New Paltz Nation - reichler convicts holmes

Students Protest ; Administration Stonewalls

Friday December 1st

What began as a small gathering of core supporters taking shelter by the SUB from the rain swelled to a crowd of 150 strong sign-carrying slogan-shouting protestors. They marched to the edge of campus to hear their exiled elected student leaders and then right up the stairs of the administration building where 45 of them sat in the hallway outside the president’s office demanding answers.

“The repression on campus is the worst I’ve seen in 26 years” said professor AJ Meyers Williams who came by to see the protest with other faculty. “Leadership is very important and must be in tune with the students’ needs, and debate needs to be a part of the college atmosphere. If you can’t have that on campus then something is wrong and it filters down from the administration to the chairs to the faculty and then to the students. College is a place to grow the leaders of tomorrow. They need role models. If the administration has no honesty or integrity, students will pick up on that.”

He and his colleagues, while pleased that 150 students cared enough to come out in the rain, were concerned that most of the students on campus care more about going out drinking than about the issues that affect their world.

“What are we? Seriously annoyed! What do we want? Free speech!” the students shouted, taking turns at the megaphone. “Seriously annoyed” was the initial judicial finding as a result of charges filed by residence life director Corina Caracci. This language was changed to “threatened the health and safety” in the letter sent by Linda Eaton dean of students to the students informing them of the judicial finding. This question was one of many the students had for the administration as the rain threatened but abated until after dark.

“Where are you Judge Kahn?” read one sign referring to the federal judge who still has not answered whether he will grant a preliminary injunction to allow the students back on campus. Meanwhile they have missed one semester of school.

New Paltz mayor Jason West arrived and the crowd instantly stopped singing and shouting and clanging tin cans and drums to listen. He began his speech by telling the students that the administration had tried to discourage him from coming to campus and had told him that the village government should have no role in campus affairs. “However” he said “I say that the students are the backbone of the economy and you are my constituents just as much as someone who has lived here all their life. Just because your landlord is the biggest landlord in the village doesn’t mean that you don’t live here.” He told them that they deserved fair hearings on campus with the right to a lawyer and to cross examine witnesses, rights which are routinely denied to students because of the unconstitutional judicial process on campus. Mayor West said that he also disagreed with town court Judge Judy Reichler’s decision to convict student body president Justin Holmes of harassment, and he lamented the spending of resources on the persecution of students. He complimented the crowd on their sophistication and perseverance. “You have done everything right,” he said “As a politician and an activist I can tell you that too often when you lose, you give up, and I want to commend you and thank you for keeping up the fight.”

Igor Gembitsky was there to support freedom of speech on behalf of the newly formed campus libertarian party “Civil liberties are very important,” he said “and students often get the raw end of the stick. It’s because they’re a small constituency. Not voting should carry a social stigma.”

“Whose J? RJ and Who’s in? Justin.” They shouted making puns on the elected students’ names, and marched to the edge of campus where the exiled elected officials could legally stand and address them.

Justin started with something about Mario Savio but my dog scared the crap out of me by darting near rte 32, or no, “Hawk Drive” so I didn’t get it. He then spoke about how the students and faculty should have the right to shape the university, but this administration seeks to exert top down control on virtually every element of campus life. “We have a decision to make as a generation,” he said “the tools of technology are a part of the way we exert our free speech and we cannot allow them to be used to stifle free speech.” He brought up the flawed policies on campus that mask the truth about sexual misconduct and the drug policy, harshest and out of step with the system, that expels student for a first or second drug offence.

RJ said that it was a “...huge point that students care. Everyone thinks that nobody else cares, but we need to reach out to each other and show that we care. The administration needs to see that students care or they won’t change anything.”

The students shouted “storm the HAB” and marched toward the building taking the stairs and the elevator. The first message they got was vaguely threatening : the administrators “don’t want anything to happen or negative things might happen.” The air was stifling. Around 45 people were crammed together chanting and shouting as a police officer stood twitching and sternly grasping a set of handcuffs. The chief of police was there, not in uniform, pacing in the small confines with a megaphone which he had confiscated from one of the students though it was of little use in the packed hallway.

The administrators agreed to answer questions about administrative malfeasance, and the students had many, but all the answers were about why they wouldn’t answer the students’ questions. They kept repeating that the issue would be solved by the lawsuit and they wouldn’t comment on anything related to the lawsuit. In spite of all the anomalies they consider the judicial process fair. David Eaton told the students that the administrators just “facilitate the process” they are not playing a role in the action; “the charges were filed by police and individuals.” Once the appeal is denied, a student must seek redress in court outside of campus.

“Who is responsible, then?” asked one student “Who are you more beholden to, your lawyers or your students?” asked another “What’s not being spoken is that we think that the administration wanted to get rid of Justin and RJ and this was a convenient way for you to do it,” said another. David Eaton explained that there was no personal vendetta because he has a “great personal relationship” with Justin and RJ.

Ten students stayed in the hallway for several hours until police threatened to arrest them.

“Students should not be kicked out of school for using their freedom of speech, including use of cameras and emails. This sets a precedent, and could affect student organizations, student leaders, literary organizations, greek life, etc. The students are what make up the college, and we should not have to be afraid to speak up!” said student organizer Olga Vasquez explaining the purpose of the demonstration.