FruityBud
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Students gathered outside the Haggerty Administration Building Friday to protest the campus drug policy, illegal police searches of student rooms on campus and the judicial procedure.
A crowd of approximately 50 people gathered around 2 p.m., carrying signs with slogans such as “Judge the grades, not the green,” “Know your rights, don’t count on the UPD” and “We pay to live here, the dorms are our homes, stop unfair police raids.” The slogans were accompanied by chants such as, “We don’t need cops, we just smoke pot.”
“No other SUNY school would expel you for smoking pot,” said junior journalism major Brian Kimbiz, the main organizer of the protest.
Kimbiz said that campus police would tell students that they had to submit to searches of their rooms when they were not obligated to. In some cases, they would illegally enter students rooms without consent from the resident.
“What I found out through my campaigning was that in Bevier, the cops will just slide a key card and open the door and walk in anyway,” Kimbiz said. “And then they will rip through a room. For some reason this evidence is admissible in these cases, but in a real court case, obviously, it would not be.”
Pamphlets explaining the protest were handed out, as well as copies of the Bill of Rights. The pamphlet claimed that Student Affairs, the department on campus which holds judicial hearings, tried to manipulate the judicial process to give students a smaller voice.
“Recently, Student Affairs has been claiming that they have the authority to count only one of the three student votes [on the campus judicial committee],” the pamphlet says.
“The administration doesn’t keep up their end of the bargain with letting us have fair hearings,” said freshman art education major Maegan Nally, who was handing out pamphlets.
Some students, like sophomore J. , attended the protest out of curiosity. “People were passing out fliers and I heard students talking about it,” said Mulhern.
Those behind the protest were also adamant in speaking out against unjust police searches.
“I’ve heard that the police have been arresting people with unlawful searches,” said Ashley Townsend, a junior communication disorders major. “People are getting expelled for something that is ridiculous. It’s just not fair.”
Adir Cohen, an undeclared freshman, helped organize the protest after one of his friends had been caught with possession of marijuana. Police, Cohen said, illegally entered his room, finding the marijuana, on the same day he received his acceptance letter into the school’s Honor’s Program. Prior to that offense, the student received his first strike a few months prior. The protest was scheduled to coincide with their friend’s judicial hearing, to take place in the HAB.
“We’re not doing anything wrong. Just because [of] a choice of an alternative lifestyle. There’s no reason why we should be treated like this,” said sophomore Rafael Weidenfeld. “We have to be more careful in what we do.”
The two strike policy, according to the Students Affair page on the SUNY New Paltz Web site, says “...for possession of marijuana, first offense: not less than Disciplinary Probation and educational and/or clinical intervention, not more than Expulsion. Possession of marijuana, second offense; not less than Expulsion.”
At one point, Cohen and Kimbiz, addressed the crowd, expressing their anger about the drug policy and police conduct.
“We’re sick of seeing our friends go down like this. It could be anyone of us,” said Cohen. “We are all good students and all good people.”
Cohen told those in the crowd that no matter whether or not they sympathize with this cause, the passion for their beliefs should be strong.
“The real reason why we are here [is] we don’t stand for this crap and we stand by each other,” said Kimbiz. He said though the two-strike policy might not change, people must be aware of their rights, “not only as students, but American citizens.”
http://oracle.newpaltz.edu/article.cfm?id=3549
A crowd of approximately 50 people gathered around 2 p.m., carrying signs with slogans such as “Judge the grades, not the green,” “Know your rights, don’t count on the UPD” and “We pay to live here, the dorms are our homes, stop unfair police raids.” The slogans were accompanied by chants such as, “We don’t need cops, we just smoke pot.”
“No other SUNY school would expel you for smoking pot,” said junior journalism major Brian Kimbiz, the main organizer of the protest.
Kimbiz said that campus police would tell students that they had to submit to searches of their rooms when they were not obligated to. In some cases, they would illegally enter students rooms without consent from the resident.
“What I found out through my campaigning was that in Bevier, the cops will just slide a key card and open the door and walk in anyway,” Kimbiz said. “And then they will rip through a room. For some reason this evidence is admissible in these cases, but in a real court case, obviously, it would not be.”
Pamphlets explaining the protest were handed out, as well as copies of the Bill of Rights. The pamphlet claimed that Student Affairs, the department on campus which holds judicial hearings, tried to manipulate the judicial process to give students a smaller voice.
“Recently, Student Affairs has been claiming that they have the authority to count only one of the three student votes [on the campus judicial committee],” the pamphlet says.
“The administration doesn’t keep up their end of the bargain with letting us have fair hearings,” said freshman art education major Maegan Nally, who was handing out pamphlets.
Some students, like sophomore J. , attended the protest out of curiosity. “People were passing out fliers and I heard students talking about it,” said Mulhern.
Those behind the protest were also adamant in speaking out against unjust police searches.
“I’ve heard that the police have been arresting people with unlawful searches,” said Ashley Townsend, a junior communication disorders major. “People are getting expelled for something that is ridiculous. It’s just not fair.”
Adir Cohen, an undeclared freshman, helped organize the protest after one of his friends had been caught with possession of marijuana. Police, Cohen said, illegally entered his room, finding the marijuana, on the same day he received his acceptance letter into the school’s Honor’s Program. Prior to that offense, the student received his first strike a few months prior. The protest was scheduled to coincide with their friend’s judicial hearing, to take place in the HAB.
“We’re not doing anything wrong. Just because [of] a choice of an alternative lifestyle. There’s no reason why we should be treated like this,” said sophomore Rafael Weidenfeld. “We have to be more careful in what we do.”
The two strike policy, according to the Students Affair page on the SUNY New Paltz Web site, says “...for possession of marijuana, first offense: not less than Disciplinary Probation and educational and/or clinical intervention, not more than Expulsion. Possession of marijuana, second offense; not less than Expulsion.”
At one point, Cohen and Kimbiz, addressed the crowd, expressing their anger about the drug policy and police conduct.
“We’re sick of seeing our friends go down like this. It could be anyone of us,” said Cohen. “We are all good students and all good people.”
Cohen told those in the crowd that no matter whether or not they sympathize with this cause, the passion for their beliefs should be strong.
“The real reason why we are here [is] we don’t stand for this crap and we stand by each other,” said Kimbiz. He said though the two-strike policy might not change, people must be aware of their rights, “not only as students, but American citizens.”
http://oracle.newpaltz.edu/article.cfm?id=3549
