A celebration to mark the groundbreaking of a new building near Ground Zero turned into a public screaming match this afternoon between a Brooklyn Councilman and a CUNY Trustee.

The verbal scuffle erupted after City Councilman Charles Barron, who chairs the Council's higher education committee, started speaking at the podium and was heckled by CUNY Trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld who was sitting in the audience.

Shortly before Wiesenfeld interrupted the councilman, Barron said he was angry he was not properly acknowledged for the his role in the rebuilding effort of Fiterman Hall, and he later complained about the role he was given during the press conference.

Barron, according to CUNY, was not originally scheduled to speak at the groundbreaking, but at a separate, related event. Weinsenfeld said he spoke out because he thought Barron's body language was inappropriate.

"I heard and what I saw and what I heard. He stood up and stood like a thug next to the vice chancellor and disrupted the event with his body language," Wiesenfeld said.

"He is a right-wing, ignorant, racist fool. He should not be sitting on the board of trustees at CUNY," Barron said.

An official at CUNY said it does not want the fight to distract them from rebuilding Fiterman Hall, which was severely damaged in the September 11th attacks.