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CHAPEL HILL (AP) — Former presidential candidate Tom Tancredo said Wednesday that student protesters violated their own calls for tolerance when they used profanities, broke a window and eventually forced police to shut down his speech about illegal immigration.

Tancredo was invited by a student group to speak Tuesday at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill about his opposition to in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. Campus police used pepper spray after hundreds of protesters gathered, many of them denouncing Tancredo's tough stance against illegal immigration.

"The so-called purveyors of tolerance and diversity showed just how open minded they are when it comes to diversity of opinions," the former Colorado congressman said in a statement. "There is no freedom of speech on hundreds of university campuses today for people who dare to dissent from the radical political agenda of the socialist left and the open borders agitators."

Chancellor Holden Thorp said Wednesday he apologized to Tancredo for how he was treated. He expressed disappointment, saying the school prides itself on allowing all points of view, including those controversial, to be heard.

"Here that's often meant that groups protesting a speaker have displayed signs or banners, silently expressing their opinions while the speaker had his or her say. That didn't happen last night," Thorp said in a statement.

Tyler Oakley, a graduate student who helped organize the protest, told The News & Observer on Tuesday that he regretted the broken window but not silencing Tancredo. Lizette Lopez, vice president of the campus' Carolina Hispanic Association, told the newspaper Tancredo should have been allowed to speak.

Oakley did not immediately return an e-mail or a phone message from The Associated Press on Wednesday seeking comment. Lopez also didn't return an e-mail.

Tancredo, a Republican, had been invited by Youth for Western Civilization, a student group that opposes what it calls mass immigration and radical multiculturalism.

Two women were ejected from Brigham Hall for delaying the speech after they held up a 12-foot banner across the front of the classroom that read "No dialogue with hate."

After Tancredo began speaking in the packed room, two more protesters stood in front of him with a banner that read, "No one is illegal." Tancredo tried to pull the banner away, saying "You don't want to hear what I have to say because you don't agree with me." Then someone outside broke a window pane and police shut down the event.

Police spokesman Randy Young said pepper spray was "broadcast" to clear the area. Officers also threatened to use a Taser, and the more than 30 protesters went outside.

Young said the use of force was being investigated by the department. Thorp said the university also is investigating and students could face Honor Court proceedings if school officials find sufficient evidence.

After officers escorted him out of the room, Tancredo said he had never been silenced by protesters.

Before the speech ended, some in the audience of 150 urged the students to let Tancredo speak.

"We are the children of immigrants, and this concerns us," Lopez, with the Carolina Hispanic Association, said Tuesday. "So we would at least like to hear what he has to say if you want to hear what we have to say."