Posted on 01/20/2005 7:30:43 PM PST by USArmySpouse
Edited on 02/04/2005 5:22:35 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Anti-war group targets recruiters Effort launched after campus clash By JAKE ELLISON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A mob of Seattle Central Community College students chased military recruiters off campus last month, after a tense confrontation. Now a student anti-war group is stepping up efforts to keep them out for good.
Students Against War has launched a petition drive aimed at persuading administrators to order a halt to on-campus military recruiting.
The group points to a November ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Philadelphia-based court held that a college opposed to the policy barring gays and lesbians in the armed forces has a First Amendment right to protest by blocking access to military recruiters.
Central students opposed to the war in Iraq have been fighting the presence of military recruiters all year. The group organized a protest to coincide with President Bush's inauguration Jan. 20, but it started sooner than scheduled when several hundred students surrounded two Army recruiters.
The students hurled insults and water bottles, according to witnesses, forcing the recruiters to flee under the protection of campus security officers. There were no reports of injuries.
Administrators initially threatened to take disciplinary action against Students Against War, which denied any responsibility for the incident.
Yesterday, however, officials backed off their demand that the group apologize to the recruiters or be stripped of their affiliation with the college.
Central President Mildred Ollee said she dropped the ultimatum after discovering that members of other student groups were involved in the confrontation.
"I'm not prepared to go on a witch hunt," she said. "We did the best we could do in this, and I believe the students have learned something and we're going to move forward."
Leaders of the anti-war group told a small crowd of students yesterday that they intend to press for the military recruiting ban.
"We do not want the military in our schools asking our friends and family to fight for a war that is wrong," Nicole Thomas said. "We want recruiters out of our schools."
The incident was captured in a newspaper photograph that has made its way into conservative Web blogs. That spurred a wave of e-mails to Central administrators denouncing the conduct of the students.
One of the recruiters involved in the confrontation, Sgt. Jeffrey Due, said he was stunned how quickly things got out of hand. "I was in outright shock that they were protesting me," he said.
Due had been warned about the student walk-out demonstration, but said he didn't expect that kind of trouble. "They were all going by making off-hand comments and saying 'no war.' We just waved at them," Due said. "Five minutes later, there was just a mob of 500 people surrounding the table."
Due said he was hit in the head with newspapers, and water bottles whizzed by, pounding the vending machine and wall behind him.
The flap has energized Central's anti-war effort, sparking the petition drive. The group's goal is to get recruiters off campus "by legal means," said spokesman Gerald Lisi.
He argued that the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is in conflict with the college's code barring discrimination on campus. While petitions circulate, the group is consulting with attorneys and researching the issue.
But Ollee pointed to a government rule that allows federal money to be withheld from any college that refuses to give military recruiters access to students and student-contact information.
"I am under the law and will comply with the law as long as it is the law," she said.
P-I reporter Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8346 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com
Well, the Seattle P-I is now on it.
And I just e-mailed Mike Adams of Townhall.com about it.
Here is a letter from the faculty ad visor for Students against the war RE: the Demand for apology.
From: Knutson, Peter Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 8:45 AM To: Central; North; Siegal; South; SVI
Subject: SCCC demands student group apologize to the U.S. Army To: GNA Garcia
Coordinator of Student Involvement
Student Leadership Division
Seattle Central Community College
In re: Your letter; Public Disclosure Request
I write in response to your emails of 1/27/05. You state that the student organization, Students Against War, of which I am the faculty advisor, will be disbanded as of February 3, 2005 unless the group sends a formal apology to representatives of the United States Army regarding “the events of Friday, January 21, 2005.” Should they refuse your demand, Students Against War will be denied the use of public facilities at SCCC by the college administration.
I assume you actually refer to the Inaugural Protest of Thursday, January 20. I further assume that you write this letter in your official capacity as a functionary of the SCCC administration in the Division of Student Leadership.
You allege that Students Against War engaged in “intensely alarming behavior” in the presence of Army recruiters. You claim that members of the organization Students Against War menaced people in the hallways, disregarded civil rights of others and touted such behavior as “admirable” at the subsequent Westlake Center counter-inaugural demonstration. You provide no sources or names of witnesses. Based on hearsay, you would deny this campus group their voice on our campus, without benefit of due process. Consequent to your allegations I therefore append to this letter three legally binding Public Disclosure Requests to which you and your supervisors are required to respond.
I was teaching during the time in which you allege that Students Against War was harassing U.S. Army personnel. I have subsequently spoken with SCCC staff and students who were directly present in the Atrium during the time you reference. The following are the facts as I have been able to ascertain them:
1-Students Against War was permitted to conduct a rally on the South Lawn. This rally of nearly a thousand individuals was conducted peacefully.
2-Students Against War did not promote or orchestrate the events in the Atrium. You are correct when you state that Students Against War did not plan to harass recruiters or behave in an uncivil fashion towards the military recruiters who, in your view, had “equal rights to be on our campus” along with students. Not only did the group not plan such actions, but the group did not commit such actions.
Students who demonstrated against the presence of military recruiters in the Atrium did so as a matter of individual conscience, not as members of an organized student group. As faculty advisor to many campus organizations since 1996, I have never been instructed by your office that any student group is to be responsible for policing the entirety of the SCCC campus.
3-U.S. Army recruiters were informed by SCCC staff prior to their activities that a large protest was scheduled for Inauguration Day and it was politely suggested that their visit be postponed. The recruiters ignored this request and proceeded to set up shop with knowledge of the campus context.
4-Seattle Police officers and SCCC security were in communication during the Atrium incident. SCCC security was immediately present and informed the SPD that their assistance was not necessary. Despite the immediate presence of security and nearby SPD, who presumably would have witnessed the menacing behavior and civil rights violation you allege, there were no citations made. If enforcement personnel on the scene did not witness violations of law, what specific institutional standards did the students violate?
I am troubled that the SCCC administration would force our students to write an apology to the U.S. Army under duress. What kind of a lesson does this teach them? If the group’s conduct violated the law or well-defined institutional standards, then give them due process, and if found in violation, apply sanctions. But don’t force them to write false words that violate their integrity . That smacks of dictatorship. I didn’t think we were teaching that.
Peter Knutson, Ph.D. Faculty Advisor, Students Against War Anthropology Instructor Seattle Central Community College
Now there is a guy who needs a good freeping.
Anthropologist Humanities and Social Sciences
Office 4102
Phone: 206-5876978
Email: pknuts@sccd.ctc.edu
What an effing moron - hello!!! There's a stinking picture. Oh - wait!! He must be BLIND so he can't see the picture.
Thank you for your vigilence. If not for more Democrap from BroILst, I'd be able to open fire on them.
As it stands, Josef's Public Journal is currently engaging other critical targets for a revote in WA St. Sound Politics, however, is providing our grunts w/ some cover. Go see http://www.soundpolitics.com/archives/003701.html for the latest.
Let's keep this thread alive. There's more work to do here.
Perhaps tomorrow someone in the mainstream media will pick this up- and show why these losers push so hard to have recruiters off campuses- all the while taking tax payers money for their own aid.
Seattle Community College is a land grant college-and the administration allows this behavior. It is just a political move by the smelly hippies.
Apparently they are allowed to break laws and accost our service men and women.
And it makes our enemies feel really good to see it!! It looks like the left has big plans to target our military here on our own shores...
Let's see what the US Supreme Court says about it.
Seriously- no matter what they say about it- the left has claimed war on our military.
I like how they "support the troops.. just not the war". The students in that photo hit this man,SGT.Due, in the head with garbage. (No wonder they love John Kerry so much-sick!)
I just can't believe that with a freaking PICTURE of the students readily available this guy can say "no one saw it happening!" Good grief - it's "I didn't have sex with that woman" all over again!! Well, the DNA doesn't lie -- and neither does the film. What a total freaking moron!!!
They have people on record bragging about the "victory" later in the day at the school.
So I guess that everyone is lying.... except for the Students Against War people- who say they don't know if they represent the students responsible for the harassment of Sgt.Due--- but then go on to explain the students motives for the outburst against him.
It's certainly not passing my smell test!!
As a parent of 4 future college students, when my kids are ready to hit higher education I will be sniffing around their choices for this stuff. My money will NOT go to school that allows this kind of bad behavior to continue.
PING!
Can you believe how ignorant they were?? Wait - yes - I can!
The students defense it seems, is that the military recruiters were told not to be on campus that day because of a planned protest. WHAT?!?! They imply it was Sgt. Due's own fault things were thrown at him? They imply he is a liar???!!! They get to change the laws because they want to protest???
Philosophizing here: So if the KKK wanted to have a rally at that school they would be right to tell all African American students to stay home?
DISGUSTING!
Ugh! Are we allowed to say they were typical liberal?? Couldn't answer questions asked of them and gave a lame excuse. How coud they say that a soldier hadn't given them the right to go to college and to protest. They were definitely candidates for Jay Leno's Battle of the Stupid All-Stars or whatever it's called.
It's too bad our troops fight for everyone in the United States instead of just those who appreciate it. I think a student trip to Iraq is in order for these liberals. Let them see how well our enemies appreciate them and fight for them and how many would kill them. I don't understand these people, the brainwashing that goes on at these college campuses must be something right out of the twilight zone.
This must be what finally got the Main stream Media's attention...LOOK HERE
Another case of the Bloggers and Freerepublic getting the story first and not letting it go. MSM should be ashamed of themselves.
Prayers for him!
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