A Brown University student was apprehended by Brown University police last night after allegedly throwing a green pie container filled with what appeared to be green whipped cream at a New York Times columnist who had been invited to speak to students about energy, Brown said in a statement this morning.

Thomas Friedman ducked the pies, which were thrown by two people who rushed the stage just after he stepped to the microphone. He avoided the brunt of the contents, stepped off stage for a few minutes, and returned to deliver his speech.

“We are grateful that Mr. Friedman went on to deliver his lecture to a full audience, who gave him a standing ovation,” reads a statement from Vice President of Public Affairs Michael Chapman.

The two rushed the stage with the pies, and then threw fliers into the crowd which aired their criticisms of Friedman’s views on the free market and climate change.

"Freedom of speech is prized on a university campus,” Chapman said in his statement, “While Brown students are encouraged to express their opinions on any subject and in a variety of forums, the University does not tolerate such assaults against a speaker or disrupting the right of others to hear a speaker’s perspectives.”

The student was placed in the custody of the Department of Public Safety. The school in a statement said it will review the incident through a “non-academic disciplinary system,” and determine what to do from there.

The Brown statement doesn't say whether the other alleged pie thrower was apprehended. The event was open to students and the public.