Share Link:

From a World Can't Wait Organizer at University of North Carolina - Greensboro:

On the evening of October 4, the UNCG chapter of World Can't Wait had scheduled a showing of "Crimes Against Humanity: The Bush Record".  We tabled, handed out hundreds of fliers, posted things up, and wrote chalk advertisements on sidewalks and campus streets.  The event, however, quickly became yet another example of the University's repressive policies on dissent on campus.

We were approved to show the documentary in the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) two weeks prior to the scheduled date once we were able to prove the DVD was copyrighted.  But the morning of the event, I received email from the MRC staff saying we could not have the event in their location because we're unaffiliated with the university.  I had turned in our affiliation paperwork the day before I scheduled the event with the MRC and, having known other groups that have gone through the affiliation process rather quickly and without delay, I figured we would be "official" by the time the event was scheduled and therefore there would be no problem.  That did not happen with us.  We had not even been contacted about the materials we handed in, and the Office of Student Life proved nearly impossible to get in contact with. 

Even without affiliation, however, I had heard of an OSL policy that allows student groups with pending affiliation status to reserve a room three times for three separate events to raise further interest in the budding group.  That was apparently not the case with us.  Not letting the bureaucracy get in the way of an event we've spent a lot of time building for, we moved it to the student center's TV lounge for anyone that wanted to stay and watch the DVD and have an informal, unofficial showing instead.  No one was in the TV lounge, so no problem, right?  Wrong.

The fatal mistake was when I went by the MRC and innocently asked the MRC rep if there was an event scheduled for that evening at 7:00.  No, none at all, he told me in a very harsh tone.  Okay, I said, and walked away.  He watched me leave... like a hawk.  On my way out, I slapped a note to the MRC door that stated where the event had been relocated to.  The man followed me out and ripped my note of the door.  No problem... a fellow organizer volunteered to stand in front of the MRC door and redirect people to the TV lounge.

7:00 rolled around and people were ready to start the showing.  We had a pretty good turnout; 5 or 6 of the "usual suspects" and about 10 new people that I was very glad to see.  We hadn't gotten halfway into the first section when an OSL person came down and said we couldn't have a meeting in the public lounge.  "We're just watching a movie!" a student told her.  She said she'd have to check and left.  A few minutes later, another woman came down.  She said we'd have to leave, that this was a PUBLIC lounge, and could not be occupied by a GROUP, especially one that is unaffiliated.  I told her we were included in the public.  She asked my name.  I gave it to her.  She asked how to spell my last name.  I told her not without a lawyer. She left in a huff.  About 5 minutes pass... then the cops show up.  Not one or two... I counted four.  They said they weren't sure what we did but that OSL wanted us out.  So we left.  The intention was not to get arrested that night (obviously), it was to show a documentary and begin raising further interest in the group.

A few of us went upstairs to ask the OSL staff some questions.  One man, John Allen (whom I assume was in charge), blatantly told us the issue was purely political.  He said to me straight up that the reason we could not show this DVD in the lounge was because of its "purpose."  I said, so this is political?  And his response... it took my breath away that he actually admitted it.  "Yes."  I wouldn't believe it had a few others not heard it too.  Free speech, he explained, does not exist inside the EUC (honestly, this guy said that), only within 30 feet of any university building.  When I got cocky and asked him if me and 5 friends could, by that policy, watch Bill O'Reilly in the TV lounge, he told me to "get out of his face" (I was standing at least an arm length and a half away) before he had me removed.  Since the motive for the evening was anything but to get anyone into trouble, I walked away from the situation quietly.

The good that came out of the situation was that the 10 people who came with an interest in viewing a documentary about the government's repressive agenda got to witness it first hand.  I've gotten two emails already from viewers wanting to get involved now more than ever.

So there's the current situation at UNCG.  First they say we're NOT a group so we can't be in the MRC.  Then they say we ARE a group so we can't be in the TV Lounge.  Not that we were surprised; we"re used to being jerked around by their policies, not only those of us with WCW, but any other student that's stepped out of line into a role the University deemed too radical.  Just the day before, two World Can't Wait organizers had been threatened with fines by UNCG police for writing on the sidewalks with chalk without permission.  A student was arrested last semester for failure to disperse after an "unpermitted" demonstration took place last March, the same day that a local WCW organizer was arrested on campus for "trespassing."  I myself have been threatened with forced removal and arrest for "disorderly conduct" while handing out fliers on a public street or wearing an orange jumpsuit around campus.  October 4 was just another ridiculous attempt by the administration to silence dissenting voices, suppress the free flow of critical thought, and make it abundantly clear that we do not, in fact, have fundamental rights on our own campus.

 Quote this article on your site