UCB Faculty Votes to Resist Patriot Act

by Monkeyman (monkeyman [at] superpowers.org)

Thu, May 6, 2004 8:37PM

The UC Berkeley Academic Senate voted Thursday to urge the University to take all possible steps to avoid compliance with the Patriot Act, and to assist in the defense of faculty members who have Patriot Act cases brought against them.

UC Berkeley's Academic Senate, meeting in a special session on Thursday, approved a resolution urging the University administration to take all possible steps to resist subpoenas issued against campus faculty under the Patriot Act. The resolution also committed the university to pay all legal costs of any faculty member who is forced to defend her/himself against a Patriot Act case, and urged the chancellor, Robert Berdahl (currently president of the American Association of Universities), to urge other campuses to resist the Act.

The resolution passed by a vote of 105-0. During the Senate meeting, nobody stepped forward during the allotted time period to speak against the resolution.

Numerous cities across the country have passed laws making it illegal to comply with Patriot Act subpoenas, but UC Berkeley is the first major college campus to pass such a resolution.

Hopefully, student activists at other universities will initiate campaigns against the Patriot Act at their schools.

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