Escalation of the attacks on Free Speech at San Francisco State

WHAT YOU CAN DO

We ask the public to couninue speaking-out against the administration's plans
to limit free speech rights, and demand that no sanctions be placed on
students organizations that helped to plan the March 9th protest.

Please contact:
Robert A. Corrigan, SFSU President
Phone: (415) 338-1381, Fax: (415) 338-6210
Email: corrigan [at] sfsu.edu
please CC your email to: cansfsu [at] hotmail.com

Penny Saffold, SFSU Vice President/Dean of Students
Phone: (415) 338-2032, Fax: (415) 338-0900
Email: psaffold [at] sfsu.edu
please CC your email to: cansfsu [at] hotmail.com

Also, please sign our online petition at
http://www.petitiononline.com/556/petition.html


MARCH 9TH COUNTER-RECRUITMENT DEMONSTRATION

On Wednesday, March 9th, students from New York to San Francisco rallied to
protest military recruiters on their campuses. The students were expressing
their outrage at the military's anti-gay "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the
diversion of federal funding away from education into military spending, and
the war in Iraq. At San Francisco State University, the administration has
responded with police action and secret meetings.

At SFSU over 150 students joined Students Against War -- the school's Campus
Antiwar Network chapter -- and other groups to protest Air Force recruiters
and Army Corps of Engineers attending a school sponsored career fair. The
crowd flooded the fair, surrounding their tables and chanting. When Air Force
recruiters tried to wait out the protest, students staged a peaceful anti-war
sit-in and teach-in.

POLICE INTIMIDATION AND UNIVERSITY THREATS

The following day, recruiters returned to the SFSU career fair. As soon as
two activists entered the career fair, eight police officers forcibly removed
them from their own student center, pushing them and twisting one activist's
arm. When the other activist asked why she was being forced to leave, she was
pushed into a doorway, told she was causing a fire hazard by standing there,
and then kicked out of the building.

A number of members of Students Against War have received official notices of
appointment from the Coordinator of Judicial Affairs dated March 18, 2005. The
letters state that the administration has received a complaint from the Chief
of Public Safety and that each student must meet individually with Judicial
Affairs. The letter specifically states that the meetings are confidential and
none of the students have been informed of nature of the charges against them.
Failure to respond the summons may jeopardize the student's status at San
Francisco State University.

On April 1, 2005, the six student organizations that endorsed the
demonstration (Students Against War (SAW), LA Raza, Voices for Sexual Freedom
(VOX), Filipino American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE), M.E.C.h.A. and the
International Socialist Organization (ISO)) received letters stating that the
administration is beginning formal Disciplinary Proceedings. The groups
involved may be facing formal hearings as soon as Monday, April 25, 2005.

The university disciplining students and organizations for a peaceful
demonstration is unacceptable. The actions of the police and the San Francisco
State administration are a blatant attempt to stifle dissent and create a
climate of intimidation. The administration is purposely singling out the
leading organizers as well as political organizations on campus to prosecute.

San Francisco State University should be ashamed that they are a shell for
the US military. They undermine their own anti-discrimination policies and
commitments to diversity by allowing a racist, sexist and anti-gay institution
to recruit on campus. When the administration refuses to defend it own
policies, students are forced to be the moral backbone of the university. The
students and organizations, who participated in the March 9th demonstration,
where defending their classmates and refusing to let one more person become
cannon fodder in an illegal war.

These attacks are an attempt to go after one of the leading campuses in the
growing counter recruitment movement around the country. If they can punish
students at San Francisco State for protesting, it will be easier to arrest,
sanction and intimidate students on other campuses.

For more information about the March 9th protest:
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/breaking/003099.html
http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_2603424
http://kpix.dayport.com/launcher/4122/?tf=video_player.tpl

Watch a video of the protest at
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/collegenotcombat.mov.

We urgently need your help. Please lend your support to anti-war student
activists and activists who are fighting the militarization of our schools by
letting the administration know that their actions are not supported by
members of the community, students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

Sincerely,
Students Against War
cansfsu [at] hotmail.comWHAT YOU CAN DO

We ask the public to couninue speaking-out against the administration's plans
to limit free speech rights, and demand that no sanctions be placed on
students organizations that helped to plan the March 9th protest.

Please contact:
Robert A. Corrigan, SFSU President
Phone: (415) 338-1381, Fax: (415) 338-6210
Email: corrigan [at] sfsu.edu
please CC your email to: cansfsu [at] hotmail.com

Penny Saffold, SFSU Vice President/Dean of Students
Phone: (415) 338-2032, Fax: (415) 338-0900
Email: psaffold [at] sfsu.edu
please CC your email to: cansfsu [at] hotmail.com

Also, please sign our online petition at
http://www.petitiononline.com/556/petition.html


MARCH 9TH COUNTER-RECRUITMENT DEMONSTRATION

On Wednesday, March 9th, students from New York to San Francisco rallied to
protest military recruiters on their campuses. The students were expressing
their outrage at the military's anti-gay "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the
diversion of federal funding away from education into military spending, and
the war in Iraq. At San Francisco State University, the administration has
responded with police action and secret meetings.

At SFSU over 150 students joined Students Against War -- the school's Campus
Antiwar Network chapter -- and other groups to protest Air Force recruiters
and Army Corps of Engineers attending a school sponsored career fair. The
crowd flooded the fair, surrounding their tables and chanting. When Air Force
recruiters tried to wait out the protest, students staged a peaceful anti-war
sit-in and teach-in.

POLICE INTIMIDATION AND UNIVERSITY THREATS

The following day, recruiters returned to the SFSU career fair. As soon as
two activists entered the career fair, eight police officers forcibly removed
them from their own student center, pushing them and twisting one activist's
arm. When the other activist asked why she was being forced to leave, she was
pushed into a doorway, told she was causing a fire hazard by standing there,
and then kicked out of the building.

A number of members of Students Against War have received official notices of
appointment from the Coordinator of Judicial Affairs dated March 18, 2005. The
letters state that the administration has received a complaint from the Chief
of Public Safety and that each student must meet individually with Judicial
Affairs. The letter specifically states that the meetings are confidential and
none of the students have been informed of nature of the charges against them.
Failure to respond the summons may jeopardize the student's status at San
Francisco State University.

On April 1, 2005, the six student organizations that endorsed the
demonstration (Students Against War (SAW), LA Raza, Voices for Sexual Freedom
(VOX), Filipino American Collegiate Endeavor (PACE), M.E.C.h.A. and the
International Socialist Organization (ISO)) received letters stating that the
administration is beginning formal Disciplinary Proceedings. The groups
involved may be facing formal hearings as soon as Monday, April 25, 2005.

The university disciplining students and organizations for a peaceful
demonstration is unacceptable. The actions of the police and the San Francisco
State administration are a blatant attempt to stifle dissent and create a
climate of intimidation. The administration is purposely singling out the
leading organizers as well as political organizations on campus to prosecute.

San Francisco State University should be ashamed that they are a shell for
the US military. They undermine their own anti-discrimination policies and
commitments to diversity by allowing a racist, sexist and anti-gay institution
to recruit on campus. When the administration refuses to defend it own
policies, students are forced to be the moral backbone of the university. The
students and organizations, who participated in the March 9th demonstration,
where defending their classmates and refusing to let one more person become
cannon fodder in an illegal war.

These attacks are an attempt to go after one of the leading campuses in the
growing counter recruitment movement around the country. If they can punish
students at San Francisco State for protesting, it will be easier to arrest,
sanction and intimidate students on other campuses.

For more information about the March 9th protest:
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/breaking/003099.html
http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_2603424
http://kpix.dayport.com/launcher/4122/?tf=video_player.tpl

Watch a video of the protest at
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/collegenotcombat.mov.

We urgently need your help. Please lend your support to anti-war student
activists and activists who are fighting the militarization of our schools by
letting the administration know that their actions are not supported by
members of the community, students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

Sincerely,
Students Against War
cansfsu [at] hotmail.com