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Resolution of the Doctoral Students’ Council:
Endorsement of Miguel Malo
Passed on February 6, 2004
The Doctoral Students’ Council (DSC) of the Graduate Center (GC) of the City University of New York (CUNY) supports Miguel Malo in the legal challenges he faces due to the charges brought against him by CUNY Peace Officers after he was arrested for holding a sign in protest at Hostos Community College in August 2001. We add our voices to those insisting that all charges against Miguel Malo be dropped. Since his brief trial recently ended as a mistrial, now is an opportune moment for the administration of Hostos Community College and the Office of the District Attorney to cease legal actions against Miguel Malo.The circumstances under which Miguel Malo was arrested indicate a desire by CUNY administration to limit even peaceful protests carried out by students. He was simply holding up a sign to protest funding cuts in bilingual and Spanish programs. He was thrown to the ground and arrested by several CUNY security officers, actions by which he describes himself as “brutalized.” After several years of exhausting preliminary court hearings, the trial which began in the Fall of 2003 ended in a mistrial. Now Miguel Malo must face this ordeal again from the beginning with a new lawyer. Instead of pursuing the charges against him, the administration of Hostos Community College and the Office of the District Attorney should seize this timely moment and cease to press charges.
Whereas the Constitution of the DSC states that a purpose of this body is “To promote the democratization of the City University of New York in order to enable its students, faculty, and employees to participate in the important social, political, and economic decisions that affect the quality of their lives and of their community”;
and Whereas the right to freedom of expression, including by peaceful demonstration, is fundamental to creating an atmosphere in which democratic participation is possible and the threat of fear by legal harassment damages this possibility;
The DSC hereby joins in the individual and collective bodies which support Miguel Malo against the exaggerated legal charges of assault, resisting arrest, harassment and disorderly conduct.