Taser puts a laser on UF (The Gainesville Sun)

The Gainesville Sun, September 20, 2007

Taser puts a laser on University of Florida

By JACK STRIPLING

For an emerging group of University of Florida student activists, Andrew Meyer is a catalyst - not a martyr.

Regardless of what students think about Meyer, the UF student who was Tasered by police at a political event Monday, some now say Meyer's story has provided them with a national platform they intend to use.

Assembled on campus in protest Wednesday, students said Meyer's story has renewed ongoing concerns, particularly about free speech being stifled on UF's campus.

Justin Newman, a UF student who's participated in recent protests, said Meyer being silenced with a Taser gun is just the latest and most public example of affronts to free speech at UF. While many UF Police Department officers have actually helped promote open discourse on campus, others have been oppressive and have used intimidation tactics, according to Newman.

"Andrew Meyer is not a martyr," Newman, 24, said. "He is not a martyr for this cause. He happened to have it happen to him, which got everybody speaking about it, but this is an issue that's been occurring for quite some time."

Newman claims to have been a recent victim of what some describe as oppressive tactics used by UPD. He says he was "personally thrown to the ground" by an officer during a protest at Emerson Alumni Hall Tuesday, although UPD never received a formal complaint about the incident, said UF Police Chief Linda Stump.

So, was Meyer's Tasering at a forum with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., an affront to free speech? That depends on whom you ask.

(...)

Organizers of the town hall forum said it was Meyer's use of a vulgar term to describe a sex act connected with the Bill Clinton impeachment that ultimately led to the microphone being turned off and Meyer's subsequent removal from the auditorium.

Others, however, suggested that the spirit of Meyer's questions made organizers uncomfortable. Among those critics is Greg Palast, author of a book Meyer was holding when he questioned Kerry about conceding the 2004 presidential election when there was clear evidence of black voters being suppressed.

In a Wednesday telephone interview with The Sun, Palast said he wasn't surprised to see his book, "Armed Madhouse," generating heated response.

"When you bring up uncomfortable stuff, it's going to create discomfort," said Palast, who reports for BBC Newsnight and writes for Harpers and Vanity Fair. "Obviously, if he was speaking about baseball scores - if he maybe had a different political viewpoint that wasn't seen as combative or outside of what's permissible - then the cops' backs wouldn't have been up."

For some free speech advocates like Palast, Meyer's Tasering is an extreme example of silencing dissent and controversy. But students at UF also complain of more subtle tactics they say hamper free speech on campus. As recently as Tuesday, when students assembled on UF's Plaza of the Americas to protest Meyer's Tasering, UF police took actions that intimidated students, according to Benjamin Dictor, one of the protesters.

"Pictures were taken of student protesters yesterday by police officers, as well as requests for names and student ID numbers," Dictor, 20, said.

"These two things are explicitly wrong in terms of when students exercise their rights to free speech. They are also entitled to be free of persecution as a result of that. I can't emphasize that enough, and I can't emphasize how that trust was broken again yesterday even after the Taser event."

(...)

Read the full article (with links to further coverage) here:
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20070920/NEWS/709200326/-1/news07

If you do they will turn off your microphone and remove you from the auditorium.

This seems to be the message coming from the "organizers of the town hall forum". :eyes:

The tasering of Andrew Meyer did shine the light on their grievences of stifling discourse on campus.

That is...unless they are a rude, attention whore, with a website to promote and then it is ok to persecute them.

Here are excerpts from an article by the same reporter, published yesterday:

The Gainesville Sun, September 19, 2007

Taser Aftershock

By JACK STRIPLING

Following the Tasering of a University of Florida student at a political event Monday, the university has been thrust into a growing national debate about the limits of free speech, the appropriate role of law enforcement and the politically charged environment of modern times.

The incident that has sparked such controversy took place Monday afternoon, when 21-year-old Andrew Meyer was arrested and shot with a Taser gun during a town hall forum attended by U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

Meyer had approached an open microphone to question Kerry, but his microphone was cut off when he used some salty language that drew organizers' objections. Shortly thereafter, UF Police Department officers tried to physically remove him from the University Auditorium, but resorted to the use of a Taser gun when he did not "comply," according to officers.

(...)

Speaking on behalf of protesting students, Benjamin Dictor told reporters that the UF incident was one of a series of recent incidents that indicate an erosion of civil liberties in the United States. Dictor described the silencing and subsequent Tasering of Meyer as an assault on free speech, adding that "our Constitution has been trampled."

"What happened in that auditorium was not only a physical assault but an assault on reason itself," said Dictor, a 20-year-old political science major.

(...)

Friends of Meyer say he's extremely political, noting that he has been passionate about the 2004 election, which he thought Kerry rightfully won.

"He's not crazy or anything," said Robert Campbell, a UF student and a friend of Meyer's. "The only thing he is is a little bit extreme with his views."

While some are critical of Meyer's ranting at the Kerry forum, others are embracing him as symbol of free speech. Huddled among a crowd of protesters, one wielding a sign that asked "who will guard the guards," Austin Flickstein rallied against what he described as the silencing of a young man who had a right to be heard.

"Yes, his questioning went a little bit beyond what some of the administration's ears are used to, but only because he was expressing some thoughts that haven't been heard for a very, very long time," said Flickstein, a 21-year-old UF student. "And then it was force that they used to suppress the free speech. The issue here is our suppressing of free speech. Yes, Tasering is unnecessary. But what is most creepy and scary about this is why did six cops need to tackle a man down and Taser him when he was already on the ground because he was asking questions?"

http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20070919/NEWS/709190330/0/sports

It now reads: Taser sparks UF debate

http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20070920/NEWS/709200326/1007/NEWS

:kick:

"We have no way to negotiate about our rights. We see no way to get them ..other than to exercise them publicly. We ask for no more than our rights; we will not settle for less. We ask your understanding and support." http://www.fsm-a.org/leaflets/whydecided.html

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu.nyud.net:8090/MRC/savio.jpg

I hope some of the folks who were slamming Andrew Meyer last week here on DU have had a chance to (re-)consider the importance of free speech and why we must need defend it every time it is attacked.