Posted on 11/21/2005 4:17:16 PM PST by detsaoT
Virginia Dismisses All Charges Against Tariq Khan By Amy Hamilton
Broadside News Editor
In open court Monday, Nov. 14, the Commonwealth of Virginia dropped all charges against George Mason University student Tariq Khan.
Khan, a sociology major and military veteran, was arrested in the Johnson Center Sept. 29 for trespassing and disorderly conduct after standing next to a recruiter’s table wearing a sign that read, “Recruiters Lie, Don’t Be Deceived” and allegedly handing out literature inside the building. After an internal investigation, Mason recommended to the Commonwealth Attorney that the charges be dropped.
Rebecca Glenberg, Khan’s legal counsel from the American Civil Liberties Union, said that “it certainly would have been hard for them to go forward” without the university’s support.
Khan still wants to hear an apology from the university. “They’re acting like they’re doing me a favor when, in reality, they violated my rights, and they need to apologize for that,” he said.
Khan and Glenberg were prepared to argue the case on First Amendment grounds because, Khan said, “this was such an obvious, clear-cut case of First Amendment rights being violated.” Glenberg said that “we did our research on the First Amendment aspect of the case so that we would be able to make that argument.” The Commonwealth Attorney could not be reached for comment.
The conflict did not end with the dropping of the charges. Chief of University Police Michael Lynch said, “The police department did not recommend the charges be dropped because the arrest was improper or unwarranted; the request was made because here at Mason we have an internal judicial structure that is more appropriate for dealing with these types of infractions.”
He said that the situation would be dealt with internally by the university and that a number of students involved in the incident have already been referred to the Dean of Students. Khan said that he has not received any notice of his own referral. “That’s what they’re saying, but I haven’t heard anything about that,” he said.
Daniel Walsh, Executive Director of University Relations, said that a number of students involved were referred to the Dean of Students, but he was not able to confirm whether or not Khan was among them.
While the possibility of a return suit against the university has been suggested, Khan has yet to make any public statement regarding his plans. Glenberg said that “that’s all stuff that we’re going to have to talk about down the road.”
It was my understanding that it was a crime to interfere with a recruitment officer in the act of recruiting. Does this mean the U.S. cannot recruit any longer, cause that's just what we're talking about here.
Treason? For engaging in political speech on a US college campus?
Protest and Pushback on Campus (FOLLOWUP BARF ALERT)
Question of Civil Rights Infringement Spawns Protest
(Sorry in advance for the bulk-ping! :) )
Read up on the previous articles. Assaulting a Marine recruiter is NOT "political speech," as much as the ACLU would like for it to be.
I fail to see how his displaying a sign, at one University, suddenly means the shut down of US military recruiting.
I just saw trespass and disorderly. I agree that assault would be different.
Regards,
~dt~
Sometimes it surprises me, how conservative the supposedly liberal in NoVA are.
I doubt the sign was the whole problem, or he wouldn't have been given such a hard time. I'll bet he was yelling and making it next to impossible to conduct recruiting business.
These reports are not generally noted for going into details that might make the average person understand what was actually going on.
I've witnessed things like this, and the left gets a total pass. "Sanitized for your protection..."
Trespass is still a form of confinement and worse than assault, the latter being temporary.
Rules get bent and reinterpreted all the time.
The recruiter has a commitment. Khan can have his own without stopping others, or else it's open war...which it is exactly what is happening there.
This is a very grave situation and precedent for this country...either way or side of the fence you stand on.
It's the war on terror after all.
Where did Assualt come into this?
See #8 above - His behavior was more appropriately described as "disorderly conduct." I'm hoping to get some additional information on how this got to where it did, though. I'm convinced Tariq was up to no good.
same here
Outside of the social science (read: worthless) departments, GMU is actually a fairly conservative school. I keep running across "conservative chalk counter-graffiti" on campus, lambasting previously-written (and very mindless) liberalisms such as "Pro-life = Anti-war" and "Wealth = Theft."
It brings a happy tear to my eye every time I see one of us "fight" back with chalk dust. :)
bump
Are you a student at GMU? I graduated there in 1992, in Mathematics.
Yep, sure am! FReeping from class as we speak. (CS, expecting to graduate "someday." :) )
Check out the OR department - one of the two best in the country. Gauranteed work, at high dollars, as soon as you get out.
Thx for the advice, but I'm already pretty invested in CS. (Already out in the proverbial workforce, too.. Huzzah for part-time education... *ouch*)
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