NY’s Public Universities Working Hard to Pre-Crush Dissent [View all]

[marmar]

November 1st, 2013 5:43 PM

NY’s Public Universities Working Hard to Pre-Crush Dissent.
By Julianna Forlano


In a move likely to sharply curtail free speech and free assembly, administrators at The City University of New York (CUNY) are developing what they call a “Policy on Expressive Activity” to set severe limitations on who, how and where free speech and assembly rights can be exercised. The proposed “Policy on Expressive Activity” bans demonstrations from CUNY buildings and forces demonstrators into what amounts to ‘protest ghettos’ conveniently called “designated areas” which are likely to be located in such ‘high traffic and visibility’ areas as between the defunct vending machine and the moldy couches in a library sub-basement.

The proposed policy requires 24 hours advance notice of demonstrations even if turnout is expected to be small; limits the distribution of “materials” on campus to “designated areas”; and gives college presidents the power to determine if a demonstration is “disruptive”—and to call the police onto campus to stop it. CUNY is a public university and as such, these policies, if implemented, are not only an assault on the concept of university education, but a restriction on the use of public space for assembly, which I am quite positive is supposed to be protected under the first amendment. CUNY’s proposed policy goes on to state, “Freedom of expression and assembly, are subject to the need to maintain safety and order.” Every university has the responsibility to maintain a safe environment for its students and employees. But, as Barbara Bowen, President of the PSC/CUNY union of teachers and faculty, states in her memorandum to union members “Safety is not the same as “order”; safety does not require repression.”

CUNY’s proposed restrictions come on the heels of the abrupt and unannounced re-appropriation of a student center at CUNY’s City College, where politically active students once had their offices. The space has been turned into a career center and all student group files from that area were confiscated. (Read about it here: http://www.thenation.com/blog/176832/cuny-dismantles-community-center-students-fight-back# ). CUNY Students have also recently staged protests over what they considered unfair tuition hikes as well as over the university’s hiring of disgraced former General David Petraeus as a visiting professor. .........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/nys-public-universities-working-hard-pre-crush-dissent