Members of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth discussed the collapse of WTC Building 7 in an event put on by Tau Delta Phi attended by approximately 40 people yesterday in engineering auditorium.

Presenter Kathy McGrade used clips from the movie "9/11: Blueprint For Truth" to make the case that WTC Building 7 collapsed because of controlled demolition, and examined a report issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology which concluded that the building collapsed because of uncontrolled fires on several floors, leading to the collapse of a support column which caused the building to collapse.

"I have studied the evidence, and I am fully convinced that this report … not only is it wrong, but it's fraudulent," McGrade said.

McGrade, who holds a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering and owns a company that inspects fire trucks, said she became involved with Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth after seeing the movie "Loose Change" on the Internet, and was motivated to examine the available evidence.

"As a seasoned engineer, I've learned never to trust my first instincts. I've been burned by them too many times," she said.

The presentation was interrupted by undeclared freshman Mark Williams and junior business major Nithin Mathew.

Williams and Mathew stood up at the beginning of the presentation and stood on the side of the stage with signs reading "Was it Bush's UFO?" and "Was Bigfoot the Pilot?"

"We just wanted to let everyone know that what's going on is there's conspiracy theorists that are trying to convince people that there are conspiracies, and we're just saying, ‘hey, take it with a grain of salt,' so we just added a humorous aspect to it," said Mathew.

Williams and Mathew disagree with the organization's conclusion.

"I think it's false. I think it's fraudulent that they would say that about America," Williams said.

Event organizers called campus police to escort Williams and Mathew from the building.

Architect Richard Gage, a member of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, said the presentation examines building seven because audiences tend to be more receptive to it.

"We put it up to bat first because it always gets on base," Gage said.

McGrade and other members of the organization claim the building fell into its own footprint at freefall speed, which they say couldn't have happened in the scenario NIST describes.

Members of the organization say there is evidence to support their claim of controlled demolition, such as pools of molten iron found in the debris and chemicals found in a US Geological Survey study of dust collected from the collapse of the WTC buildings.

Luis Ruelas, a junior materials engineering major and magistrate of Tau Delta Phi, claimed that the building would have collapsed sideways if NIST's report on the cause of the collapse were accurate.

Ruelas brought the organization to campus as part of Tau Delta Phi's biannual Fireside event, where the fraternity brings speakers to campus on an issue that will make students think.

"It was a better turnout than other events that we've had before," Ruelas said.

During the question and answer session, audience members asked questions ranging from specific pieces of evidence in the presentation to questions of who and what was responsible for the collapse of WTC7.

Gage declined to engage with audience questions speculating as to who might be responsible for the controlled demolition in his answers.

"We're architects and engineers. We know architecture and engineering. We know and appreciate technical things. So we lose credibility when we stray outside the boundaries of technical information," Gage said.

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