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LOCAL News :: Civil & Human Rights

ILLINOIS COLLEGE STUDENT CHARGED FOR ANTIWAR PROTEST

CARBONDALE, IL – Southern Illinois University issued charges last week to a student for passing out fliers at an antiwar demonstration on campus.

Marc Torney, a graduating senior and honors student in History, was charged with three violations of SIU’s Student Conduct Code, for which Torney faces sanctions ranging up to expulsion. Torney was passing out fliers on Friday March 19, one day before the international protests that marked the one year anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War. Torney has been charged with violating the University’s demonstration policy, which restricts student protest to a small patch of grass in an area of campus that is largely deserted due to construction.

Outrage over the incident has swelled on campus, with resolutions passed by Undergraduate Student Government and the SIU History Department condemning the University’s free speech policies and demanding the charges against Torney be dropped. Student’s protested silently on campus, their mouths taped shut with duct tape, to all attention to SIU’s anti-speech policies.

The incident is illustrative of a growing number of civil liberties violations across the country, where President Bush and his allies have cordoned off dissent from its intended target. Torney’s case may prove to be a test case for free speech on college campuses.

Torney’s hearing will take place Friday April 30 at 9:00AM at Woody Hall B-145 on the SIU campus in Carbondale, Illinois.

For more information:
Bigmuddyimc.org

University:
Sue Davis, Executive Director Marketing and Communications..(618)453-1423 (office)
Terry Huffman, Coordinator for Student Judicial Affairs……….(618)536-2338 (office)
Larry Dietz, Vice Chancellor Student Affairs…………………...(618)453-7452 (office)
James Walker, President…………………………………………(618)536-3331 (office)
Walter Wendler, Chancellor……………………………………..(618)453-2341 (office)

SIU student newspaper: www.dailyegyptian.com/
newshound.de.siu.edu/spring04/stories/storyReader$1542 article on USG resolution
newshound.de.siu.edu/spring04/stories/storyReader$1513 article on demonstration(many factual errors)
 
 

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