Banning SDS in Olympia-Politically Charged Suspension of Student Group by College Administration

Courtney: Olympia Students for Democratic Society (SDS) meetings are usually attended by up to twenty-five people, and about fifty people total come attend some meetings. Hundreds of people have come to our events, cosponsored them, or helped us with our activism.

The San Francisco 8 panelists told us they were proud of us as young activists and expressed support for our resistance against police actions and racism as well as our work in defense of free speech. They largely agreed that the police were a fundamentally and systematically oppressive force.
Campus police monitored the events from outside the building and talked to a few people, but there was little direct interaction at the event itself; things appeared to be going fine. Shortly after the panel and performance, the administration sent us a letter notifying us of our suspension. We held an initial appeal, which was well attended by other students and student groups, and were informed that our suspension was shortened. We have filed a letter of intent to appeal a second and final time.

Filemon: (Regarding the banned event) SDS went ahead with promoting a panel discussion that had been planned for months with the San Francisco 8, former Black Panthers who had been tortured by U.S. Government agencies and were victims of the COINTELPRO campaign (now on trial for charges related to the murder of a police officer in 1971-charges that were thrown out in 1975 in part because confessions were extracted under police torture-Ron). We were also promoting an acoustic performance by David Rovics, Danny Kelly and Mark Eckert that would serve as a benefit for anti-war activist Carlos Arredondo, whose son was killed in Iraq. Two days before both separate events were to occur; the administration abruptly informed SDS that the two events were canceled, because “they were advertised as a concert.” The panel discussion was in no way a concert, and the second, separate event was an acoustic performance, hardly a concert. The decision was obviously politically motivated because there had already been another musical performance (as noted above) since the so-called concert moratorium had began. SDS and many other student groups deemed the cancellation illegitimate, and we decided to proceed with both events. Both the panel discussion with the San Francisco 8 and the later acoustic benefit performance by David Rovics ran smoothly and were very well attended. Both the San Francisco 8 and David Rovics have been very supportive of SDS and were appreciative that we went ahead with the scheduled events. The next week, the Evergreen Administration informed SDS that we were temporarily suspended until they could come to a decision. Eventually they decided to suspend SDS’s group status for an entire year.

I saw in the Indymedia article regarding Olympia SDS' suspension that you have received support from other student groups. Is there a way for other folks who are not affiliated with Evergreen to express support? Should they write the administration? Is there a petition?

Filemon: Many Evergreen student groups including MEChA de Evergreen as well as various other Olympia community groups have been very supportive of Olympia SDS in this time. The regional and national SDS chapters have also been very vocal in their support. I definitely encourage people to write letters in support of SDS, especially to Evergreen State College President Les Purce, Vice President Art Constantino, and Dean of Student and Academic Support Services Phyllis Lane, who have been the main opponents of free speech at Evergreen and against SDS as a group. We generated a petition and gathered about 500 signatures in one week.

Courtney: There is a petition, but the following would be more helpful, especially for those outside the community. We are always looking for like-minded people to work with, and this campaign is not just about us or our community; it is about free speech rights everywhere, especially on campuses.

a.) Contact the administration directly! Calling can be especially effective. (360) 867-6100
purcel@evergreen.edu
b.) Spread the word! Email people, post it on your website or write an editorial...
c.) Donate money either to SDS for events after its budget was frozen (contact olympiasds@riseup.net) or to our legal defense fund for those arrested post-uprising (www.evergreenlegaldefense.org or evergreenlegaldefense@gmail.com). The defense fund site also describes other ways to get involved in our legal defense campaign (e.g. calling the prosecutor).
d.) People in the Olympia area can come to the rally on the day of our second appeal. We don't yet know the date, but if you want to come or are interested in other organizing efforts or support, please contact us at olympiasds@riseup.net .

Do you anticipate that the college administration will back down and reinstate SDS as a campus club or do you think that the struggle to get reinstated has just begun?

Filemon: Whether or not the administration backs down from this ridiculous suspension, support for SDS has grown tremendously as a result. We appealed the suspension and we continue to meet regularly and organize events, only now without any school funding.

Courtney: We don't know what will happen! We have spoken to many people  who have been involved with Student Activities over the years, and none of them remembers any precedent of student organizations being suspended. There is no way to tell the future, but it will be most beneficial to everyone involved if the administration acts in favor of free speech.

Readers know that Olympia is on the forefront of direct actions against the US occupations and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including several attempts to prevent military shipments at the port there and Tacoma. Is there anything else SDS and other groups in Olympia are working on to continue their opposition?

Courtney: There are many, many activist groups in Olympia and surrounding towns. Olympia SDS, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, and other groups are fighting to turn Olympia into a sanctuary city for G.I. resisters and undocumented workers; we also anticipate more port actions. There is also a developing campaign against ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) and their "holding centers" (read: prison camps). In addition, we are continuing our campaign in support of those arrested both at the Dead Prez concert and during the aftermath. There are also SDS subcommittees working on issues as diverse as setting up a free health clinic, abolishing the prison-industrial complex, and ending sexism in the Left. This work is vital, and our group's suspension has slowed much of it down. The fantastic work done by other student and community groups is threatened by both their generous, resource-consuming support of our subsequent work and the administration's attack on political speech. The sooner we win this fight, the more effectively we can all work on other broad issues of social justice.

Anything else you all want to add?

Filemon: I want to call on all people to build solidarity with the Immigrant Rights movement, a struggle for dignity and human rights. As people are unjustly detained and deported everyday, private concentration facilities are being constructed to contain innocent people who are only trying to support their families. 30 miles north of Olympia in Tacoma, WA, is the GEO Group owned Northwest Detention Center, the regional Immigration prison where people are denied legal counsel and have been subjected to food poisoning multiple times.

Everyday children are being separated from their parents by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and are denied decent healthcare and access to financial aid for education. People in Olympia are currently working on a Sanctuary city proposal that would prohibit Olympia City officials from cooperating in any manner with both Immigration agents who seek to detain undocumented immigrants and Military police who seek to capture GI War Resisters. This will hopefully bring two issues together that have a huge impact in communities across the country.

(For folks in the Northwest-Ron) There will be a rally and march to the Washington State Capitol Building to celebrate the history of Mayday along with the Sanctuary City proposal on May 1, beginning at Noon at Sylvester Park in Olympia, WA. We must intensify our efforts to end the war against the people of Iraq and end the war against Immigrants in the United States.

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