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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNY’s Public Universities Working Hard to Pre-Crush Dissent
November 1st, 2013 5:43 PM
NYs Public Universities Working Hard to Pre-Crush Dissent.
By Julianna Forlano
In a move likely to sharply curtail free speech and free assembly, administrators at The City University of New York (CUNY) are developing what they call a Policy on Expressive Activity to set severe limitations on who, how and where free speech and assembly rights can be exercised. The proposed Policy on Expressive Activity bans demonstrations from CUNY buildings and forces demonstrators into what amounts to protest ghettos conveniently called designated areas which are likely to be located in such high traffic and visibility areas as between the defunct vending machine and the moldy couches in a library sub-basement.
The proposed policy requires 24 hours advance notice of demonstrations even if turnout is expected to be small; limits the distribution of materials on campus to designated areas; and gives college presidents the power to determine if a demonstration is disruptiveand to call the police onto campus to stop it. CUNY is a public university and as such, these policies, if implemented, are not only an assault on the concept of university education, but a restriction on the use of public space for assembly, which I am quite positive is supposed to be protected under the first amendment. CUNYs proposed policy goes on to state, Freedom of expression and assembly, are subject to the need to maintain safety and order. Every university has the responsibility to maintain a safe environment for its students and employees. But, as Barbara Bowen, President of the PSC/CUNY union of teachers and faculty, states in her memorandum to union members Safety is not the same as order; safety does not require repression.
CUNYs proposed restrictions come on the heels of the abrupt and unannounced re-appropriation of a student center at CUNYs City College, where politically active students once had their offices. The space has been turned into a career center and all student group files from that area were confiscated. (Read about it here: http://www.thenation.com/blog/176832/cuny-dismantles-community-center-students-fight-back# ). CUNY Students have also recently staged protests over what they considered unfair tuition hikes as well as over the universitys hiring of disgraced former General David Petraeus as a visiting professor. .........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/nys-public-universities-working-hard-pre-crush-dissent
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NY’s Public Universities Working Hard to Pre-Crush Dissent (Original Post)
marmar
Nov 2013
OP
that's bullshit and they shouldn't be protecting that asshole war criminal Petreaus
gopiscrap
Nov 2013
#2
It is going to take a lot of civil disobedience in the future just to be able to express our first
liberal_at_heart
Nov 2013
#3
pscot
(21,024 posts)1. There's a lot of planning going on
to deal with future "unrest". The idea they're keeping us safe is bogus. They are preparing for civil disorder. The Pentagon is dug deep into the Homeland Defense apparatus. I think climate change and the attendant economic collapse is driving all this preparation. They're getting ready for major dislocations in the next 10 or 15 years. Maybe sooner. Of course I could be wrong.
gopiscrap
(23,736 posts)2. that's bullshit and they shouldn't be protecting that asshole war criminal Petreaus
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)3. It is going to take a lot of civil disobedience in the future just to be able to express our first
amendment rights.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)4. It already does, at least in some place ...
xchrom
(108,903 posts)5. du rec.