AHEC bans camping
on campus
by Clayton Woullard
The Metropolitan
(File photo - The Metropolitan )
Metro sophomore Erin Durban sets up her tent April 10, 2003 for the “peace
camp” on campus, which lasted more than three weeks. Some members
of Creative Resistance, the Metro student activist group that organized
the event, feel it influenced a new policy banning campus camping.
A new policy banning camping on campus has upset members of a Metro student
activist group that held a “peace camp” protest in opposition
to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year.
The Auraria Higher Education Center announced the policy in May after
they had examined similar policies at other Colorado colleges and universities
and determined it should be a policy at the Auraria campus.
Dean Wolf, AHEC Executive Vice President for Administration, said the
policy was enacted due to the lack of sanitation facilities and police
resources to ensure the safety of people camping overnight on campus.
“We just don’t have the resources to maintain a suitable
level of health and safety for overnight guests,” Wolf said.
According to the policy, camping is defined as “the use of Auraria
campus facilities or grounds for living accommodations or housing purposes
such as overnight sleeping or making preparations for overnight sleeping.”
Wolf said those not affiliated with the campus who don’t comply
with the policy would likely be arrested for trespassing, while students
who violate the policy would likely be referred to the student conduct
department of their school.
Members from Creative Resistance, a Metro student organization, camped
out in tents as part of a “peace camp” event for about three
weeks in March, 2003 to protest the war in Iraq. Some members of the group
believe the AHEC policy was influenced in part by their protest event.
Lindsey Trout, Creative Resistance member, co-founder and Metro student,
said she was disappointed in the decision, but understands what the Auraria
administration is trying to do.
“I feel that the administration is making an effort to anticipate
forms of student dissent which may, in their opinion, come across as unseemly,”
Trout said.
She also said while she sees the ban as a limit to free speech, she wants
to maintain a positive relationship with Metro and campus administration.
“I love my school and I happen to be a student activist, but I’m
not at war with people just trying to do their job,” she said. “But
when people try to limit free speech, in an effort to simplify their jobs,
just because they don’t want to deal with the messiness of free
speech—that’s a problem.”
Trout feels the administration made the policy because it sees the group
as a “nuisance,” which disappoints her because she feels Creative
Resistance should be appreciated as a strong aspect of the local community.
“I would hope that members of the administration would want to
support the small number of students at the Auraria campus who are passionately
interested, who are passionately involved with creating positive political
change.”
Over the summer, the administration also created a policy that prohibits
amplified events near the Flagpole area at the southeast corner of the
Plaza building, which the administration considers the academic center
of the campus. It would prevent events such as rallies where microphones
and loudspeakers are used.
Creative Resistance member and Metro student Mikel Stone says he feels
both new policies are attempts to stifle free speech on campus because
many campus groups, including Creative Resistance, have held rallies near
the Flagpole area.
“These new levels of bureaucracy allow a whole new set of people
to put vetoes on whether or not we have rallies,” Stone said.
Barb Weiske, Director of Student Auxiliary Services and chairperson of
the Guidelines for Use of Facilities, (GUF), said the GUF committee recommended
a modification to an existing policy based on faculty and administrative
complaints about disturbance to classes.
“One of the charges GUF has is to try to find some events that
are essential to campus life and ensure they don’t disrupt academics,”
Weiske said.
Under the policy, only amplified events set up through the student activities
department of the respective college would be permitted near the Flagpole
area.
Weiske also said the amplified event policy is not designed to limit
the activities of students, but to simply avoid disturbing any classes
that may be going on or any other academic activities.
“Everybody really acknowledges the need for every type of activity
on campus,” she said. “It’s not just about policy, it’s
that group (GUF) recognizes the need to ensure that there’s a proper
environment for special events to occur in.”
Stone said he feels the policies are, in part, an attack on Creative
Resistance and was disappointed students had no say in the matter.
“There should have been a little bit of deliberation with the students,”
he said. “At least we would have been able to give some input.”
The GUF committee has also asked to look at the camping policy and will
recommend changes if they feel they need to be made, Weiske said.
The committee has also recommended to Facilities Use and Planning that
the RTD turnaround at the southeast corner of the Tivoli be relocated
closer to the North Classroom building to allow for a student union courtyard
area where all sorts of student functions could be held.
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