Protests are not uncommon in Athens and attorney Patrick McGee sounds off on the demonstrations.
As the managing attorney of the Center for Student Legal Services, I often find myself having clients who are charged with acts of civil disobedience, or who have questions about the limitations on their right to protest. With that in mind, I would like to address your recent article on student protesters and parade permits.
Any conflict, of course, is between the right of the city administration to require advance notice and compliance with “standard procedures” and the right of citizens to ”spontaneously” voice their grievances in a peaceful manner. Or more succinctly, the right to control behavior versus the right to publicly proclaim a grievance. So let's take a moment to look at things more closely.
When students decide to protest they must first decide what manner the protest will take. Will it be spontaneous or planned? Will it be a march or a sit-in? If a march, will it be long or short, silent or loud? Or is the purpose of the demonstration to “bring the system to a halt,” to disrupt and perhaps to result in arrests and court cases where the underlying issue can be presented to the community — possibly — at trial. Does the demonstration seek to raise the awareness of local citizens or to gain national attention?
We have had all kinds of demonstrations in Athens, from the pickets holding the sign in front of the courthouse to the group staging a sit-in to block Court Street in protest of the invasion of Iraq. We have had occupation of offices and tent cities. Ultimately, all actions have a price and quite often the goal which has been sought is not achieved. Unfortunately, there is often a counter-action by either the legislature or the administration, tightening the rules, or instituting either criminal charges or judiciary actions for violations of the code of student conduct. So one should realize that any attempt to exercise what you may see as a guaranteed freedom may cause you problems — especially in light of the fact that names of defendants in criminal cases are not erased by sealing a court record when newspapers have posted them on the Internet.
So how do you change the problems of society and demonstrate your discontent with the status quo and not get arrested?
For the administration, the chief of police would obviously prefer that demonstrators let him know in advance so that he can have officers available to make sure things don’t get out of hand and to channel traffic in a manner which ensures safety and causes no disruptions. Your article mentioned that Chief Pyle had even “reached out” to the “F--k Rape Culture” march, waived their fee and encouraged them to get their parade permit in advance. Good for him, and this, of course, made it easier to control a wrong way march up Court Street and to avoid the need for the city of Athens to get bad press for arresting women protesting rape. Of course, all marches cannot be predicted, or scheduled, so that the chief and our police must use some discretion in handling a potentially volatile situation. As I demonstrated above though, all demonstrations or marches are not necessarily the same, nor are they necessarily disruptive.
Recently, three OU students were charged with persistent disorderly conduct as a result of their three-to-five minute march with others from Baker Center, down Court Street, and around the block back to the College Green, protesting another tuition increase.
During the march, they occupied one lane of traffic and avoided inconveniencing numerous pedestrians, including tour groups who were in Athens. The march was short, spontaneous, loud and quite possibly would have just been another one of “those marches” which occupy our attention for five minutes and then go away. One could argue that they caused less disruption than a car that double parks. Unfortunately charges were filed, and the matter went to trial. The three students were convicted of persistent disorderly conduct and an appeal was filed. Their appeal will be heard in the Athens Common Pleas Court by the Fourth District Court of Appeals on Oct. 22 at 9:30 a.m. At that time the pugnacious prosecuting attorney and disheveled defense attorney (myself) will face off in the ring of justice and present oral arguments to the court. Whatever the result, one thing is certain, demonstrations and marches will continue in Athens and other university towns as long as citizens assemble to voice their views. Whether anything changes remains to be seen, but the fact that some still have the courage to join in attempts to resolve grievances is encouraging. As Colonel Joshua Chamberlain said at Gettysburg, “In the end, all we may have is each other.”
Patrick McGee is the managing attorney for the Center for Student Legal Services.
