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Campus Antiwar Network
May 5, 2006
Cindy Braly, Student Affairs Administrator, cbraly@mail.utexas.edu
Annemarie Seifert, Dean of Students office, aseifert@mail.utexas.edu
Margaritta Arrellano, Associate Dean of Students, arellano@mail.utexas.edu
Dear Ms. Braly, Ms. Seifert and Ms. Allrellano:
I have just received an email that the “The Campus Antiwar Movement to End the Occupation (CAMEO), an student antiwar group at the University of Texas, is being charged with infractions of the UT student organization code, including chalking on campus sidewalks, putting a poster on the MLK statue telling people where to go for a rally with Cindy Sheehan, using amplified sound in an unauthorized location, and having non-student organizations on campus.” Apparently, a hearing is scheduled for this morning.
As Peggy Lee might say, “Is that all there is?”
It seems unbelievable – absurd – that the university would consider disciplining this student organization for such activities. Chalking a sidewalk? Would you consider discipline for chalking hop scotch squares? And putting up a sign on a Martin Luther King, Jr. statue? He stood against war – in fact, that’s what turned the US government against him. Do you think he’d mind if antiwar students up a sign on a statute to him? C’mon.
When I was in college (many years ago, I admit), amplified sound was everywhere. Granted it was mostly music, but not music to everyone’s taste. And I went to college during the Vietnam War. There were amplified antiwar speech’s as well. It was all part of the blend on a college campus where expressions of free speech were encouraged. There was a mixture of cultures with different sounds and a marketplace of ideas. Not so at UT?
Finally, what’s wrong with inviting non-student organizations to campus? What are you afraid of? Were these some kind of groups promoting illegal or dangerous acts? If so, let’s hear it. If not, are students – they’re adults I remind you – really prohibited from bringing in outside groups with their different ideas? Does UT want to be insular? Does UT wish to cloister students?
If UT disciplines CAMEO for such silly reasons, it will appear to be pure pretext for a clampdown on protest against the war and student freedom of expression. I urge you to be reasonable here and to drop any consideration of disciplining CAMEO or student activists on these ridiculous charges.
I would appreciate a response, and will watch the situation closely.
The international peace movement has advocated strongly for students who have faced repression for antiwar protest activities this year – at Holyoke Community College, George Mason University, Wisconsin at Madison, Pace University, Hampton University, Kent State University and most recently at San Francisco State University. Over 1100 people have signed an open letter by leaders of the movement to the SFSU president. https://www.petitiononline.com/sfsu10/petition.html
I urge you to drop these charges against CAMEO.
Sincerely,
Charles Jenks
Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-7427
https://www.traprockpeace.org