This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A real-estate broker and a Utah Valley State College student are not dropping the lawsuit they filed over filmmaker Michael Moore's appearance at UVSC.
"Bottom line is those students paid $25,000 to throw the biggest liberal bash ever put on in this state," said Anderson, emphasizing that he and Garcia will show up Dec. 10 at Orem's 4th District Court to present their opening arguments to Judge John Backlund.
Anderson and Garcia are acting as their own attorneys in the suit they filed Oct. 18, which claims student government leaders overstepped their authority when they committed student fees to pay for the "Fahrenheit 9/11" director's Oct. 20 appearance without calling for a student vote.
Joni Jones and Scott Cheney of the Attorney General's Office recently filed a motion asking Backlund to dismiss the suit. They argue Anderson and Garcia suffered no actual injury stemming from Moore's speech -- at least not one addressable by the court -- and, therefore, lack standing to bring a suit.
Moreover, Jones and Cheney assert that the student council is not a legal entity and cannot be part of the suit.
They insist the same holds true of Clegg, who signed the contract with Moore.
Jones says the suit is aimed at stifling UVSC's First Amendment rights.
"Just because you don't like what the university has done or is doing, doesn't mean you can sue," Jones said in an interview. "It certainly looks like Mr. Anderson's objective is to manipulate Utah Valley State College into only having speakers he approves of. You can't do that."
Anderson counters that the state owes Utahns and taxpayers an answer instead of asking the judge to dismiss the complaint.
"Their defense is that they don't have to answer to anybody," Anderson said. "They don't have to answer to the college; they don't have to answer to the community, and they don't have to answer to the students."
Anderson, who attended Moore's speech at the McKay Events Center, was most annoyed at what student-body president Jim Bassi said at the event.
"When he stood up and said he felt vindicated because so many UVSC students were there to hear Michael Moore, I wondered if he wasn't vindicated myself," Anderson said. "But when Moore began to bash Republicans, bash Bush . . . and went off on gay marriage, and the crowd cheered and continued with standing ovations, it became very clear that this wasn't a Utah County crowd.
About 8,000 turned out for Moore's sold-out appearance. Anderson says most of them were "the most liberal of the leftist liberals" from Salt Lake City.
"They are the people that we in Utah County and UVSC were trying to keep out of here -- and they're the ones that were cheering him on."
Anderson rejects those who say he is trying to stifle students' free-speech freedoms. He says the real issue is the lack of respect the college showed by inviting and paying for Moore to speak.
"The issue is our student-body government and . . . whether they are going to follow the rules or whether they are going to play the Nancy Workman and Enron game, which is what they've been doing."