The Free Speech Rally was ready to begin on the lawn beside the wooded edge of a university campus. It looked like an outdoor wedding was expected. White folding chairs were arranged in rows facing a raised platform and a podium.

Students and others walked in from an adjoining road on one side, and the campus on the other. Except for a few protest signs bobbing up and down, and one contingent wearing black, all seemed peaceful on this warm spring Friday afternoon.

Emma plopped into a chair. 'They're not gonna let her talk, you know. They'll shout her down like the last one.'