Wednesday, April 13, 2016

And The Beat Goes On

West entrance Whitmore Admin building around 6:30 PM

UMPD did not waste any time today in day three of the UMass sit in at Whitmore Administration building to protest their fossil fuel investment portfolio.

Just after 6:00 PM, official closing time for the building, they gave the dispersal order which about 150 took to heart and marched out of the building.  But 19 did not, and were summarily arrested.

 Students line up along main ramp around 5:30 PM to support protesters inside

They will all be arraigned tomorrow in Eastern Hampshire District Court probably before Judge Estes, who was in a good mood this morning, joking about his Prius and whether the defendants took a bus or bicycle to get to his courtroom.

Tomorrow, with another 19 crowding the courtroom, he may not be as jovial.


16 comments:

Dr. Ed said...

Larry, they are in violation of the Code of Student Conduct -- explicitly, as opposed to, say, kids arrested for violation of the town noise ordinance.

WHY AREN'T THEY BEING EXPELLED?!?!??

Seriously Larry, ASK ENKU WHY THEY AREN'T BEING SUMMARILY BOOTED.

This isn't free speech, it's criminal trespass -- there is no difference between this and the Westboro Baptist Church "occupying" the Stonewall Center.

Or a bunch of Exxon/Mobil Shareholders trashing the UM Geosciences Dept -- why shouldn't they if there aren't any rules, if laws don't matter anymore.

Dr. Ed said...

And what isn't widely known is that -- due to the shortage of pipeline capacity, the new UM Steam Plant burns #2 (Home Heating) Oil in the wintertime.

If the little darlings want to freeze to death, so much the better.
Perhaps UMass can move their beds out into the parking lots....

Dr. Ed said...

34 arrests -- how many were there at Barney Blowout?

Larry Kelley said...

55.

Anonymous said...

Down, Ed, down. You are demanding they be expelled before they've had a hearing.

Anonymous said...

UMass has had sit-ins and protests since the 1960s. Students don't get expelled for nonviolent behaviour. They never have been.

Dr. Ed said...

Interim expulsion never bothered Enku before....

Anonymous said...

Can you cite the section of the Code of Student Conduct that states expulsion is the punishment for criminal trespassing? As part of the action they are trying to be as transparent with those risking arrest as possible.

Thank you

Dr. Ed said...

UMass policy was changed after the Goodell Trespass. Building Takeovers are now verboten per Boston.

Anonymous said...

Ed, just because you apparently got your ass booted for acting like an a**hole doesn't mean these students should. Unlike you, these students seem to have the best intentions for the University. Naive and misguided, perhaps, but not malicious.

Dr. Ed said...

Ed, just because you apparently got your ass booted for acting like an a**hole

I GRADUATED, _ _ _ _ _-breath -- I was awarded THREE DIFFERENT DEGREES which is why I am DOCTOR Ed. And as to a**holes, it's people like you that your peers need to deal with they want me to go away.

doesn't mean these students should.

When lots of other students are booted for far less?

Unlike you, these students seem to have the best intentions for the University.

I never terrorized the secretaries. These schmucks are...

Naive and misguided, perhaps, but not malicious.

Same thing could be said of those who block access to abortion clinics...

Dr. Ed said...

Expulsion is the punishment for a lot less than criminal trespass.

Picketing Code approved by BOT in 1989 -- the T89- in the original -- and revised in 2005. See http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/picketing-code-revised-umass-amherst

Code at
http://www.umass.edu/dean_students/campus-policies/picketing-code
https://cesd3.oit.umass.edu/gradbulletin/2011-2012/Page2444.html

"Any violation of this Code may subject a student to expulsion from the university or such lesser sanction(s) as may be deemed appropriate by the university."

Anonymous said...

Ed,

You seemed to have missed the "or such lesser sanction(s) as may be deemed appropriate by the university."

Dr. Ed said...

See also Sectios II-D, II-E, II-J, & II-K of the Code of Student Conduct. Merely "failing to cooperate" (II-E) is grounds for expulsion, picketing code violation id II-D. J&K apply once any UM official (cop or not) has merely asked a student to leave a UM building.

See: http://www.umass.edu/dean_students/sites/default/files/documents/2014-2015%20Code%20of%20Student%20Conduct.pdf

And ask Enku why she doesn't have the date updated -- although it's the same code.

Dr. Ed said...

BTW, there is no real difference between suspension & expulsion -- in both cases, you can reapply for admission -- it's no longer a case of having a right to return when suspension ends.

Dr. Ed said...

Anon 8:02 --they are LEFTISTS, not liberals.

A true liberal (small "l") would treat them the same way the would treat the Klan -- address conduct, not speech -- and defend the latter, no matter how repulsive it may be. People will, after all, stand in line and pay money to hear popular speech.

No, it is the unpopular & reprehensible ideas that need protection, and there is nothing wrong with saying "while I may disagree with everything you have to say, I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

But to say it, not do what these schmucks are doing....