[antiwar-van] Re: (YORK Univ.) Act Now against the Expulsion of Dan Freeman-Maloy

[Tony Tracy]

Yes. The correct email address for York University President Lorna Marsden
is presidnt at yorku.ca (leaving out the second "e" in "president"). Presumably
this is to cut down on spam or some such thing. Lorna Marsden's fax number
is 416-736-5641 and the phone number for the Office of the President at York
U. is 416-736-5200.

It is vitally important that as many people as possible write to York U.
President Marsden to express their concern / displeasure / dismay with the
three year suspension of York student Dan Freeman-Maloy (who has also been
threatened with a trespass charge if he should enter York U. property during
that three year period). Freeman-Maloy has been presented with no avenues of
appeal of this arbitrary and unilateral decision of the university
president, and this decision was ordered without any due process whatsoever,
defying all principles of natural justice.

I know that people receive appeals to send letters of support for various
causes almost daily. This particular campaign is winnable -- with building
pressure, York University could easily be compelled to reinstate his student
status and remove the trespass order that prohibits him from going to work
(he has employment on the campus) or school. In a very short period of time,
I have now seen well over 100 personalized letters of support from across
North America -- it is crucial and vital that the pressure is kept up.

At a minimum, it is necessary to pressure the university to inform
Freeman-Maloy of a clearly defined appeals process within the university
that he could utilize in order to have this severe punishment overturned.

Cheers,

Tony

Quoting James Forest <jasforest at yahoo.com>:

> are you guys sure about email address --' Marsden at presidnt at yorku.ca
> (no "e") and"
>  is that a misspelling or the real address? 
>  
> j
> 
> 
> Tony Tracy <tony at riseup.net> wrote:
>
> Urgent: Please act against the expulsion of Dan Freeman-Maloy from York
> University!
> 
> (see letter from Dan at the bottom of this appeal with further background
> info on his case)
> 
> To All Concerned Community Members:
> 
> Last week, a 3rd-year undergraduate student of political science, Dan
> Freeman-Maloy, received a letter informing him of a 3-year suspension
> from York University, simply for using a megaphone on campus. The letter
> referred only to his "use of an unauthorized sound amplification device"
> at an "unauthorized demonstration". He was given no information on how to
> appeal the suspension and was threatened with charges of trespass should
> he enter the campus grounds after 1 May. The suspension comes into effect
> on the same day that Dan is to begin work at the University's principal
> newspaper, Excalibur. 
> 
> Dan is a Jewish student who has been vocal in defence of Palestinian
> human rights, as well as in workers' rights and other social justice
> campaigns. His suspension comes following a theatrical display on campus
> on March 16, 2004, in which students were commemorating the anniversary
> of the death of US peace activist, Rachel Corrie, who died last year in
> the Gaza Strip. At the display, Palestine solidarity activists were spat
> upon, kicked and threatened by an aggressive counter-demonstration. The
> university administration did nothing to protect the students. Instead,
> in an attempt to silence critical dissent on campus, they chose to
> suspend Dan. 
> 
> Dan is due to complete his degree after one year. He has an excellent
> academic record and has been an active and respected participant in the
> life of the York University community. Despite the fact that the
> university's own legal guidelines (Presidential Regulation #2) states
> that students be entitled to an administrative procedure allowing for
> student appeals (Section E, #3), Dan has been suspended by administrative
> fiat - in an impersonal letter without any possibility of appeal.
> Furthermore, York's regulations specify that only serious infractions
> (such as a violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code or illegal
> behaviour) warrant expulsion. This demonstrates total disregard for his
> academic future and his right to an education, as well as to York's own
> procedural regulations. 
> 
> This expulsion is not only callous toward Dan's future, but is
> politically motivated. Megaphones have been used without authorization at
> countless other "unauthorized demonstrations" in Vari Hall without a
> single student being penalized, let alone suspended for 3 years, which is
> a de facto expulsion. Moreover, other students used a megaphone at this
> very demonstration without any consequences. Dan is being singled out and
> scapegoated because he is an articulate and effective Jewish advocate of
> Palestinian human rights. Or, as a member of York's Board of Directors
> explained to a concerned graduate student outside a recent press
> conference, because he is a "rabble-rouser."
> 
> President Marsden is not impartial in this matter, and her record is
> clear. She has consistently supported right-wing speakers on campus -
> "Campus Watch" host Daniel Pipes last year, Israeli Minister Natan
> Sharansky (a proponent of mass expulsion of Palestinians to neighbouring
> countries) this year. Last year, her administration also brought mounted
> police on to campus for the first time ever, and coordinated to have
> three organizers of an anti-war student strike arrested. York's campus
> has become more and more repressive recently, as exorbitant and arbitrary
> "security fees" have been forced upon student groups hosting dissident
> speakers, as club activities have been prohibited in various public
> spaces on campus, and as certain student organizations have faced
> outright bans. This crackdown on critical dialogue - the cornerstone of
> higher learning - marks a significant step backward for all members of
> the York community.
> 
> We urge everyone who is concerned about maintaining York University's
> campus as a progressive space, and all those intent on protecting student
> rights to free expression and assembly, to contact President Marsden.
> 
> We are demanding the immediate reversal of the decision to expel Dan
> Freeman-Maloy from campus for his political activities. York University
> prides itself on a reputation as a progressive space where critical
> development and engagement is encouraged, not stifled. If this reputation
> is to be maintained, the current administration must act accordingly.
> 
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> York Free Speech Committee
> 
> 
> How to get involved:
> 
> Below we have attached a letter to President Marsden demanding that she
> immediately reverse the suspension of Dan Freeman-Maloy, so that he can
> complete his studies and report for work on campus without fear of being
> charged with trespassing. Please sign the letter below and send it to
> President Marsden at presidnt at yorku.ca (no "e") and cc
> freespeechyorku at yahoo.ca. Or, better yet, write a letter outlining these
> demands yourself, and get whatever organizations you are a part of to
> draft letters of their own. 
> 
> Letters can also be postmarked to: 
> Office of the President 
> 4700 Keele St.
> Toronto, ON
> Canada M3J 1P3
> 
> For more information on our ongoing campaign, contact
> freespeechyorku at yahoo.ca
> 
> Thank you, and we appreciate all of your help!
> 
> 
> President Marsden,
> 
> I recently learned of the 3-year suspension of Dan Freeman-Maloy for his
> use of a megaphone at an "unauthorized" demonstration. I find your
> decision appalling for a number of reasons. First, your decision is a
> violation of Mr. Freeman-Maloy's right to freedom of expression as it is
> a response to his participation in political activity, not his use of a
> sound amplification device (many students have used a megaphone without
> authorization in Vari Hall - why is Dan being singled out?). Second, in
> contradiction with your own regulations on student conduct, your decision
> provided no opportunity for Dan to defend himself, nor an opportunity for
> an appeal. Third, this decision reflects a troubling pattern of silencing
> progressive political activity on campus (including banning tabling and
> leafleting for political purposes, and imposing exorbitant "security
> fees" on student groups). Finally, given York's official commitment to
> the pursuit of social justice (as declared in the un
> iversity's mission statement), it would seem that you should support and
> actively create space for social justice activism on campus, instead of
> shutting it down. 
> 
> I demand that you immediately reverse your decision to summarily expel
> Dan Freeman-Maloy. You are the head of a prestigious academic institution
> with a reputation for academic freedom and political diversity. I am
> requesting that York uphold its own standards.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> ------------
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Dan Freeman-Maloy" 
> Sent: 05/05/04 3:55:15 AM
> Subject: My Expulsion from York University
> 
> My Expulsion from York University: an appeal for support and
> reconsideration
> 
> On April 30, 2004, I received a letter signed by York University
> President 
> and Vice-Chancellor Lorna Marsden declaring that I "will have no purpose
> on 
> campus" after May 1, 2004. If I set foot on York's campus at any point in
> 
> the three years following this date, she threatens, I will be charged for
> 
> trespassing. My expulsion comes in the context of escalating repression
> of 
> student dissent by York's administration, and sets an ominous precedent
> 
> regarding student rights to freedom of speech, expression and assembly.
> 
> 
> The administration's declaration that I now "have no purpose on campus"
> is baffling. I am a full-time student at York, and May 1 was both the
> very day 
> I formally started my job as an editor at York's main student paper,
> Excalibur, 
> and nearly three weeks before my last exam. I am being treated as if I
> have 
> acted dangerously and criminally, even in the absence of any allegations
> of 
> criminally dangerous conduct.
> 
> In fact, those looking for a description of my behavior as dramatic as
> the 
> administration's response to it are likely to be disappointed. The
> alleged 
> crime for which I have been exiled from my school for three years is use
> of 
> "an unauthorized sound amplification device" (that is, a megaphone) on
> two 
> separate occasions: October 22, 2003, and March 16, 2004. While general
> issues 
> of freedom of expression and procedural fairness lie at the heart of this
> 
> matter, I still feel compelled to address the specific allegations in
> turn. 
> 
> Firstly, the events of October 22, 2003. On this date, the administration
> 
> provided space for "Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Appreciation Day," an
> event at 
> which people sporting Israeli military paraphernalia congregated in one
> 
> of York University's principal public spaces to celebrate Israeli
> militarism. 
> The mayor of an illegal Israeli settlement led the event, which was
> attended by 
> many people who have served in the forces. In this situation, as a Jewish
> anti-
> nationalist and an avid anti-militarist, I did use a megaphone to
> highlight the 
> event's glaring impropriety. But vocal opposition to militarism, even 
> expressed loudly, is far from criminally threatening. 
> 
> The second instance cited, March 16, was the first anniversary of the
> death 
> of Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist who was crushed to death by an
> Israeli 
> bulldozer as she tried to block it from demolishing a Palestinian 
> family's home in the Gaza Strip. What happened on that day was without 
> precedent in my experience. While approximately thirty of us set up a
> mock 
> check-point, some dressed as soldiers and some as civilians, a crowd of
> 
> some 150 militant Zionists that had been congregating nearby in
> preparation 
> proceeded to rush our display. We had postponed our action for a period
> to 
> avoid a clash, but were unsuccessful. We were surrounded, and for nearly
> an 
> hour faced physical and verbal intimidation. 
> 
> In this context, I was one of many students organizing the mock
> check-point 
> who tried, through chants and small speeches, to let confused onlookers
> know 
> the purpose of the display that was being aggressively swarmed. President
> 
> Marsden is contending that this somehow "contributed to the threat of
> harm to 
> the safety and well-being of York University community members." If this
> is the 
> case, why am I not being charged criminally? Why did the administration
> wait so 
> many months to paint my conduct as dangerous? 
> 
> When I was informed in early November by Ms. Ridley from the Office of 
> Student Affairs (OSA) that I needed to review the student code of
> conduct, 
> which she alleged I had broken on October 22, I told her that I would do
> so 
> and then get in touch with her. That same month, I visited her to set up
> an 
> appointment (I was in and out of the OSA office throughout this period 
> regarding the status of Students for a Critical Consciousness, a campus
> club of 
> which I am President). She informed me that she would need to coordinate
> the 
> meeting with the security personnel who had been present on the day in 
> question. I told her that the meeting had been called at her request, and
> that 
> I was in no rush to meet - Ms. Ridley smugly responded that she was not
> 
> surprised, and that she would contact me in the near future. She never
> followed 
> through. 
> 
> The administration had every opportunity to contact me. Again, I am the
> 
> President of a recognized student club, my York University email account
> is 
> listed online as the group's contact information (and is used readily by
> York's 
> library to notify me of late fines), and I even had a minor debate in
> late 
> February/early March in the pages of Excalibur with Nancy White, York's
> 
> director for media relations (regarding some of our school's questionable
> 
> corporate connections). Plainly, it is hardly as if I had gone
> underground. 
> 
> Over the past year, as a York-based social justice activist who is both
> 
> Jewish and anti-Zionist, I have been called a "self-hater" and a
> "terrorist"; I 
> have received death threats. Now, the administration of Lorna Marsden is
> 
> topping all of this off with a summary suspension order. York
> University's 
> mission statement describes the school as "a community of faculty,
> students and 
> staff committed to academic freedom [and] social justice." In the hope
> that 
> this is truly the case, I appeal to the administration to allow me to
> return to 
> my studies and to my job without any further harassment. 
> 
> To everyone else reading this (in case the administration's response is
> not 
> immediately favorable), the York Free Speech Committee, which recently
> formed 
> to deal with this situation, will be circulating an important call-out
> shortly.
> Please keep posted on this situation, and consider providing your
> personal 
> support to our campaign if you get the chance.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Daniel Freeman-Maloy