ANN ARBOR, MI - Author Charles Murray was met with chants, music, intentionally annoying cell phone sounds, an overhead projector displaying an arrow pointing to him along with the words "white supremacist," and hostile questions from students during his visit to the University of Michigan on Wednesday, Oct. 11.

Murray, who has drawn criticism for his views on the role of IQ shaping America's class structure in his 1994 book "The Bell Curve," spoke Wednesday in Palmer Commons on the UM campus.

He spoke for a couple of minutes before students argued that he should leave campus, while others in the room countered that they wanted to hear what he had to say during what were at times heated exchanges between those in attendance.

UM student groups Students of Color of Rackham and the Multicultural Leadership Counc organized a march from UM's C.C. Little Science Building to Palmer Commons, where many students demonstrated during his speech.

Another protest was organized by the University of Michigan chapter of Campus Anti-Fascist Network and were joined by By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) on the Diag.

Many of the protesters made their way to Palmer Commons to get in line early for a chance to demonstrate in front of Murray. The event - which was limited to UM students and faculty - featured tight, abundant security at the doors and at the entrance of the venue where Murray spoke.

The speech went on with Murray refuting many of the opinions from audience members that his work in "The Bell Curve" was racist or aligned with white supremacy. He tried to explain the point behind his research.

"I don't think you will ever find the words inferior and superior in 'The Bell Curve' period," he said. "What you will find instead in many cases is we want to emphasize that IQ all by itself tells you very little about whether a person you meet is someone you respect, someone who is going to be funny or someone who is going to accomplish great things."

After Murray took some questions and engaged in dialog with UM student Bryan Ransom, who took the stage to debunk findings from "The Bell Curve," a number of protesters began to disperse from the event shortly before 6:45 p.m. Murray was able to complete his speech and moved on to questions from the audience to conclude his appearance at UM.

There were no incidents of violence nor ejections from the venue during his visit.

UM student and Michigan Mellon Fellow Austin McCoy said Murray's work has long been debunked, making him irrelevant as a campus speaker.

"I don't really care about Charles Murray - I think he's irrelevant," McCoy said prior to Murray's speaking engagement Wednesday. "He's trying to use protests and student anger to rebuild his career."

PhD candidate Michael Medina prepared protesters to ignore Murray's message prior to his speaking engagement.

"We're here with one purpose - shutting down white supremacy on this campus," he said. "Right now we have one purpose - letting Charles Murray we don't give a s*** about what he's got to say.

"We want him to know that his pseudo-science has no place on this campus," he added.

Murray, who describes himself as a Libertarian, has been drawing protests at colleges and universities across the country, particularly for "The Bell Curve," which some believe argues that African-Americans have lower intelligence than other races.

His work was refuted by faculty members of UM's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts on Wednesday prior to his speaking engagement.

The group criticized Murray's writings, which they described as "ideological justifications for the disenfranchisement of African Americans, Latinx, immigrants, working class and poor whites ... dressed up as academic scholarship."

Murray's claims that intelligence is inherited and that there is little social policy can do to lessen social inequality, the group wrote, have been debunked by decades of social science research.

"While we support the right of students to invite credible spokespersons for diverse perspectives, we also must point out that the very act of inviting someone like Murray, who has been a prominent proponent of positions suggesting the intellectual inferiority of African Americans, Latinx, and working-class people, has meaning and can seem to be a particular insult to those members of the UM community who represent identities he has disparaged," the group wrote.

"Murray's views are well known and have changed little in the last two decades. Inviting him, therefore, reads much more like sanctioning his positions than imagining a vigorous debate over them, and can seem to be yet one more indication that the UM community does not wholeheartedly welcome diversity."

In recent months, his speeches have drawn protesters at Middlebury College, Columbia University, Indiana University, University of Notre Dame and most recently at Harvard College in September.

Murray's visit to UM came after students have protested incidents of racist vandalism on campus since the start of the fall semester.

On Oct. 3, racist flyers found outside of Stockwell Hall contained the words "Make America White Again" and were attributed to an alt-right, white supremacist website. It also referenced the percentage of black students on the UM and Michigan State campuses, while alleging a disparity between the IQ's of black and white people.

Students have also spoken out about the racist painting of the campus Rock, which was directed at Hispanic students, and an incident in which three UM students were the targets of racist vandalism on their name tags inside the West Quad dormitory.