[Freethe SF8] Harvard Calls for Charges Against Arrested Students To Be Dropped

Tue May 8 10:26:45 EDT 2007

Harvard Calls for Charges Against Arrested Students To Be Dropped
Published On 5/2/2007 12:23:05 AM
By <http://www.thecrimson.com/writer.aspx?ID=1203241>CRIMSON NEWS STAFF
None

Harvard tonight asked that criminal charges be 
dropped against four undergraduates arrested last 
week for disrupting a speech by the director of the FBI.

"Given the importance of dissent in an academic 
community, the arrest of a student protestor 
remains a significant event," said a statement 
released tonight by a University spokesman. "The 
University is persuaded that more could have been 
done in the circumstances to apprise the students 
that they were in jeopardy of arrest. Without 
condoning the students’ behavior at the Forum, 
broader principles have led the University to 
request that the criminal charges against the students be dropped."

Last Thursday, Kelly L. Lee ’07, Michael A. 
Gould-Wartofsky ’07, Maura A. Roosevelt ’07 and 
J. Claire Provost ’07 had planned a coordinated 
protest in which each would consecutively 
interrupt the speaker, FBI Director Robert S. 
Mueller III, by yelling specific complaints from 
the audience. They 
<http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518560>were 
arrested by members of the Harvard University 
Police Department and 
<http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518625>charged 
with disturbing a public assembly.

According to the police report, obtained by The 
Crimson from the Cambridge District Courthouse 
Monday, “All of the individuals were yelling ‘the 
FBI are murderers’ and ‘the FBI equals 
terrorism.’ They were all yelling other slogans 
as well but kept repeating the two aforementioned phrases the most.”

However, video footage from the 
event<http://ksgaccman.harvard.edu/iop/events_forum_listview.asp?Type=PS>available 
online on the IOP’s Web 
site<http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518647>shows 
that neither of these phrases was ever uttered by the protesters.

Instead, protesters yelled a series of statements 
that the students said were carefully planned out 
and meant to be targeted towards specific issues.

Among the statements yelled by the protesters at 
the speech were: “We will never forget the state 
terror waged by the FBI against peaceful 
political dissidents. We will never forget the 
FBI’s role in McCarthyism,” “Stop the Green 
scare, stop the unconstitutional repression of 
environmental activists,” “Free the Panther 
Eight. Justice for Herman Bell,” and “Close 
Guantanamo. End the lies, end the secrets.”

<http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518657>http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518657

Arrest Report Disputed
IOP video footage reveals police report's inaccuracies
Published On 5/1/2007 3:26:08 AM
By <http://www.thecrimson.com/writer.aspx?ID=1203018>JAMISON A HILL
Crimson Staff Writer

The police report filed for the arrest of four 
undergraduates last Thursday for their protest 
during a speech at the Institute of Politics 
(IOP) has been found to contain several errors, 
including misquoting the students and 
inaccurately representing the order of events, 
according to video footage of the incident.

The Harvard University Police Department, which 
arrested the protestors, declined to comment in response to the findings.

Kelly L. Lee ’07, Michael A. Gould-Wartofsky ’07, 
Maura A. Roosevelt ’07 and J. Claire Provost ’07 
had planned a coordinated protest in which each 
would consecutively interrupt the speaker, FBI 
Director Robert S. Mueller III, by yelling 
specific complaints from the audience.

According to the police report, obtained by The 
Crimson from the Cambridge District Courthouse 
yesterday, “All of the individuals were yelling 
‘the FBI are murderers’ and ‘the FBI equals 
terrorism.’ They were all yelling other slogans 
as well but kept repeating the two aforementioned phrases the most.”

However, video footage from the 
event<http://ksgaccman.harvard.edu/iop/events_forum_listview.asp?Type=PS>available 
online on the IOP’s Web siteshows that neither 
of these phrases was ever uttered by the protesters.

Instead, protesters yelled a series of statements 
that the students said were carefully planned out 
and meant to be targeted towards specific issues.

Among the statements yelled by the protesters at 
the speech were: “We will never forget the state 
terror waged by the FBI against peaceful 
political dissidents. We will never forget the 
FBI’s role in McCarthyism,” “Stop the Green 
scare, stop the unconstitutional repression of 
environmental activists,” “Free the Panther 
Eight. Justice for Herman Bell,” and “Close 
Guantanamo. End the lies, end the secrets.”

Provost said that blanket statements were 
specifically avoided during the protest.

“There is very little a 21-year-old can do to 
protest the FBI,” she said yesterday. “This is 
one of the only opportunities I feel like I had 
to publicly express my dissent. So there is no 
way I would have used that one opportunity to say the FBI are murderers.”

The four students were charged with disturbing a 
public assembly, and are scheduled for a pretrial 
hearing on May 10. If convicted, they face up to 
a month in prison and up to a $50 fine.

Among the errors found in the report, the order 
in which the protestors shouted and were 
subsequently removed was incorrect. The report 
states that Lee, Gould-Wartofsky, Roosevelt then 
Provost were removed in that order. However, 
Roosevelt was the last taken out and Provost was directly before her.

Provost said that the police report exaggerated 
her shouting and said that she did not continue 
to yell while being physically escorted from the 
building, as the report indicated.

“The report seems to try to make us sound like 
very irrational, overzealous protestors,” she said.

Officer Daniel Twomey filed the report last Thursday.

Lee said she was “shocked and upset” over the 
discrepancies in the police report.

“Those discrepancies make it seem like we were 
resisting the officers when we were in total 
compliance with the rules of the University and 
the demands of the officers,” she said.

Gould-Wartofsky and Provost have served as 
members of the Crimson staff. Provost wrote her 
last news article in May 2004 and Gould-Wartofsky 
is a former editorial columnist.

As far as University disciplinary action, none of 
the students have been contacted about appearing 
before the Ad Board, the College’s disciplinary 
panel. However, last week, The Boston Globe 
quoted University spokesman Joseph Wrinn as 
saying that the four students could face disciplinary sanctions.

John L. Ellison, secretary of the administrative board, declined to comment.

<http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518647>http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518647

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