Campus Free-Speech Action Alert
John M. Krafft
jmkrafft at landru.ham.muohio.edu
Tue Apr 18 01:03:48 CDT 1995
From: MX%"JEMURRAY at mosler.ham.muohio.edu" 17-APR-1995 10:18:31.40
To: JMKRAFFT
CC:
Subj: Fwd: corrected Fox/Sakolsky t... (fwd)
<<< Message autoforwarded from JMKRAFFT >>>
Here is a chance for political participation. A little story I thought
some of you might want to here and possibly respond to. It came
across E-Mail this morning.
Joe Murray
> Dennis Fox
> fox at eagle.sangamon.edu
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> CAMPUS FREE SPEECH ACTION ALERT!
>
> Dennis Fox
>
> On March 15th Ron Sakolsky and I went to hand out leaflets on
> the Sangamon State University (SSU) campus where we teach. Before we
> knew it, the campus police had arrested both of us on a variety of
> unfounded charges. We need your help. Especially Ron.
>
> Ron is a tenured associate professor of public affairs and labor
> relations long controversial in Springfield because of his consistent
> activism. For 23 years he has taught courses at SSU on everything from
> Organizing for Peace and Justice to Workplace Democracy to World Music.
> I've been here seven years, and am a tenured associate professor in
> legal studies and psychology. I teach things like Law and Inequality
> and, this semester, a seminar in Conservative Efforts to Reclaim the
> Law. A few years ago Ron and I team-taught a course called the Columbus
> Quincentennial: Hype and History From 1492 to 1992.
>
> Here's what actually happened last month to Ron and me. We went
> to give leaflets to people going to a mayoral debate because one of the
> candidates for Springfield mayor was State Senator Karen Hasara, who had
> co-sponsored a recently passed union-busting bill. (As part of the
> "restructuring" of higher education in Illinois, the legislature and
> governor, on te Republican "fast track," had just passed legislation to
> merge SSU with the University of Illinois system. The legislation
> included a provision to destroy the SSU faculty's collective bargaining
> rights.) The leaflets pointed out Hasara's role and the media's failure
> to report the story, and we listed a few questions we hoped the audience
> might ask during the debate.
>
> I was arrested when I refused to stop leafleting in the hallway
> outside the auditorium. An SSU employee and someone from WICS-TV Channel
> 20 instructed SSU police officers that no one was allowed to hand out
> what they called "campaign literature" at what was characterized as an
> "invitation-only" event (Channel 20, Springfield's only TV station,
> reported later that night that we had been taken away "for violating a
> ban on leafleting"). An officer ordered me to stop or leave the
> building. He also grabbed leaflets out of the hands of a few people who
> had taken one. After 15 minutes of intermittent warnings, he said I
> couldn't even stand in the almost empty hallway with the leaflets
> "visible." Then I was handcuffed and taken away, charged with criminal
> trespass to state property (the cop told me I no longer had permission
> to be there) and interference with a police officer (I never did find
> out what that was about, since the police report didn't say I had done
> anything disruptive).
>
> Ron Sakolsky's case went much differently. He was inside the
> auditorium, quietly handing leaflets to people who had gotten there
> early. When the police discovered him inside, Ron offered to leave the
> auditorium and join me in the hallway, but the cop told him he'd have to
> leave the building instead. So Ron stayed where he was, leaflets in
> hand. Without telling him he was under arrest and without warning him
> they would use force, the police grabbed Ron, twisted his arm, and began
> to push him out. Ron says he then told the cop he would leave
> peacefully, but the cop just twisted his arm tighter. In pain, as the
> physical assault intensified, Ron tried to get loose. Now he's charged
> with aggravated battery, a felony.
>
> I'm in pretty good shape legally. When the State's Attorney read
> the police account of my actions, he decided not to file charges. That
> police report makes interesting reading, by the way. It makes you wonder
> why SSU's campus police force thought anyone could be arrested for what
> they say I did.
>
> Ron's in greater danger. He's scheduled to appear in court on
> April 20th to find out what the state has in mind for him. If he goes to
> trial, he faces possible prison time if convicted; at the very least, he
> faces mounting legal fees. That seems pretty excessive, considering the
> whole incident began when the university's poorly trained police force
> improperly prevented us from handing out leaflets. (Perhaps not
> coincidentally, Ron and I led the opposition on campus a year and a half
> ago when the President decided to replace the campus security guards
> with armed police. Also disturbingly, although two years ago the
> Administration promised the campus community that there would be a
> police review committee with well-defined complaint procedures, that
> promise was not kept. There are no still campus procedures to
> investigate police actions. The Administration's decision to refer the
> matter only to the State Police for investigation clearly does not
> fulfill the earlier commitment to campus-based review.)
>
> We think this incident relates to a number of disturbing trends
> across the United States and elsewhere. Infringement of free speech and
> academic freedom. Efforts to hamper labor union organizing.
> "Restructuring" of higher education. Unleashing the police to prevent
> dissent. One-sided mainstream news coverage.
>
> This could happen to you next.
>
> HERE'S HOW TO HELP
>
> PUBLIC PRESSURE IS URGENTLY NEEDED BEFORE RON'S APRIL 20TH COURT DATE!
>
> (AND AFTER THAT IF THE STATE AND UNIVERSITY PURSUE FURTHER ACTION!)
>
> SSU President Naomi Lynn has the power to get the State's Attorney to
> drop charges. Sangamon State is on the verge of becoming the University
> of Illinois at Springfield--a controversial transition that provides the
> context for much that happens here these days. A show of support from
> around the country and beyond, for Ron in this specific case and for the
> broader right to free speech on a college campus, would help.
>
> PLEASE SEND E-MAIL MESSAGES ENCOURAGING SSU TO DO THE RIGHT THING!
> Send to:
>
> Naomi Lynn, SSU President lynn at eagle.sangamon.edu
>
> CONSIDER SENDING COPIES TO:
>
> Stanley Ikenberry sikenber at uiuc.edu
> (current U of I System President)
>
> James Stukel James.J.Stukel at uic.edu
> (soon-to-be U of I System President)
>
> Doug Anderson, SSU's Lawyer danderso at eagle.sangamon.edu
>
> PLEASE ALSO SEND ME A COPY SO THAT WE CAN KEEP YOU POSTED!
>
> Dennis Fox fox at eagle.sangamon.edu
>
> FOR MORE INFORMATION FROM ME OR OUR NOW-FORMING SUPPORT GROUP,
> MY E-MAIL ADDRESS IS fox at eagle.sangamon.edu
>
>
> PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO APPROPRIATE E-MAIL LISTS!!!!
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Dennis Fox (217)786-6535 office
> Associate Professor of Legal Studies (217)786-7279 fax
> Associated Faculty, Psychology
> Sangamon State University
> Springfield, IL 62794-9243 fox at eagle.sangamon.edu
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
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Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 10:20:44 EST5EDT
Subject: Fwd: corrected Fox/Sakolsky t... (fwd)
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John M. Krafft, English | Miami University--Hamilton
Voice: 513-863-8833, ext. 342 | 1601 Peck Boulevard
Fax: 513-863-1655 | Hamilton, OH 45011-3399
E-mail: jmkrafft at miavx2.ham.muohio.edu
jmkrafft at miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
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