Protesters had been expected, and they delivered, as former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales spoke at Metropolitan State College of Denver on Thursday.

Early into his hour-long remarks, which focused on life in a post-Sept. 11 world, sporadic shouts that Gonzales is a “war criminal” and should be in prison could be heard in the crowd.

Gonzales’ tenure as attorney general under then-President George W. Bush was marred with controversy surrounding the abrupt firings of U.S. attorneys, torture-interrogation tactics for terrorists and domestic eavesdropping.

After 2 1/2 years on the job and some staunch criticism from members of Congress, he resigned in 2007.

In an interview with The Denver Post before his speech, Gonzales said he had no regrets about his time in Washington as a White House counsel and attorney general.

“It’s important to focus forward and not backwards,” said Gonzales, now a professor at Texas Tech University. “I know that I did the very best I could and everyone I worked with did the very best they could with the information they had, under the time pressures they operated under, in making decisions to keep our country safe.”

At one point during Gonzales’ speech, five students — out of the roughly 300 people in an auditorium at the Auraria campus — stood and placed black hoods over their heads.

Matt Brinton, an interim assistant director of student activities at Metro State, said the school, in conjunction with the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver, paid $20,000 for Gonzales’ appearance.

“Gonzales is one of the architects of the torture memos that supplied what he considers the legal protection of torturing and violating international law,” said protester Glen Spagnuolo.

Spagnuolo, a UCD student in political science and a ubiquitous member of the local protest scene, objected to his tuition dollars’ being spent on Gonzales.

Jon Thurman, who did a tour in Afghanistan and is now a student at Metro State, supports Gonzales’ actions in regard to interrogation techniques.

“I think when you deploy and volunteer to go to war, it’s going to change your perspective on the enemy and how the enemy should be dealt with,” he said.