A group of student demonstrators and Western University are at odds over how campus police broke up a protest during orientation week.
The protesters claim campus police told them to leave the university grounds ? a move they say infringes on their right to demonstrate peacefully ? while the administration maintains the group was merely asked to relocate.
Already one faculty has wade into the fight, requesting Western launch an investigation into what happened.
It all started Tuesday when a small group of sign-carrying protesters approached first-year students participating in orientation week festivities on the hill near the University College building. The demonstrators handed out pamphlets about rising tuition fees and talked to students about the issue.
It wasn?t long before orientation week organizers told the group that campus police had been called.
Police arrived and told the protesters to leave campus, said demonstrator Jordan Coop, a fifth year student.
Though police agreed to let the demonstrators to get their bikes from concrete beach, an area near the Weldon Library, the message was clear, said Coop.
?The consensus among us was that they wished for us to leave campus,? he said.
Protester Mike Roy, a first-year student, said police didn?t ask the group to relocate.
?What I was told is that we have to leave,? Roy said.
But Western disputes that the protesters were turfed.
?They were asked to relocated on campus, in fact the suggestion was even made to (go to) concrete beach . . . ,? said Gitta Kulczycki, vice-president of resources and operations.
Kulczycki denies the demonstrators? claim that the university was trying to muzzle them.
?We encourage our students to use our campus in speaking out on subjects of importance to them. In this instance a judgement call was made that the official O-week was not the appropriate place.?
The fallout from the protest caught the attention of Nick Dyer-Witheford, the acting dean of the faculty of information and media studies.
?Even if they were asked to relocated I think there?s some questions remaining about the justification for that,? Dyer-Witheford said.
?That becomes a way of actively diminishing public dialogue and interactions about issues like these.?
Dyer-Witheford has already contacted administration to request an investigation and plans on writing a formal letter next week.
dale.carruthers@sunmedia.ca
Twitter.com/DaleatLFPress
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