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PROFESSOR TO PRESIDENT
Dear President Adams: The purpose of
this letter is to direct your attention to the
fact that UGA police chief Jimmy Williamson
and his department are violating the First
Amendment rights of the Athens Occupy Wall
Street protestors who are protesting down
town near the Arch, and to request you to
direct UGA police to cease their violations of
the First Amendment.
You have, I am sure, observed the Athens
OWS demonstrators engaging in their peaceful
and respectful protests and displaying their
protest signs. If you have seen them lately,
you will notice that none of the protestors
with a sign is standing on the steps leading
from Broad Street to the Arch. The reason
the protestors are not standing with their
signs on those steps, even though they wish
to do so, is that they are afraid that if they
stand on the steps they will be arrested. Chief
Williamson and his officers have adopted a
policy which consists of ordering the protes
tors not to stand on the steps and of threat
ening to arrest any protestor who does stand
on the steps. This policy is a plain violation of
the First Amendment.
On Oct. 18, 2011, the UGA police depart
ment gave a document entitled “Notice,"
prepared by police, to the protestors. (This
document is set forth in the attachment to
this email.) The document contains a num
ber of “protocols" prohibiting the protestors
from engaging in certain activities, including
protesting on the steps of the Arch. Thus, the
document announces: "Protestors may not...
stand on the steps of the Arch."
On the morning of Oct. 19, 2011, Chief
Williamson visited the protestors at the Arch
and issued them orders. During that visit,
which was recorded on videotape with audio,
he threatened to arrest protestors unless they
went to the side of the steps. The video of
that visit is on YouTube and may be accessed
by following this hotlink: http://www.you
tube.com/watcn?v=owwnuz_V_Zk
A transcript of the audio portion of the
video reveals what Williamson told the
protestors.
Williamson: "Do not block the steps of
the Arch to the university. You need to go to
each side of the steps, please. Anything that
you don't follow instructions or you're subject
to arrest. We're giving you ample access to
protest, express all your rights you want to
express and thoughts. All we're asking is for
the front door of the university to have free
ingress and egress for all the students and
other people here have. The same rights that
you all have.
"So, we're asking you to just step to each
side of the wall, and line up along the fence
and you get to express your rights. This [the
Arch] is a door just like any other business
or anything else. Every student, every faculty
member has the right to come in and out of
here without trying to snake through people
or step over people."
The chief says this between the time mark
ers 1:46 and 2:32 on the video. In ordering
the protestors "to go to each side" of the
steps and telling
them that "Anything
that you don't follow
instructions or you're
subject to arrest," he
clearly was threat
ening to arrest the
protestors if they
continued to engage
in protest activities
on the steps, and this
is especially true in light of the "Notice" given
the protestors the previous day which prohib
ited them from standing on the steps of the
Arch. That the protestors clearly understood
that they had been ordered to refrain from
protesting on the steps of the Arch is evident
from the people's microphone statements that
the protestors recited immediately after the
chief had issued his directives and walked a
short distance away.
One week ago, on the afternoon of
Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, I had a telephone
conversation with Chief Williamson. In the
course of that conversation, the chief told me
in no uncertain terms that if a protestor stood
on the steps of the Arch he would be ordered
to step down, and that if he did not do so he
would be arrested for criminal trespass. The
chief seems to be under the impression that if
a single person walking through the Arch was
required to walk around a protestor on the
steps, that alone would justify barring protes
tors from standing on the steps.
I need hardly remind you, President Adams,
that over the years various protest groups
have demonstrated at the Arch and that many
demonstrators often stand on the steps of the
Arch in the course of their demonstrations.
During my 40 years at this University I have
with my own eyes seen protest after protest at
the Arch featuring demonstrators standing on
the Arch steps. Just last Sept. 21, my wife and
I and other protestors against the execution
of Troy Davis stood on the steps of the Arch
holding our protest signs. I have never heard
of a single instance in which demonstrators
were barred from standing on those steps.
Demonstrators may not, of course, block
the pedestrian traffic through the Arch, and
UGA police may legitimately prevent crowds
from obstructing
passage through the
Arch. But the UGA
police have gone way
beyond that, and in
doing so they have
violated the First
Amendment. UGA
police have prohib
ited any demonstrator
(including one carry
ing a protest sign) from standing on the steps
of the Arch, even if passage is not blocked.
Every day all of us see citizens—faculty,
administrators, students and nonstudents
alike—standing on the steps of the Arch while
engaging in conversation, talking on their
cellphones, waiting for someone to arrive
or just plain hanging out. Some of them sit
on those steps while using their laptops or
engaging in other activities. They have a right
to do so, and it would be ridiculous if UGA
police were to threaten these citizens with
arrest because they were standing (or sit
ting) on the steps of the Arch. It is, however,
even more ridiculous for the police to permit
ordinary citizens to stand on the steps of the
Arch, while at the same time preventing pro
testors from doing the same thing.
President Adams, I know for a certainty
that if UGA police do not cease barring protes
tors from standing on the steps of the Arch,
there will be a civil action filed in court in
which the chief, his department, and possibly
the University itself will be named as defen
dants. I am also quite confident that no fed
eral district court judge or state superior court
judge will find that the UGA police policies,
which forbid protestors from simply standing
on the steps of the Arch while carrying a pro
test sign, comply with the First Amendment.
The filing of such a lawsuit would... embarrass
the university and damage its reputation.
For these reasons, President Adams, I
request that you direct the UGA police to
rescind their prohibition on protestors stand
ing on the steps of the Arch. I further request
that you direct UGA police to officially inform
the Athens OWS demonstrators that they will
no longer be subject to arrest for peaceably
holding their signs while standing on the
steps of the Arch as long as they do not block
traffic through the Arch.
Because we are dealing with First
Amendment violations that began over a
week ago and that are still continuing, I
also request that you handle this matter on
an expedited basis, so that the protestors
may promptly resume their First Amendment-
protected activities without fear of arrest.
Donald E. Wilkes, Jr.
Professor of Law, UGA School of Law
PRESIDENT TO PROFESSOR
From: Michael F. Adams [mailto:presuga@uga.edu]
Sent: Thursday, Oct. 27.2011 6:58 p.m.
To: Donald Wilkes
Cc: Timothy P. Burgess; Jere W. Morehead
Subject: Re: UGA Police Violating the First Amendment
Mr. Wilkes, the Chiefs interpretation is
correct. We will respect and protect your right
to protest, but protesters must stay on the
sidewalk, not block the Arch, or impede oth
ers intent to ingress and egress the campus.
Thank you for your inquiry.
MFA
UGA
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