Category Archives: Protests

Inside Higher Ed: Sit-in Over a Student Group’s Suspension

Members of Students for a Democratic Society occupy building at Evergreen State after college officials punished the group. Students claim a violation of free speech; administrators cite violations of rules.

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Times of India: Talks hope fades, 2 more Gujjars killed

SAWAI MADHOPUR: Just when everyone thought the 8-day-old Gujjar agitation would be resolved, the whole thing took a turn for the worse with the talks process collapsing even before it got off the blocks and two more Gujjars being killed in police firing.

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The Greenville News: Furman student group slams foes of Bush speech
Letters support, oppose May visit by president

President Bush’s planned May 31 commencement address continued to roil the Furman University campus Monday as a conservative group released what it said was a letter signed by 502 students and “Furman community” members critical of faculty objections to the visit.
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The “Support Our Seniors” letter by Conservative Students for a Better Tomorrow said, “Unfortunately, some professors seem intent on turning what should be a celebration of their students’ accomplishments into a forum to air their political differences with President Bush.”

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AP: Bush commencement speech at Furman prompts protest

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Some faculty members at Furman University have suggested they won’t attend graduation ceremonies because President Bush is scheduled to speak, but a group of conservative students wants the university to step in and block the protest.

Bush is scheduled to give Furman’s graduation speech May 31 at the fairly conservative school of 2,625 undergraduate students with Baptist roots.

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St Louis Post-Dispatch: Hundreds turn back on Schlafly at ceremony

ST. LOUIS — Some felt the silent protest with white armbands and the dramatic turning of backs was disrespectful.

But those who took part said it was a fitting way to show their disapproval that Washington University was honoring a woman whose views and life’s work they strongly disagree with.

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St Louis Post-Dispatch: Honor for Schlafly stirs furor

Wash U protest over Schlafly

If there’s one thing that opponents and supporters of conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly agree on, it’s that she doesn’t beat around the bush.

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Washington Post: At Columbia, Remembering a Revolution

NEW YORK, April 26 — Forty years ago, they launched a student protest at Columbia University that involved the occupation of five campus buildings, the hostage-taking of a dean, 712 arrests and injuries to scores of students, faculty members and police officers.

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Inside Higher Ed: Brown Condemns Pie Attack

Brown University is condemning the actions of two people — at least one of whom is a student — who threw a pie-like substance Tuesday night at Thomas Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times who was speaking on the campus. Friedman took a few minutes to clean himself up, but continued his talk. Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and university relations, issued a statement in which he said: “Freedom of speech is prized on a university campus. 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 statement said that one of those involved was apprehended and identified as a student. “The university will review this incident through its non-academic disciplinary system to determine the appropriate response.” The Providence Journal reported that the incident involved paper plates with shamrock-colored whipped cream. After they were thrown at Friedman, one of those protesting threw in the air leaflets that criticized Friedman, saying: “Thomas Friedman deserves a pie in the face because of his sickeningly cheery applause for free market capitalism’s conquest of the planet, for telling the world that the free market and techno fixes can save us from climate change. From carbon trading to biofuels, these distractions are dangerous in and of themselves, while encouraging inaction with respect to the true problems at hand.” (The whole episode was caught on video here.)

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San Francisco Chronicle: Nearly 2,000 protest college spending cuts

Students frustrated by the skyrocketing costs of going to college staged noisy demonstrations up and down the state Monday and said they were just warming up for protests against the governor’s proposed $1 billion cut to higher education.

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Grand Rapids Press: Students protest plan for armed security at Calvin

GRAND RAPIDS — More than 60 Calvin College students marched on campus Thursday, protesting the Faculty Senate’s decision to allow the school’s safety supervisors to carry handguns on campus.

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Here are likes to some photos and a very short video clip from this morning’s march by San Diego teachers against public school budget cuts. The march was organized by teachers at Hoover High School protesting the teacher layoffs. The union supported the march, but was too busy to organize one themselves so the teachers just went ahead and did it. An estimated 800 people marched.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25821635@N04/sets/72157604628132757/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4077811264784298929&hl=en

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Inside Higher Ed: Hunger strike at U of Florida

ive students have consumed only water for five days, and several others are on forms of hunger strikes at the University of Florida, as part of the Students for a Democratic Society push for changes in the institution’s investment policies. The students say that the university has failed to consider the ethical implications of its ownership of shares of companies. “Call Bernie Machen [the university’s president] himself and let him know what you think about his refusal to put UF’s money where its mouth is. Ask him if the possibility that our university is profiting off of war, environmental destruction, and human rights abuses is OK with him,” says the students’ Facebook group. Machen wrote the students last month, expressing admiration for their ideals and noting that there are circumstances in which the university would not invest in certain companies. But Machen said he didn’t favor the students’ demands for a campuswide committee to discuss investment choices because of the responsibilities of trustees for financial management and the difficulty of achieving consensus among the entire campus on such issues.

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World Socialist Website: Secondary school teachers in France protest proposed job losses

French secondary school teachers have been involved in a series of strikes over the past week to oppose plans to slash up to 11,200 teaching jobs at the beginning of the next school year and proposed cuts in the education budget.

The National Secondary Teachers Union (SNES) called a strike that was held on March 27 in the school district of Créteil, near Paris. According to the Education International web site www.ei-ie.org, education trade unions held a March 26 meeting of some 120 educators representing about 50 schools in 12 local education districts.

The strike follows a previous stoppage by secondary school teachers on March 18.

The unions also planned to hold strike action this week and announced that the SNES will meet with members of parliament and the Ministry of Education for discussions.

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Georgia Straight: Students allege RCMP brutality at UBC

Students for a Democratic Society issued this news release (see below) in connection with allegations of RCMP brutality on the UBC campus this weekend. Straight.com has been unable to confirm the allegations contained in this news release, but decided to post it on the Web site for the benefit of anyone wondering about the students’ point of view on this matter.

PRESS RELEASE: POLICE BRUTALITY AT KNOLL AID

Today a peaceful celebration in defence of public space at UBC was violently quashed by the RCMP. This press release was written on April 5th at 1 a.m. with limited available information. All the events discussed herein have been either captured by camera or can be corroborated by multiple eyewitness accounts.

On Friday, April 4th, UBC students loosely associated with Trek Park and SDS held “Knoll Aid 2.0,” a musical celebration of public space on campus.

Knoll Aid 2.0 was part of a larger campaign against the commercialization of campus, the demolition of the grassy knoll, and the development of a $40 underground bus-loop. Knoll Aid 2.0 was an overwhelmingly peaceful event and featured local musicians, free food, and three simultaneous petition drives. It was attended by primarily UBC students.

Though Knoll Aid 2.0 began at noon on Friday, at around 8:00/8:30 RCMP and the Fire department arrived at the area known as “Trek Park” (a liberated space near the grassy knoll) because some students had created a small bonfire. Citing a bylaw violation, the RCMP approached one student, Stefanie Ratjen, in a rather aggressive manner and began speaking with her.

After a dialogue, the contents of which are still unknown, Stefanie was grabbed by an RCMP officer and thrown to the ground, pinned, and handcuffed. Her face was literally shoved in a puddle of mud while an RCMP officer sat on top of her. After this uncalled act of police aggression, fellow students came to her aid. One musician was immediately arrested for questioning the RCMP officer’s treatment of Stefanie. For approx. two hours students formed a chain to protest RCMP action and several students attempted to peacefully negotiate the release of Stefanie and the musician (whose name at this point is unknown).

During this time approx. 30 RCMP cars with officers from across Vancouver and the lower mainland including Richmond came to UBC. Campus security was also present and threatened to discipline students if they did not cooperate with the RCMP. Police officers systematically attempted to break the human chain students had formed by pushing, shoving and kicking.

RCMP officers randomly arrested any student present at the scene including Bahram Norouzi who was arrested in the middle of a CTV interview. At around 10:30 p.m. on approx. 25 students were arrested and detained. They were brought to a Main and Hastings detention center where they presently still remain.

This press release would like to draw attention to the conduct of the RCMP.

A university is intended for students, not the police. Upon entering student space, the police should have had the decency, at the very least, to deal with students in a respectful and dignified manner. Instead, RCMP officers were highly aggressive and belligerent. RCMP officers committed gross abuses of power by, for example, threatening to release dogs on students and pointing taser guns at students that were already pinned down to the floor.

The actions of RCMP officers are testament of police misconduct, if not brutality. We demand the release of all students arrested and demand that all charges be dropped. Furthermore, we demand an inquiry of the RCMP’s actions in relation to this event and the treatment of students. Lastly, we demand that UBC administration defends student’s rights to a peaceful protest.

To repeat, this was a peaceful celebration/concert in defence of public space. The RCMP had no right to violently quash a peaceful student protest.

Signed,

Trek Park for the People

Students for a Democratic Society

Student Environment Center

Social Justice Center

—

Students for a Democratic Society, UBC

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