Modified Mon, Sep 14, 2009 09:22 AM
UNC-CH protesters to face judge
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close xCHAPEL HILL -- Seven young activists will go to court today on charges they disrupted two former congressmen who spoke about immigration at UNC-Chapel Hill last spring.
Only one of the protesters is a UNC-CH student, Morehead-Cain scholar Haley Koch, a senior accused of holding a banner in front of another student who was introducing former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican known for his anti-immigrant stance. The others were banned from campus for two years after their arrest a week later at former U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode's speech.
Students for a Democratic Society rallied about 30 protesters inside the building where Tancredo spoke, and some shouted him down. YouTube videos and media coverage sparked critics to call the protesters' actions undemocratic, but some witnesses say campus police inflamed the situation.
Protesters complain
In May, nearly 20 members of the UNC Protesters Defense Committee, which formed because of the Tancredo incident, filed a complaint with the campus police about the April arrests. Police spokesman Randy Young said investigators tried this summer to interview complainants but couldn't reach them and concluded officers had acted appropriately.
Officers forcibly removed Koch and another woman from a classroom during the introduction of Tancredo. Police also chased protesters from the building with pepper spray and a Taser.
The protesters' complaint alleges officers threw Koch to the ground, pulled another woman's hair and pepper-sprayed at least eight students. Protesters also said police targeted political activists but ignored other campus disruptions, including a dance party with 3,000 revelers in Davis Library. Young said investigators found no evidence to support these claims.
Plea deal possible
Assistant District Attorney Jeff Nieman is eager to dispose of the protesters' cases. He may again offer them deferred prosecution or a plea deal, which they rejected in June.
Two defendants already are scheduled back in court next week on charges that they violated the order to stay off campus. Michael Bandes, 25, and Jack Wilson Groves, now 19, were arrested on the first day of classes after a campus police officer saw them walking eastward along Cameron Avenue near the Coker Arboretum.
If Bandes pleads guilty to disorderly conduct, he might have to pay court costs and a judge-ordered fine, as he already had prosecution deferred on a shoplifting charge in 2008.
The others, with no criminal records, could have charges dropped after six months if they agree to stay off the campus, commit no other crimes, perform 24 hours of community service and pay a $200 community service fee, Nieman said. "Unless you have a prior record, you can't get jail for it," Nieman said.
Meanwhile, policymakers continue to debate the issue that got lost amid the protests. This week, the state Board of Community Colleges will decide whether to admit illegal immigrants at out-of-state tuition rates -- a policy that has changed four times since 2000. The proposal from the board's policy committee would give priority to lawful U.S. residents and require a diploma from a U.S. high school.
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