While a sold-out crowd greeted Dr. Jack Kevorkian at the O'Connell Center on Tuesday night with a warm welcome, about 60 protestors stood outside in the 40-degree weather to deliver an icy message.
The protesters, some dressed in black to match what they deemed a dark mood, held white posters with the words, "DEATH is not welcome here" written in bold, black lettering.
Standing in a straight line along a waist-high gate enclosing the protest zone, activists spanning three generations gathered to protest Kevorkian's speech, which was sponsored by Accent, Student Government's speakers bureau.
Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 for assisted suicide. He was released from prison after eight years in 2007.
The protest was mostly organized by Pro-Life Alliance, a UF student group traditionally known for its anti-abortion stance, and members of Gainesville churches and visitors from Ocala and Orlando joined the students.
Besides disagreeing with Kevorkian's message, Ben Burwell, a UF sophomore and member of the alliance, said he doesn't think his tuition money should be used to host a convicted murderer at UF.
"He is not a doctor, and I'm embarrassed that our school, which has such a prestigious medical school, has invited someone here who claims to be a doctor but had his license revoked," he said.
Kevorkian was paid about $50,000 for his speech, and most of that money came from UF students' Activity & Service Fees.
Mark Schrimsher, 51, drove from Orlando to protest. He said he graduated from UF in 1979 and sent his four children to his alma mater.
Schrimsher, the regional director for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, held up a 13-foot-by-6-foot banner to show how he thought abortion and euthanasia were connected.
The banner, almost as tall as Schrimsher, featured a picture of an aborted fetus with the words, "Don't let kids ruin your career," next to a large picture of Kevorkian and the sentence, "Don't let parents ruin your retirement."
Schrimsher's organization also paid to fly a plane above the O'Connell Center waving a message expressing, "Planned Parenthood kills your babies; Dr. Kevorkian kills your parents," he said.
Schrimsher said he talked to some people who planned to listen to Kevorkian, but no one was rude or offensive while he protested.
One man he talked with flew from California to see Kevorkian, an event the man described as "about as important as seeing the shuttle lift off," Schrimsher said.
He said another memorable character was a man imitating protesters.
Richard Adams, an O'Connell Center supervisor who was in charge of the protest zone, said the man he dubbed "the anti-protesting protester" was his only out-of-the-ordinary sighting that night.
"He was screaming about freeing Nelson Mandela, stopping apartheid and saving the whales," Adams said.
At one point, he said the lone anti-protester's message turned from saving the whales to shaving them.
Ronnie Morrison, 77, said she didn't notice any people outside the protest zone shouting comments. But she said she wasn't surprised at that behavior. Morrison said she didn't understand how anyone could support Kevorkian's actions, which she said are clearly wrong.
"I'm against murder," Morrison said. "I believe in the Ten Commandments. One of them says, 'Do not kill.'"
