HAMPTON UNIVERSITY REPRESSION
\nStudents Not Expelled! …But Fight Not Over
\nBy John Robinson<\/p>\n
Hampton University students faced disciplinary hearings on Dec 2, 2005
\nat 9:00 am in the Student Center cyber lounge. As I arrived I
\nimmediately noticed bands of protesters already picketing right outside
\nthe University. By the time the six other students and I met with the
\nparents and lawyers in front of the room that the hearing was to be
\nheld, there were already over 20 student supporters standing right
\noutside the door.<\/p>\n
As we made last minute preparations to our cases, students continued to
\npour into the student center. At about 9:20 the parents, character
\nwitnesses, students, and administrators began to enter the room. After
\neveryone was seated, the Dean of Men and Dean of Women outlined the
\nrules of the hearing for everyone in attendance. They told everyone
\nthat the only question-asking would be done by the administration.
\nStudents did not have the ability to question the shabby evidence
\npresented against them and instead had to rely on the word of the
\ncampus detective relating to what was actually on the video footage.
\nThe administrators then decided to sequester the seven students and
\nquestion them individually. They allowed only the pre-selected family,
\nlawyers, and character witnesses to come in the students. Even though
\nthe notice sent to students suggested they would have an opportunity to
\npresent a case, the hearing amounted to not much more than a formal
\ninterrogation. Shortly after the hearing had commenced it became
\nabundantly clear that Hampton University was no longer in control. As
\nwas mentioned before, the Administration’s case was extremely weak. The
\nadministrators seemed nervous as they listened to the chief lieutenant
\nclumsily describe the one piece of footage that he had an opportunity
\nto view and that he elected not to present. But things only got worse
\nfrom there for the Administration as the lawyers exposed the unfairness
\nof the Administrative Hearing process itself. Also the parents were in
\nstrongly in support of their children and nearly every one lashed out
\nat the administration at some point. The parents made good points about
\nthe procedural injustices inherent in Hampton’s administrative
\nhearings.<\/p>\n
As discontent among the parents continued to mount, more and more
\nstudents stood in front of the door wearing paraphernalia that
\nblatantly revealed that they were in support of the student activists,
\nand more people grabbed pickets and duck tape and joined the free
\nspeech demonstration. The administrators seemed flustered and nervous
\nas they had to continually defend the legitimacy of their Kangaroo
\nCourt. It was so obvious that Hampton was a lot more accustomed to
\nhandling things in ways that were unapologetically authoritarian and
\nnot subject to many of the rules we take for granted. They were not
\nused to the “checks and balances” that the people themselves imposed on
\nHampton. This caused the proceedings to degenerate to a series of
\ndramatic power trips. The students watching the hearing through the
\nglass witnessed the Dean of Students, who was supposed to have no part
\nin the hearing, angrily march from his seat in the back to the front of
\nthe room and threaten to throw out a professor who spoke as a character
\nwitness for the students. The administrative panel also threw one of
\nthe student’s father out of the hearing, and threatened to throw out
\nanother students mother and one of the lawyers. The administrator were
\nincredibly rude to students and parents alike, instinctively telling
\nthem to \u201cshut up\u201d and threatening to dismiss them. Meanwhile, outside
\nthe hearing, the police carried out the authoritarian practices of the
\nschool on the student supporters. There were police EVERYWHERE and they
\nconfiscated the posters and filmed students with reckless abandon. A
\nstudent DJ who supports the activists attempted to play music in the
\nstudent center, which happens everyday, and he was promptly stopped by
\na university official fearing the music would further embolden the
\nstudents. At the beginning of the hearing we were told that we would
\nnot receive verdicts today and we should expect them in the next 2-3
\ndays. However after the strong show of support by the students and
\ncommunity, the university decided to have the verdict ready mere hours
\nafter the hearing had finished. The students were not expelled. To save
\nface, the university imposed 20 hours of “community service” on most of
\nthe involved students. This is an illegitimate punishment for
\nlegitimate protest. But it also represents the administration having to
\nback down from its most draconian threats in the face of opposition.<\/p>\n
On December 2, Hampton University looked like I’ve never seen it look
\nbefore. The students, it seemed, realized that this was not a fight for
\nthe Hampton seven but a fight for the student body. More importantly
\nthey realized that they themselves could fight to make Hampton and the
\nworld a better place. Students, who only days ago wouldn\u2019t sign a
\npetition because they feared harsh repercussion, now boldly stood in
\nthe defense of the activists against campus police. Teachers who were
\npreviously silenced by the privacy obligations of the school now spoke
\nto their students in class and urged them to become involved. Black
\nstudents from other schools became more involved in the antiwar
\nstruggle at their own schools. The students at Hampton for the first
\ntime saw someone stand up against the university and they saw the
\nuniversity do all it could to back down. At the end of the hearing, the
\nDean of Men could not restrain himself from questioning me about the
\narticle \u201cCorporate Plantation\u201d. Before I had a chance to answer the
\nDean of Students interjected that it was not appropriate. I have no
\ndoubt that if the school was not being so closely watched, that line of
\nquestioning would have went much further. But the student movement
\nshowed its strength and resilience. The students at Hampton greatly
\nappreciate the many people who joined with them in this struggle
\nagainst this repressive administration. We showed them something they
\nhad not saw in a long time. However the school intends to downplay the
\nevent so the controversy will go away. The atmosphere will probably
\nbecome worse after that as they will do all they can to prevent
\nactivists from doing anything especially now that they can identify
\nseveral. That means that even though we were victorious in this battle,
\nthe fight goes on. The actions of the administration has made Hampton\u2019s
\ncampus fertile ground for social activism. We must capitalize on that
\nand demand that our group be recognized and demand a more democratic
\natmosphere at Hampton. Black students have infinite potential but the
\nprogram of Hampton MUST be counteracted. In recognizing the rising
\nrepression at other schools against students and professors we do
\nconsider this battle in the context of the larger struggle against
\nempire and war. This fight ultimately got many black students involved
\nin the student movement, and so long as we are able to organize on the
\nground there will be many more. Let us continue our fight and make the
\nchange we know is possible.<\/p>\n
JOHN ROBINSON is one of the Hampton students assigned community service
\nand is the author of “Corporate Plantation: Political Repression and
\nthe Hampton Model.” Contact him and the other students at
\nhamptonsolidarity@yahoo.com<\/p>\n
For ongoing updates of the Hampton case – and another case of HAMPTON UNIVERSITY REPRESSION Students Not Expelled! …But Fight Not Over By John Robinson Hampton University students faced disciplinary hearings on Dec 2, 2005 at 9:00 am in the Student Center cyber lounge. As I arrived I immediately noticed bands of protesters already picketing right outside the University. By the time the six other students and… Continue reading Hampton University Repression – Students Not Expelled!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nuniversity administrators threatening expulsion for peaceful protest,
\nat UW-Madison – see http:\/\/www.campusantiwar.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"