The Gainesville Sun, September 20, 2007
Taser puts a laser on University of Florida
By JACK STRIPLING
For an emerging group of University of Florida student activists, Andrew Meyer is a catalyst - not a martyr. Regardless of what students think about Meyer, the UF student who was Tasered by police at a political event Monday, some now say Meyer's story has provided them with a national platform they intend to use.
Assembled on campus in protest Wednesday, students said Meyer's story has renewed ongoing concerns, particularly about free speech being stifled on UF's campus.
Justin Newman, a UF student who's participated in recent protests, said Meyer being silenced with a Taser gun is just the latest and most public example of affronts to free speech at UF. While many UF Police Department officers have actually helped promote open discourse on campus, others have been oppressive and have used intimidation tactics, according to Newman.
"Andrew Meyer is not a martyr," Newman, 24, said. "He is not a martyr for this cause. He happened to have it happen to him, which got everybody speaking about it, but this is an issue that's been occurring for quite some time."
Newman claims to have been a recent victim of what some describe as oppressive tactics used by UPD. He says he was "personally thrown to the ground" by an officer during a protest at Emerson Alumni Hall Tuesday, although UPD never received a formal complaint about the incident, said UF Police Chief Linda Stump.
So, was Meyer's Tasering at a forum with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., an affront to free speech? That depends on whom you ask.
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Organizers of the town hall forum said it was Meyer's use of a vulgar term to describe a sex act connected with the Bill Clinton impeachment that ultimately led to the microphone being turned off and Meyer's subsequent removal from the auditorium.
Others, however, suggested that the spirit of Meyer's questions made organizers uncomfortable. Among those critics is Greg Palast, author of a book Meyer was holding when he questioned Kerry about conceding the 2004 presidential election when there was clear evidence of black voters being suppressed.
In a Wednesday telephone interview with The Sun, Palast said he wasn't surprised to see his book, "Armed Madhouse," generating heated response.
"When you bring up uncomfortable stuff, it's going to create discomfort," said Palast, who reports for BBC Newsnight and writes for Harpers and Vanity Fair. "Obviously, if he was speaking about baseball scores - if he maybe had a different political viewpoint that wasn't seen as combative or outside of what's permissible - then the cops' backs wouldn't have been up."
For some free speech advocates like Palast, Meyer's Tasering is an extreme example of silencing dissent and controversy. But students at UF also complain of more subtle tactics they say hamper free speech on campus. As recently as Tuesday, when students assembled on UF's Plaza of the Americas to protest Meyer's Tasering, UF police took actions that intimidated students, according to Benjamin Dictor, one of the protesters.
"Pictures were taken of student protesters yesterday by police officers, as well as requests for names and student ID numbers," Dictor, 20, said.
"These two things are explicitly wrong in terms of when students exercise their rights to free speech. They are also entitled to be free of persecution as a result of that. I can't emphasize that enough, and I can't emphasize how that trust was broken again yesterday even after the Taser event."
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Read the full article (with links to further coverage) here:
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20070920/NEWS/709200326/-1/news07