap rum to take the edge off ;) ). As for
the specifics of any sort of punishment, I don't know
what will happen, but it'll probably be less severe than
the two felony assaults they threated to charge me with,
one for Lanvin, the other for a guy who ran into a
door and busted his lip when he was chasing me.
The Tartan will be running a story on the
pieing in Monday's issue. If anyone wants me too,
I can post my account here, just in case
the Tartan does a less-than-spectacular job.
Yes, Do Tell...
by Rovin' Workman
Sunday, Mar. 16, 2003 at 4:06 PM
I would be most pleased to see your story on the newswire. Perhaps the good members of the editorial collective will use it for feature material. Maybe that's just my pie in the sky aspiration. Please keep us informed as to your legal situation, as there are many Pittsburghers willing to assist you in that.
your story! we want it!
by emma
Sunday, Mar. 16, 2003 at 6:44 PM
Hell yeah, we'd love to read your story. Tartan comes out on Monday y'all. keep yr eyes peeled.
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