Group protests near police station

By MAURICE O. NDOLE

The Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition staged a demonstration outside the university police station on Barstow Avenue on Thursday to protest police surveillance of their meetings.

Wearing masks with face prints of university president John Welty and police chief David Huerta, the group performed a mock re-enactment of the events that happened last year when undercover agents allegedly infiltrated a meeting by guest speaker and vegan activist Gary Yourofsky.

The group and its supporters beat drums along Barstow and waved at passing cars, prompting some of the motorists to honk in support. At one point, the group marched back and forth across an intersection of Barstow, stalling traffic.

Earlier, around noon, the group members wearing Welty masks distributed flyers around the free speech area inviting students to attend their afternoon protest at the police station.

Ruth Obel-Jorgensen, president of the organization, said her group wanted to pass a message to the university to respect civil liberties and academic freedom.

While performing a re-enactment of the police infiltration, group member Michelle Colvin played the part of Yourofsky while students who attended the meeting held mock signs reading “I’m here for extra credit” and “veganism is not terrorism,” while a character with an undercover mask suspiciously lurked behind them.

Political science professor Michael Becker said he attended the meeting to support the group and protest the university’s methods of invading student and faculty privacy.

“We know of several incidences in which it appears to be quite clear that they sent undercover agents to find out what’s going on in certain lectures on campus,” Becker said.

Becker said university claims that they sent uniformed officers to the event were untrue because he was present at the event and did not see any uniformed officers.

A statement released by university spokesman Mark Aydelotte said the university did not engage in surveillance activities using undercover police officers, but they admitted using plainclothes officers to provide safety in certain events.

“At a campus event on Nov. 10, 2004, the university assigned three plainclothes police officers for event security,” Aydelotte said in the statement.

He said the university has communicated its intent to the Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition to work out a plan of how to address security issues in events with potential for controversy.

Social work professor and Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition adviser Donna Hardina said the group is now getting a response from the university because of their protests.

“What we would like the university to do is to develop a privacy policy to protect the rights of faculty and students,” Hardina said.

Huerta could not be reached for comment.

Industrial technology major Matt Grossen said he thought the country was turning into a police state.
“I’m not a member of the group, but I’m against the surveillance of the club,” Grossen said. “9/11 was just an excuse to take away our civil liberties.”

Grossen said liberty was essential for everyone.

“You can’t trade liberty for security,” Grossen said. “If you trade liberty for security, you end up with tyranny.”