A handful of Rowan University students turned a typical townhall meeting with Gov. Chris Christie into a more unpredictable morning on Thursday.

Six people, including at least four Rowan students, were led out of the Mount Laurel YMCA by authorities after heckling Christie on Sandy relief aid and the Bridgegate scandal.

Michael Brein, the student first to yell out to the governor as he took a question from an audience member, hails from Bellmawr and said he's associated with the New Jersey Working Family Alliance, a nonprofit organization affiliated with labor groups. The organization issued a statement in support of the students' actions following the townhall.

He questioned Christie — who unsurprisingly responded by saying “either sit down and keep quiet or get out” — about the amount of federal Sandy relief aid spent on advertisements like Christie’s Stronger than the Storm commercial than on actual recovery efforts.

“He spent two and half times more on advertisements with himself in them than on small businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy,” Brein said as he was escorted from the building.

At least three more Rowan University students followed, yelling questions on Bridgegate and related legal fees as Christie attempted to answer audience questions regarding pension contributions, educational funding and Alzheimer’s research.

Rowan University spokesman Joe Cardona said the university had no role in the student's actions at the town hall.

"Students were acting on their own interests," said Cardona, adding the students were "exercising what they thought was the right thing," but he wished they had expressed their views in a way that didn't take attention away from other attendees' questions.

Christie was intent on discussing his $34.4 billion budget proposal during the event, starting off the town hall by promoting the budget's increase in educational funding and lack of a tax increase, as well as lauding the success of property tax reform laws that limit tax levy increases to 2 percent annually. He also stressed the need to renew caps — set to "sunset" on March 31 — that limit how much an arbitrator can award to unions during labor disputes, and he reiterated the fact 94 percent of all new spending in the state budget goes toward pension payments, health care benefits and debt service.

"No matter how much the economy grows, we can't keep up with the promises we made in the past," said Christie, warning New Jersey could end up in the same financial straits as Detroit or Chicago.

All of the hecklers — who were met with shouts and groans from the mostly supportive crowd — were quickly escorted out by authorities, also giving Christie the chance to take a shot at both the students and the media.

"They want partisan, political attention from the media hungry to give it to them," said Christie.

As the interruptions took center stage during the town hall event, affordable housing advocates in the audience were left frustrated at not getting the chance to question Christie regarding the Council on Affordable Housing, or COAH, requirements, currently stuck in a state government limbo, particularly since the landmark case establishing COAH sprang from Mount Laurel.

“I wanted to ask him what he’s going to do about affordable housing, which is basically stonewalled. It’s about civil rights,” said Lorraine Wearley, who came down from Westfield, Union County, for the event with other advocates particularly because of its location. “I came all this way because this is the place that made history, and to have this law challenged so flippantly and stonewalled … It’s very scary.”

While Wearley wasn’t called on to deliver her question directly to the governor, Skip Brockner, an NRA member and truck driver from Collingswood, questioned Christie about proposed legislation that would lower the legal limit of gun magazine rounds from 15 to 10.

Christie acknowledged it’s a “very emotional issue on both sides,” but said he’s often had to be “the adult in the room” to separate legitimate legislation that would prevent crime from bills that help boost political status.

“We need to do common sense things that make us safer, not make us feel good for a day,” said Christie, who added he would wait to see if the legislation — currently in committee — made it to his desk before deciding to support it or not.

“I’ll let the legislature do the work and pass a bill. I have 45 days to read the fine print and decide,” he said.

Contact staff writer Michelle Caffrey at 856-686-3686 or mcaffrey@southjerseymedia.com