Campus monitoring of clubs undermines
student political action
This is in response to the article "Clubs
watched by the school" from Monday’s issue of The Collegian.
I believe way the situation was handled by the article was very sloppy
and unnecessary. School departments do not communicate well at this
school due to the enormity of the school itself. It is like a little
city. In this city, the library doesn't know the price of laundry
detergent on aisle five at Save Mart, and why should they?
What the article calls lies are actually miscommunications among school
administration officials and is commonplace. I should know. I've been
"lied to” myself. The difference is, instead of playing
the poor- me victim and complaining about it, I establish business
relationships with the people who took the time to be involved in
the situation.
To demand an apology, especially straight out of the school newspaper,
is bad policy and self-righteous, whereas any dignified, respectable
person should outright ignore it as borderline slander.
To the blind viewer, there was no need for the heavy ratio of officers
to students at the event, but did anyone stop to think that maybe,
when the world doesn't revolve around them, there was something they
didn't know?
Do people honestly think our law enforcement advertises its positions
so that all can predict its every move, or even shares potentially
critical information with civilians regardless of its relevance?
If you are not an instigator of problems, run an honest organization
and have such good intentions, then why would you feel anything less
than positive glee at the fact that, thanks to the school, on state
property, with your state-provided outlet that you call a club, they
have provided you with free security.
Did the police get a tip that something might happen...or did anyone
even ask? It’s better to establish a more trustworthy relationship
with your school officials and security administrators.
This way, when you hold events, everybody will be on the same page
and we won't have useless dramatic finger pointing in the school paper
where nobody wants to read unmerited bashing of our own school.
If Welty sent the troops in to keep the peace at my event, I would
be commending the man for providing me with what's necessary to maintain
order, and even if it's not necessary, hindsight is 20/20.
—Tim Van Dyne
Junior, computer science |
University police are here for
our protection
Something is very wrong on our campus. The
stench of a shady alliance between President Welty and chief of police
David Huerta is burning our lungs and warrants immediate investigation
and the concern of all students on campus.
I once had a dead mouse stuck between my walls that was easier to
extract than the truth is from Welty and Huerta. The mouse stunk substantially
less and, while quite irritating, did not violate my civil liberties
or my academic freedom.
So, who should we trust? In a public statement made by Welty on April
18, he very clearly stated that “the university does not and
will not engage in surveillance of university activities using undercover
police officers.” What a relief. This is of great importance,
considering Campus Peace was assured in that same letter that “no
plainclothes university officials were present” at a campus
club event on Nov. 10, 2004.
However, three days later, Welty issued a revised statement that noted
exactly the opposite. According to the altered letter, not only did
the university assign “three plainclothes officers for event
security” to the lecture, but Huerta has also indicated that
“three officers from the Fresno County Sheriff's department
were present,” as well.
Really? Six officers present at a lecture about why not eating animals
is a better choice? Apparently, to our university president, there
is a clear and present danger to the nation if someone should choose
not to eat the grilled hamburger on the extra strength Chinet paper
plate at the next family backyard barbecue.
Were this not enough to digest, students are now expected to swallow
the fact that the administration is suppressing what Welty called
the campus police's “operational plan” about the Nov.
10 event that had been directly requested by the ACLU under the California
Public Records Act on April 14.
The university is hiding behind what Welty coined in the April 21
letter: “certain exemptions” under the “California
government code.” Which “certain exemptions” are
these? And under which code?
There are exactly 99,077 sections in the California Government Code.
Might we be a bit more specific? The idea that “exemptions”
and “code” are even being discussed is mystifying considering
that, in the university's official response to the ACLU's inquiry,
it noted that it “does not have any documents that respond to
[the ACLU's] request.” What are they hiding from us? Why are
they so desperately digging backyard holes to cover these bones? Are
they afraid of the skeletons we might find?
Trying to piece all this madness together is mind-boggling at best
and a grave danger to student civil liberties at worst. All students
on campus are owed multiple apologies from multiple people at multiple
levels for multiple violations.
These are blatant abuses and misuses of the power that has been entrusted
to both Welty and his comrades, including Huerta, all under the guise
of their actions being in students’ best interest. Neither the
administration nor the Fresno State Police Department can or should
be trusted.
Welty must hope that students take comfort in his parting words on
both drafts of the letter and that we know “above all, the university
is committed to free expression of ideas and academic freedom and
strives to protect and foster that in the university environment.”
Beautiful words that describe lofty goals with very little substance.
If Welty is still interested in watching Campus Peace or any other
politically progressive group, he should pull up a chair and get comfortable,
because now we're watching back.
—Michelle Colvin
Senior, women’s studies and sociology |
Campus peace and civil liberaties
coalition should handle issue with maturity
I’ve heard complaints of, "The
university had six undercover police officers at our event!"
"What did they do?"
"They sat there!"
It doesn't take much to rattle the cage of a Fresno State student
these days. Every couple of days, I open this newspaper to see who
needs to have a waah-mbulance called today. So much crying belongs
in a nursery.
Now we have the sordid tale of a talk in which undercover officers
took the disruptive action of... attending. And cries of violated
civil liberties followed. Civil liberties violations used to involve
using suppressive force against a crowd of students, or denying minority
students a chance to pursue a higher education.
Now, apparently, it involves sitting down where someone would rather
you not sit. Some undercover campus cops bother you? Try a hacker
convention sometime. At events like DEFCON, you don't have piddly
campus cops there, or even sheriff's officers.
Instead, undercover federal agents litter the attendance. The hackers
turned it into a game, "Spot the Fed". Winner gets a T-shirt.
Instead of crying up a storm in newspapers, the convention went about
its business. Instead of taking a contrary stance just for the sake
of doing so, they invited the feds to attend.
Pretty soon, the feds started coming out of their shells. Now, they
come to the conference not only as attendees, but presenters. They
partake in the sharing of information. Instead of getting indignant
about the "surveillance," DEFCON took the practical viewpoint:
If they aren't disrupting the activities, they aren't hurting anything.
The public sharing of information that the conference represents does
not exclude those employed by the authorities, even if their attendance
is at the instruction of the employer.
The resulting "odd couple" pairing has made for a unique
and productive atmosphere. One fed recently kicked off his talk at
DEFCON with the line, "Has anyone here ever done anything illegal?"
to the amusement of the attendees.
Did the administration lie about the officers? Perhaps so. But to
those crying about it, consider your goal. If your goal is to moan
and cry about the administration, then continue to enjoy the sound
of your own whining. But if your goal is the actual activity and the
sharing of information, then take DEFCON's lead: Focus on the purpose
of the event.
Invite the campus police to attend. Be the bigger man, so to speak.
What do you have to fear from a cop sitting in a chair if he's not
disrupting what you are doing? Get your information out to anyone
you can get to come and listen. If that includes law enforcement,
embrace that as an opportunity.
Whatever you do, stop belly aching. Crybabies don't endear anyone
to their cause. If a bunch of socially-inept computer hackers can
take such a situation and turn it into a positive, why can't you handle
it?
—Brendon Rapp |
