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Former UVSC Student Body Vice President writes book about 2004 controversy- The Daily Universe, January 25, 2005

Ex-Student V.P. honored for Moore Visit- Deseret News, Jan. 12, 2005

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"Moore War Creates its Heroes" by Holly Mullen

Salt Lake Tribune, Dec. 21, 2004

OREM- Yes, I went there Wednesday, along with what must have been half of the Wasatch Front. I'll just lay this out for you now. I've liked Michael Moore since "Roger and Me." As for the mess surrounding his appearance at Utah Valley State College, the way it all began and played out was even more intriguing than the man himself.

So yeah, I was star sniffing. I wanted to see Moore lumber into the room, raise the roof with all his righteous liberal rage and push the puree button on the state's political satus quo.

He did not disappoint. The speech began nearly an hour late, and 15 minutes into it, Moore ordered security guards to remove a man the filmmaker believed was pointing an "object" at him from under his coat.

"I'm sorry, that's the rules," Moore barked. "If you point an object at me in the third row it's hard for me to concentrate."

So went the Slacker Uprising Tour, UVSC style. Save for a reference to the late acerbic LDS leader and folk hero, J. Golden Kimball - "Can I say 'damn' here? I learned it from J. Golden Kimball - Moore sounded pretty much like he has all over the country, visiting two cities a day, 60 cities a month, trying to incite young Americans in presidential swing states to vote ("try it just this once"), specifically for John Kerry.

And yes, he knows it won't matter in Utah. And yes, Moore got his $40,000 fee - $50,000 plus change if you count travel and security details - but he seemed to genuinely get the bigger point for stopping in this reddest of red state: to honor a couple of true Americans.

See, like just about every other spectator at Wednesday's extravaganza, I figured I was there to see and hear Moore. But listening to him in a pre-show press conference, and then hearing his opening remarks in the arena, I realized I had almost missed the real story. It's about two heroes named Jim Bassi and Joe Vogel, the student body president and vice president, respectively, of UVSC. They swam like two bloodied and battered salmon upstream to get Moore to their campus.

'UN-believable," said Moore in the press conference, after he ticked through the roadblocks that fellow students and busybody college benefactors had thrown up against the two men.

There were threats to recall the elected student leaders, and bribery and extortion efforts to get them to change their minds. A lawsuit was filed against the school on Tuesday, arguing that the students illegally overspent for the Moore appearance. The school bent to community pressure for "equal time" and invited conservative talk show host Sean Hannity to the school last week. The war continued.

"No amount of money, no amount of pressure, nothing" would force the student leaders to back down, Moore said. "And this is not Berkeley, not Madison, not Ann Arbor. But Utah.

"I have never seen a more dedicated group to the First Amendment than the students at Utah Valley State College."

Me neither. Long after Moore and his crew had shuffled off to Iowa, I waited in a near empty concrete arena to meet student veep Vogel. He is 23, a junior studying English literature and engaged to be married to Tiffany Van Tassell in December. His favorite authors are C.S. Lewis and John Steinbeck. He has published a book of poety. He is blond and slightly built, a returned Mormon missionary from Micronesia. His parents are political conservatives. He is soft-spoken.

He is a patriot.

We talked, then Joe drew a deep breath and answered the question I most wanted him to answer: What did he learn from walking through this fire?

"That people are complex. That people are human. That stereotypes and labels are reductive. And that when you listen, you can learn a lot."