Counter Recruiting at CSU Fresno

Military recruiters, ROTC and other similar agencies are direct appendages of the military machine that exists to defend the interests of the American imperialist ruling class. ROTC recruits university students to become the next generation of the elite officer corps whose job is to oversee U.S. imperialist slaughter in wars like those against Afghanistan and Iraq. Meanwhile, military recruiters use promised tuition assistance and job opportunities to lure working-class youth, including a disproportionate number of black and minority youth, into signing up to be the cannon fodder for these wars.

The SYC opposes the extension of the repressive apparatus of the capitalist state onto college campuses and high schools. We fight against the use of the universities and schools as direct agents of U.S. imperialism and have actively organized for years against ROTC, military recruiters, military research, the CIA and cop training on campus. We say: ROTC, military recruiters off campus now!

from http://www.icl-fi.org/ENGLISH/2005/ROTC-846.html

I would tell the police that you aren't stopping the army from trying to recruit, (theoretically), you are simply promoting another view. They can't not allow this.

Take this with you <http://www.aclunc.org/911/demonstrate.pdf>.

From the ACLU <http://www.aclunc.org/911/kyr_english.pdf>:
Q: Do I have to give my name?
A:In California, you cannot be detained or arrested for
merely refusing to give your name. But you can be in
some states, including New Mexico and Nevada. And in any
state, police do not always follow the law, and refusing to
give your name may make them suspicious and lead to your
arrest, so use your judgment. If you fear that your name may
be incriminating, you can claim the right to remain silent,
and if you are arrested, this may help you later. Giving a false
name could be a crime.

The message below is an email I received this morning about who runs Vintage Days at CSUF. If my source is correct, and I think she is, Infinity Broadcasting has the franchise to run Vintage Days. Infinity Broadcast owns KMJ 580, the local AM radio station that has endless hours of Rush Limbaugh and other right wing talk show hosts. Infinity is a large corporate media conglomerate that owns numerous radio stations in Fresno and around the country. Has someone, without our looking, given them the power to determine our Free Speech rights? Not only do they dominate our local airwaves with right wing hate, they now have the ability to direct the police to threaten us with arrest if we try to share information about military recruiting practices at an event at the university? Didn’t our tax dollars pay for the university? My Gawd! This is outrageous!

Here is the email I received this morning:

Mike: I am still upset about Vintage Days event after my "encounter" with the Associated Students' staff that is in charge of the event. Back in February, when the College Democrats wanted to have a booth at Vintage Days to do voter registration, we were told that the University had given out a contract to Infinity Broadcasting to "rent" space to informational booths. The charge for a small space would be $750 for the event (table not included). As the campus faculty
co-advisor, I couldn't believe that a public university would charge a campus student group $750 for a small chunk of grass on their own public land. The staff guy got very nasty at me, demanding to know if I supported the basketball team or the football team at Fresno State, implying that I have no moral values, I guess. I was in the middle of so many things at that time that I didn't have time to write a complaint letter about this guy, but I bet the military recruiters don't have to pay that kind of money to Infinity Broadcasting for their space. Or maybe they do, since recruiters are using taxpayer money too, and we have to remember to enrich the private sector at all costs. The whole Vintage Days event is just another example of the privatization of everything public. I hope many people will go out to help with the anti-recruitment effort.

There are some inaccuracies in the Vintage Days comment, noted by someone who has been involved in the event since its inception:

--Vintage Days is put on by a committee of students, who are advised by University Student Union staff. While the Associated Students do provide some funding, VDs is not their event.
--radio stations have been major sponsors of VDs for many years, especially since the Alcohol Beverage Control folks told the University that beer distributors could not be event sponsors--this flowed from the fact the University has a liquor license.
--I believe, from what I've heard in recent years, that the Crafts Faire (and Boom Town Carnival) is sponsored by KMJ/Infinity. B95 has also been a major player in VDs events for years
--As an afternote, the University restricts all off-campus groups' free speech activities to the Free Speech Area near the USU.

If people are planning on going, they should be aware that the California Penal Code gives University Police absolute power to determine who may be on campus. The law states that anyone who fails to leave campus when directed to, or reenters campus within 48 hours, is subject to immediate arrest. The law makes NO provision for "free speech" activities.

The Free Speech issues involved here (at CSUF) remind me a lot of the struggle we had at the Fashion Fair mall where 19 of us were arrested for protesting The Gap’s use of sweatshop labor. For more information on how that case resolved itself (we won) see: http://www.fresnoalliance.com/home/GAP.htm

One of the things we learned in this case was that Fashion Fair directed the police to arrest us for violating their policy on handing out literature. The Fresno police followed their corporate masters directions and did, in fact, arrest us. We defended ourselves in court and the bottom line is that Fashion Fair (or CSUF) can have whatever policy they want on literature distribution but that does not give them the right to arrest someone who violates that policy. There is, Fashion Fair and the Fresno Police found, a big difference between a “policy” and the law. Fashion Fair and CSUF do NOT write the law and as they found out in court - they paid a heavy price for violating our civil liberties. While I’m not authorized to disclose how high of a price they paid for violating our civil liberties, suffice it to say that they have never challenged our right to hand out literature at Fashion Fair again.

Fashion Fair and Fresno State are governed by two distinct and separate sets of laws. The free speech fight at Fashion Fair was defined by the Pruneyard court decision. Pruneyard does not apply to Fresno State. Fashion Fair used the "standard" trespassing statute to have Fresno police arrest demonstrators. The Penal Code section applying to campus is NOT a trespassing statute per se.

I am familiar with the Penal Code section governing removal of people from campus--we used it at times to eject troublesome folks from campus recreational facilities when I was a campus employee in the late 1980s. It is very broad and gives the campus cops very clearcut authority. The law was challenged here locally some years ago and the 5th District Court of Appeals upheld it, citing State Supreme Court precedent.

Stan, in the comment directly above, cites the Pruneyard decision in the Free Speech fight we had at the Fashion Fair mall in Fresno. What Pruneyard, which by the way went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, does is give shopping centers the right to determine reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on people and groups exercising their free speech rights at shopping centers.

The reason that Fashion Fair and the Fresno Police Department did not prevail, in The Gap 19 case, is because the proper remedy for the situation (having protestors handing out fliers about sweatshop conditions at The Gap) was not to arrest us. The court concluded that the proper remedy would have been to secure a restraining order. The arrest, the court ruled, was not a reasonable reaction to our activity. We later filed charges against Fashion Fair and the City of Fresno in civil court that alleged they had violated our civil liberties. Fashion Fair and the City of Fresno settled the case out of court. We declared victory.

Stan also says that CSUF and Fashion Fair have two different sets of rules governing the exercise of free speech. While I’m sure that is true, the point I’m making is that different corporations or schools can “make up” any rules they want. Making up their own rules does not make it state law. That is, in essence, what the judge in our case determined. Just because an entity has a “rule” or “policy” governing free speech, it does not mean that it is the law of the land. They (Fashion Fair and CSUF) can’t just go around arresting everyone that has violated their rules or policies.

The officials at CSUF obviously had some hesitation about enforcing their “rules & policies” that regulate free speech on campus. Faced with 25 or 30 students, faculty, and community members who knew they had the right to tell the truth about military recruiting practices, the campus administrators blinked. The activists were victorious and our Free Speech rights have survived another challenge.

Hello Mike,

The "Co-Advisor" is right on, with the paying $750 for a booth for a table. The College Democrats wanted to do voter registration but don't have the money to pay the $750.00. To boot the Clubs get funds for activities on campus but they said they would not except the University funds to pay for vintage days. I was the President of the Club last semester. I wish I had the time to raise cain and get the word out maybe by next year we can make public what goes on with our University. The Sports Dept. is not the only area that has challenges of unfairness, and shady business dealings.

What the heck is this University used for when students can't register new voters, democracy has run a muck.

This is a totally privatized event purely for profit on public grounds paid for by our tax money.

Vintage Days is more like "Capitalist Days" What's so "Vintage" about this event?

(you may post this)

You have the legal right not to give your name to police unless a judge orders you to.

See the uploaded file

For more

See the link:

http://www.nlg-la.org/righttoprotest.htm