[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] FREE SPEECH UNDER ATTACK

[Randall Cotton]

Hi Martin,

This is a follow-up to the voice mail message I left for you at 649-8830.

AWARE has our weekly meeting today from 5-6:30PM at the Independent Media
Center, 202 S. Broadway, Urbana (use the E;m st. entrance to the basement). We
are keenly interested in this issue as we were also recently prevented from
distributing anti-war material on campus (this time in the Assembly Hall parking
lot). We have reason to believe that our free speech was squelched *against*
campus policy. We would be interested in working with you to oppose the
draconian restrictions on free speech being perpretrated by individuals at the
UofI.

Please feel free to reach me anytime at 351-8644 (home), 722-8470 (cell). Hope
we can talk with you later today at our meeting.

R

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <msmith46 at uiuc.edu>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 2:29 PM
Subject: [Peace] FREE SPEECH UNDER ATTACK


: please forward widely...
:
: FREE SPEECH UNDER ATTACK AT UIUC
:
: RSO threatened by university library staff for distributing anti-war material
(see details below)
:
: WHAT CAN YOU DO?
: -We need your support in order to help expand the amount of space available
for registered student organizations (RSOs), campus unions, and Champaign-Urbana
community members to table on campus.
: -We wish to see the upper level of the Undergraduate Library Atrium Plaza made
available for tabling and distributing literature and information.
: -If you or your organization is interested in lending your support, please
reply to Martin Smith at: msmith46 at uiuc.edu
:
: Dear friends:
: I want to bring to your attention a serious problem at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and that is the issue of free speech and the
management of dissent on campus.
:
: On December 8, our REGISTERED student organization (RSO), the International
Socialist Organization, set up a table to pass out anti-war literature.  In
particular, we were organizing for a national mobilization against the war in
Washington DC on January 27 (details here: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/).
:
: Due to the frigid weather, including wind chill levels below zero, we moved
inside the top level of the Undergrad Library atrium plaza.  This area is ideal
for student organizations, as it is a space that is not utilized, open, and
heavily trafficked.  The actual entrance to the library is downstairs, a
location clearly demarcated with electronic sensors to monitor for books that
are uncharged.
:
: Within 5 minutes of our setting up our small card table with signs that read
"Bring the Troops Home Now" and "Money for Jobs and Education Not for War and
Occupation," a library staff person came upstairs to inform us that we were
violating university policy.  At this point, our group made a decision to take a
stand.  We refused to leave.
:
: We were then informed that the campus security would be called on us for our
"actions."  When I made my case to the library staff member that we were not
impeding access to the library entrance which is downstairs, I was simply
informed--"CAMPUS POLICY."  When I asked why Expresso Royale, a coffee cart, was
able to operate a booth outside the library and profit off of students and yet
we were unable to pass out anti-war literature, I was told again--"CAMPUS
POLICY."  When I reminded the library staff person that I had previously written
letters to both the RSO, Library, and University Reservations staff about
changing their restrictive "free speech" policy and providing more areas for
RSOs on campus to distribute literature during the winter months, having brought
no positive change, I heard once again--"CAMPUS POLICY."
:
: CHANGE "CAMPUS POLICY!"
: As long as our government is engaged in an illegal and immoral war in which
more than 655,000 Iraqis have died, according to the British medical journal the
Lancet, than we have a responsibility to express our dissent in this country,
including on the UIUC campus.  We live during times that call for extreme
actions due to the extreme crimes against humanity being waged against the Iraqi
people.  We are faced with a government that is continuing policies in our name
that are flagrant violations of international law and human rights.  If our
organization was not in the correct "free speech zone" as we attempted to raise
our voices against the war--than so be it.
:
: We believe that our group was targeted not just because we were in the
incorrect "free speech area," but because the administrator did not like our
message.
:
: WHAT ARE THE RULES?
: Our organization had a permit to table at the Student Union entrance on this
cold and chilly day; however, we chose the Library Plaza entrance site instead
for good reason.
:
: Currently, there is only ONE indoor area in which RSOs may table and
distribute literature AND ONLY WITH A PERMIT.  That location is the Student
Union foyer.  In this area, there are three booths and according to the staff of
the RSO office, students must remain behind the booths at all times.
:
: This is problematic for several reasons.  One, the Student Union entrance is
an "echo chamber," and it is thus very difficult to have clear and thoughtful
discussions with people whom we meet.  Two, students should not be restricted
behind the booths which are located nearly twenty feet from the main traffic in
and out of the building.  It is nearly impossible to actually engage in
conversations and garner the attention of passersby behind these booths.  Three,
and most important, a school with a student population of over 40,000 should
provide more than three booths and ONE INDOOR SPACE for "free speech" on its
campus, particularly when winter temperatures are frequently below freezing.
:
: WHAT NEXT?--YOUR HELP IS NEEDED!
: We hope that the University staff will revisit their "campus policy."  The
university must take seriously its commitment to the free exchange and diversity
of ideas.  The actions by library staff to stifle free speech in an area that
does not impede the business or functionings of the university should be viewed
as chilling reminders of the times in which we live.
:
: Several weeks ago, a student was tasered by police at the UCLA library for not
carrying his university ID (watch video footage here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g7zlJx9u2E).  The Patriot Act authorizes the
government to spy on and track our library records.  Moreover, the management of
dissent on college campuses means that we now have only ONE indoor area of "free
speech" on the entire University of Illinois campus in which RSOs can table and
distribute literature--AND ONLY WITH A PERMIT.  THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!
:
: If you are interested in requesting that the University allow more indoor
"free speech zones" for RSOs and other non-registered clubs/groups as well,
please contact Martin Smith at: msmith46 at uiuc.edu
:
: Our voices of dissent must not be "managed" but should ring loud and clear
against the injustices and inhumanity committed by our government.
:
: Until every troop returns from Iraq--RAISE YOUR VOICE IN DISSENT!
:
: In Solidarity,
: Martin Smith, PhD Candidate, History
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