Call John Wozniak
President of Harold Washington College (Chicago, IL)
(312) 553-5834 or (312)553-5900
to voice your opposition to Security Officer Leon
Bowens’s unprovoked assault of two antiwar students.
The Administration and Campus Security must respect
students’ right to Free Speech!
Retired Chicago Police Officer Leon Bowens, now a
Security Officer at Chicago’s Harold Washington
College, forcibly dragged two students out of a Nov. 9
job fair for the crime of asking questions.
Students opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
attended the job fair concerned that students are not
getting the full story about military enlistment from
recruiters increasingly desperate to counter quota
shortfalls. We attended the fair holding no banners
or signs, and simply asked polite questions of the
recruiters about the likelihood of being sent to war,
the oft-promised benefits, and so on.
We were so polite in our questioning that one
recruiter defended us when campus security told us to
leave, saying, “They’re not bothering me at all. They
can stay, they’re fine.” When we started videotaping
Officer Bowens’s threats to us, he grabbed the camera,
telling us to turn it off. We managed to wrest it
away from him, so he dragged the student cameraman,
Jenell Holden, out of the job fair by his bicep.
Next, Security Officer Leon Bowens and his assistant
Herbert Wilson went for Chicago City Colleges student
Angie Haban, each grabbing her by an arm, and dragged
her out of the job fair, into the hallway, and out the
back door onto the loading dock, meanwhile elbowing
her in the chin. She sustained bruises to her left
upper arm.
This outrageous manhandling of individuals engaged in
polite conversations is part of a broader and
longer-term campaign of belligerence and intimidation
toward anti-war students wishing to organize and
exercise their freedom of speech. On several other
occasions Security Officer Leon Bowens has violated
our constitutional rights to freedom of speech and
assembly, breaking up innocuous, informal
conversations in student lounges, tearing down and
destroying approved fliers, and calling the police on
us while we were passing out leaflets in front of the
building.
Call Harold Washington President John Wozniak at (312)
553-5834 or (312) 553-5900 to demand that disciplinary
action be taken against Security Officer Leon Bowens
for his unprovoked assault of Angie Haban and Jenell
Holden at the 11/09/05 job fair. We will not
surrender our first amendment rights! No more attacks
against students!
Hands off Dave Airhart!!! Kent State Administration
Threatens Iraq Veteran with Expulsion for
Counter-Recruitment Protest. Contact the Kent State
administration with statements of support:
Carol Cartwright- University President: 330-672-2210,
carol.cartwright@kent.edu
Greg Jarvie- Dean of Undergraduate Students:
330-672-9494 Gjarvie@kent.edu
Defend Charles Peterson! Register your concerns with
Holyoke Community College about the assault and
pepper-spraying of peaceful counter-recruiter Charles
Peterson. See www.campusantiwar.net for the full
report.
Holyoke Community College Main Number: 413-552-2600
President Messner: 413-552-2222