University Ordered to Turn Over Records on Anti-War Activists

University Ordered to Turn Over Records on Anti-War Activists

By Ryan J. Foley

February 7, 2004, The Associated Press

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines04/0207-07.htm

DES MOINES, Iowa - In what may be the first subpoena of its kind
in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over
records about a gathering of anti-war activists.

In addition to the subpoena of Drake University, subpoenas were
served this past week on four of the activists who attended a Nov.
15 forum at the school, ordering them to appear before a grand
jury Tuesday, the protesters said.

Federal prosecutors refuse to comment on the subpoenas.

In addition to records about who attended the forum, the subpoena
orders the university to divulge all records relating to the local
chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a New York-based legal
activist organization that sponsored the forum.

The group, once targeted for alleged ties to communism in the
1950s, announced Friday it will ask a federal court to quash the
subpoena on Monday.

"The law is clear that the use of the grand jury to investigate
protected political activities or to intimidate protesters exceeds
its authority," guild President Michael Ayers said in a statement.

Representatives of the Lawyer's Guild and the American Civil
Liberties Union said they had not heard of such a subpoena being
served on any U.S. university in decades.

Those served subpoenas include the leader of the Catholic Peace
Ministry, the former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network, a
member of the Catholic Worker House, and an anti-war activist who
visited Iraq in 2002.

They say the subpoenas are intended to stifle dissent.

"This is exactly what people feared would happen," said Brian
Terrell of the peace ministry, one of those subpoenaed. "The civil
liberties of everyone in this country are in danger. How we handle
that here in Iowa is very important on how things are going to
happen in this country from now on."

The forum, titled "Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard
Home!" came the day before 12 protesters were arrested at an anti-
war rally at Iowa National Guard headquarters in Johnston.
Organizers say the forum included nonviolence training for people
planning to demonstrate.

The targets of the subpoenas believe investigators are trying to
link them to an incident that occurred during the rally. A
Grinnell College librarian was charged with misdemeanor assault on
a peace officer; she has pleaded innocent, saying she simply went
limp and resisted arrest.

"The best approach is not to speculate and see what we learn on
Tuesday" when the four testify, said Ben Stone, executive director
of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, which is representing one of
the protesters.

Mark Smith, a lobbyist for the Washington-based American
Association of University Professors, said he had not heard of any
similar case of a U.S. university being subpoenaed for such
records.

He said the case brings back fears of the "red squads" of the
1950s and campus clampdowns on Vietnam War protesters.

According to a copy obtained by The Associated Press, the Drake
subpoena asks for records of the request for a meeting room, "all
documents indicating the purpose and intended participants in the
meeting, and all documents or recordings which would identify
persons that actually attended the meeting."

It also asks for campus security records "reflecting any
observations made of the Nov. 15, 2003, meeting, including any
records of persons in charge or control of the meeting, and any
records of attendees of the meeting."

Several officials of Drake, a private university with about 5,000
students, refused to comment Friday, including school spokeswoman
Andrea McDonough. She referred questions to a lawyer representing
the school, Steve Serck, who also would not comment.

A source with knowledge of the investigation said a judge had
issued a gag order forbidding school officials from discussing the
subpoena.

ON THE NET

Drake University: http://www.drake.edu/
National Lawyers Guild: http://www.nlg.org/

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