From a World Can’t Wait Organizer at University of North Carolina – Greensboro:
On the evening of October 4, the UNCG chapter of World Can’t
Wait had scheduled a showing of “Crimes Against Humanity: The Bush
Record”. We tabled, handed out hundreds
of fliers, posted things up, and wrote chalk advertisements on sidewalks and
campus streets. The event, however,
quickly became yet another example of the University’s repressive policies on
dissent on campus.
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Not Allowed At UNCG:
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We were approved to show the documentary in the
Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) two weeks prior to the scheduled date once
we were able to prove the DVD was copyrighted.
But the morning of the event, I received email from the MRC staff saying
we could not have the event in their location because we’re unaffiliated with
the university. I had turned in our
affiliation paperwork the day before I scheduled the event with the MRC and,
having known other groups that have gone through the affiliation process rather
quickly and without delay, I figured we would be “official” by the time the
event was scheduled and therefore there would be no problem. That did not happen with us. We had not even been contacted about the
materials we handed in, and the Office of Student Life proved nearly impossible
to get in contact with.
Even without affiliation, however, I had heard of an OSL
policy that allows student groups with pending affiliation status to reserve a
room three times for three separate events to raise further interest in the
budding group. That was apparently not
the case with us. Not letting the
bureaucracy get in the way of an event we’ve spent a lot of time building for,
we moved it to the student center’s TV lounge for anyone that wanted to stay
and watch the DVD and have an informal, unofficial showing instead. No one was in the TV lounge, so no problem,
right? Wrong.
The fatal mistake was when I went by the MRC and innocently
asked the MRC rep if there was an event scheduled for that evening at
7:00. No, none at all, he told me in a
very harsh tone. Okay, I said, and
walked away. He watched me leave… like
a hawk. On my way out, I slapped a note
to the MRC door that stated where the event had been relocated to. The man followed me out and ripped my note of
the door. No problem… a fellow
organizer volunteered to stand in front of the MRC door and redirect people to
the TV lounge.
7:00 rolled around and people were ready to start the
showing. We had a pretty good turnout; 5
or 6 of the “usual suspects” and about 10 new people that I was very
glad to see. We hadn’t gotten halfway
into the first section when an OSL person came down and said we couldn’t have a
meeting in the public lounge.
“We’re just watching a movie!” a student told her. She said she’d have to check and left. A few minutes later, another woman came
down. She said we’d have to leave, that this
was a PUBLIC lounge, and could not be occupied by a GROUP, especially one that is
unaffiliated. I told her we were
included in the public. She asked my
name. I gave it to her. She asked how to spell my last name. I told her not without a lawyer. She left in
a huff. About 5 minutes pass… then the
cops show up. Not one or two… I
counted four. They said they weren’t
sure what we did but that OSL wanted us out.
So we left. The intention was not
to get arrested that night (obviously), it was to show a documentary and begin
raising further interest in the group.
A few of us went upstairs to ask the OSL staff some
questions. One man, John Allen (whom I
assume was in charge), blatantly told us the issue was purely political. He said to me straight up that the reason we
could not show this DVD in the lounge was because of its “purpose.” I said, so this is political? And his response… it took my breath away
that he actually admitted it.
“Yes.” I wouldn’t
believe it had a few others not heard it too.
Free speech, he explained, does not exist inside the EUC (honestly, this
guy said that), only within 30 feet of any university building. When I got cocky and asked him if me and 5
friends could, by that policy, watch Bill O’Reilly in the TV lounge, he told me
to “get out of his face” (I was standing at least an arm length and a
half away) before he had me removed. Since
the motive for the evening was anything but to get anyone into trouble, I
walked away from the situation quietly.
The good that came out of the situation was that the 10
people who came with an interest in viewing a documentary about the
government’s repressive agenda got to witness it first hand. I’ve gotten two emails already from viewers
wanting to get involved now more than ever.
So there’s the current situation at UNCG. First they say we’re NOT a group so we can’t
be in the MRC. Then they say we ARE a
group so we can’t be in the TV Lounge. Not that we were surprised; we”re used to
being jerked around by their policies, not only those of us with WCW, but any
other student that’s stepped out of line into a role the University deemed too
radical. Just the day before, two World Can’t
Wait organizers had been threatened with fines by UNCG police for writing on the
sidewalks with chalk without permission.
A student was arrested last semester for failure to disperse after an “unpermitted”
demonstration took place last March, the same day that a local WCW organizer
was arrested on campus for “trespassing.” I myself have been threatened with forced
removal and arrest for “disorderly conduct” while handing out fliers on a
public street or wearing an orange jumpsuit around campus. October 4 was just another ridiculous attempt
by the administration to silence dissenting voices, suppress the free flow of
critical thought, and make it abundantly clear that we do not, in fact, have
fundamental rights on our own campus.