The Advocate

Protests against Military Recruitment at CUNY Incite Police Crackdown

Members of the “counter-recruitment” movement, which aims to block military recruitment at college campuses, have come under increasing fire in the US in general and at CUNY in particular.

A case in point is the arrest of three City College of New York students on March 9. The students, Hadas Their, Nick Bergreen, and Justino Rodriguez, were among a group of other students who attended a job fair organized by CCNY. They then took a place in front of National Guard recruitment table and began to chant anti-war slogans. The response from campus security officers was immediate. According to a press release by the students’ lawyers, “private security officers immediately surrounded the protesters, pushed them into an empty hallway outside the job fair, closed the hall door and assaulted two protesters, also arresting a third who was taking pictures.” Bergreen and Rodriguez are now being charged with felony assault, while Their—who was taking pictures—with obstruction of a government administrator. Rodriguez claims that the officers slammed his head repeatedly against a wall, an action he considers “unnecessary brutality.”

Just a few days later, this action was followed by the arrest of Carol Lang, the administrative assistant in the CCNY Theater program. CUNY peace officers reportedly entered her office, arrested her, and arranged to have her sent to Central Booking. She too will now be charged with assaulting a peace officer at the same protest where the CCNY three were originally arrested. Such arrests of staff members for political activity are unusual if not unprecedented.

These incidents are not unique to CUNY. For instance, an activist was arrested at William Patterson University in New Jersey simply for handing out counter-recruitment pamphlets. But the spate of counter-recruitment arrests points to what seems to be a conscious administration decision to stifle dissent on the campuses and provide recruitment officials with a protest-free zone. The students in question claim that their action was completely peaceful, and that officers responded with violence. Please keep an eye on coming issues of The Advocate for more in-depth reporting on these important issues.