Snehal Shingavi writes:

Dear friends:

The University of California has found three students -- Rachel Odes, Snehal
Shingavi, and Michael Smith -- guilty of participating in an illegal assembly
and refusing to cooperate with university officials for their involvement in
the anti-war sit-in that took place in Sproul Hall on March 20, 2003. Not
only does this mark an attack on anti-war protesters and people of
conscience throughout the country, the entire process from start to finish
has been riddled with unfairness and makes a mockery of anything resembling
justice.The problems with the sham of a hearing are almost too many to list: the
university refused to have an open trial (until we showed up with forty
protesters); the university refused to give students ample time to prepare a
defense; one of the three students wasn't even served with a letter telling
her to appear at the hearing; the students were unable to gather witnesses
in time for the hearing (some of them are out of the country and a few have
graduated); the university did not make all of their evidence available to
our advocate; the university has singled out three protesters from over 400
who participated in the sit-in and the 119 who were arrested that day for
selective prosecution; the university selected an all male hearing panel to
adjudicate the hearing; and the students' request for a continuance was
ignored.

Instead of being a party to this kangaroo court, students walked out of the
hearings in protest and demanded that the university at least consider
giving them more time to prepare. The university refused.

Other than the blatant disregard for procedure, there are two things that
make this decision by UC Berkeley outrageous.

First, that UC Berkeley is the only university in the nation (to our
knowledge) that is prosecuting students for protesting the war the day after
the bombing began, despite the fact that protests happened on scores of
campuses throughout the US..

Second, that student protesters were right about every aspect of the war.
There are no weapons of mass destruction. There is no proven threat of
attack from Iraq. Civilian and military casualties continue to mount and
the US continues to spend exorbitant sums to maintain a military presence in
Iraq –- yet it fails to turn on the water or electricity. The attacks on
civil liberties continue to mount. Fees for students at UC Berkeley and
dozens of campuses continue to rise.

We will be sentenced in two weeks, on October 28th, 2003. We intend to
protest this decision on that date and will send out information about this
as soon as we can.

In the meantime, please take a few moments and write to the Chancellor and
the Student Judicial Affairs Office (addresses and phone information below)
and tell them that you believe that this decision is unwarranted and unjust.

Especially at Berkeley, where there are memorials to Free Speech movement
of the 1960s all over campus (the Mario Savio steps and the Free Speech
Movement Café), these kinds of attacks on free speech and civil disobedience
are not only an attempt to roll-back the activist gains won on this campus,
but also in defiance of the university's mission to promote free speech and
debate.

We have included some talking points below that you may want to include in
your conversation or correspondence with the administration at UC Berkeley.

Please do email us at info@berkeleystopthewar.org with any correspondence
that you send so that we can keep a record of the letters that the
administration receives.

Also, please sign our online petition at
Petition

We need your help. Please lend your support to anti-war student activists
and activists who are fighting for social justice by letting the
administration know that their actions are not supported by members of the
community, students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

Sincerely,

Berkeley Stop the War Coalition

ucbstopthewar@hotmail.com

Please contact:

Chancellor Robert Berdahl

EMAIL: chanclor@uclink4.berkeley.edu
MAIL: 200 California Hall #1500

Berkeley, CA 94720-1500

TEL: (510) 642-7464

FAX: (510) 643-5499

Assistant Chancellor John Cummins

EMAIL: jcummins@uclink4.berkeley.edu

MAIL: Office of the Chancellor

200 California Hall

Berkeley, CA 94720-1500

TEL: (510) 642-7516

FAX: (510) 643-5499

Student Judicial Affairs Officer Neal Rajmaira

EMAIL: osc@uclink4.berkeley.edu

326 Sproul Hall

Berkeley, CA 94720

TEL:(510) 643-9069

FAX:(510) 643-3133

TALKING POINTS

1) Students should not face charges or disciplinary actions for
participating in non-violent civil disobedience.

2) Activists should be allowed, freely, to speak and protest on campus
without harassment from the University or its officers.

3) Any attempt to charge protesters for peaceful protest represents an
attack on free speech.

4) The war and occupation of Iraq were wrong and protesters were right to
protest.

5) Student activists fought for the right to organize on this campus in the
1960s and should be allowed to continue to organize.

6) The University of California, Berkeley should declare its opposition to
the war and occupation by naming Baghdad University a sister school.