About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 2011)
CONTACT US AT P.O. BOX 1027, ATHENS, GA 30603, LEnERS@FLAGPOLE.COM OR VIA THE “TALK BACK TO US" LINK AT FLAGPOLE.COM 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 BUMPERSTICKER OF THE WEEK: Driver is carrying no money. He is divorced. 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