Support Miguel Malo and free speech rights for Students of color at CUNY!

f it were only about Miguel Malo it would be bad enough. The most troubling thing is, it's about much more: the first amendment rights of Blacks, Latinos and other students of color at the City University of New York (CUNY.)

In August 2001, students at Hostos Community College in the Bronx held a demonstration protesting cuts in Spanish and bilingual programs. During this protest Miguel Malo, the Student Senate President, was arrested for holding up a sign in a public atrium that had traditionally been the "free speech area" on campus.

Others were also arrested that day, but the charges against them were eventually dropped. However, CUNY has continued to prosecute Malo, claiming that this 5 foot 2 inch self-possessed, dignified young man had "assaulted" two 6 foot CUNY "peace officers" - even though numerous faculty and student witnesses saw that it was Miguel who was assaulted by seven campus cops who threw him to the ground. Now, he could be sentenced to a year in jail for the totally ridiculous charges of assaulting these officers and resisting arrest. He is also charged with disorderly conduct and harassment.

Clearly CUNY wants to make an example of Miguel Malo in order to intimidate other students of color who are thinking of standing up for their rights and protesting tuition hikes, budget cuts, and all the attacks on the working-class students at this, the largest urban university system in the United States.

Stated Malo's attorney, Ron McGuire, "Miguel's story is really an example of what's happening to Black and Latino students at CUNY where they're being essentially locked down and deprived of their rights. His case is not the only one where students are being arrested or told that they can't demonstrate. Students at Hostos are not allowed to give out leaflets in public places on the campus like they used to and like students are permitted to do at most colleges."

McGuire told of the glaring disparity he's seen between the way students are treated on different CUNY campuses depending on whether they're in wealthy white neighborhoods and attended mainly by white students - such as Queens College and Hunter - or in predominantly non-white neighborhoods and attended by people of color - such as Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, City College in Harlem, and Hostos.

In the colleges where the students are mostly white you can drive right onto the campus, enter any door of any building, and just walk around anywhere without being challenged. But at places like Hostos you have to go through gates to enter the campus, most of the entrances to the buildings are permanently locked, and you've got to make it through security check points to get in. It's extremely repressive, feeling more like a prison than a campus.

Furthermore, when the students hold their protests at majority white campuses there's more of the attitude "Well, that's what students do." He told of a sit-in at Hunter. The students had asked him to be present. The angry students came in with their list of demands and sat in at the President's office. She came out and spoke with them. Then, the students were told, "Ok, you can spend the night. Just don't mess up the furniture." Next, the Dean of Students came in with two trays of fruit so they wouldn't get hungry during the night, and the Vice President gave $15 when the students took up a collection for food.

But, stated McGuire, "When Pedro Rivera and other students tried to march on the president's office at Hostos, they weren't even allowed near the office. At campuses like Hostos and City College when students protest there's a fear of domestic insurrection. They call out this incredible security force. We have gotten documents about their deciding whether or not they need to wear guns to control the students. There's a very intense kind of racial profiling going on, and that's what Miguel is caught up in."

Miguel Malo's line of defense is very simple: that it's not against the law to hold up a sign in a public place, which is what he was arrested for. But he's been dragged through the courts for almost two years now as CUNY and the DA have "amended" their story and charges over and over, refused to turn over their videotapes of the protest where he was arrested, failed to bring key witnesses to court, and even tried - unsuccessfully - to throw the lawyer of Malo's choice, Atty. Ron McGuire, off the case. That little maneuver even shocked some jaded court personnel.

But despite everything he's been put through, Malo has steadfastly and courageously maintained his stand. He says that a student's right to free speech shouldn't end at the schoolhouse door. He is grateful for the public support that his case has received and confident that justice will prevail and he will be found innocent. And Malo has said that he hopes his case will establish that Black and Latino students at Hostos and all CUNY campuses have the same constitutional rights as white students.

Please come and help pack the courthouse at Miguel Malo's next court appearance on Monday, June 2^nd at 9:30 AM at Part TAP-1 in the basement of Bronx County Criminal Court, located at 215 East 161^st Street - one block east of the Grand Concourse. Take the 4 or D train to 161^st Street. Please arrive early since there's often a long line outside the court.

Donna Lamb can be reached at dlamb@gis.net.

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