Deans May Not Allow Protest

Student anti-war activists say they will forge ahead with plans to protest the presence of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recruiters on campus this afternoon, despite a warning from Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd that the demonstration will not be allowed to proceed.

Kidd told leaders of the Harvard Social Forum (HSF) in an e-mail yesterday morning that the activists will be barred from staging a rally outside the Science Center today because organizers did not comply with the College’s event registration procedures—which require student groups to complete an online form.

“They haven’t applied for any space,” Kidd said in an interview yesterday afternoon. “We never allow demonstrations that we don’t have registration for.”

But HSF leaders said they did not learn about the CIA and DHS recruitment event until this past weekend, and therefore did not have time to register their rally with the College.

“It seems to be a double standard that they are letting the DHS and the CIA have their voices be heard, but they are not letting Harvard students have their voices be heard,” said Michael A. Gould-Wartofsky ’07, a member of the HSF coordinating committee.

Representatives from the CIA and DHS are slated to speak in Science Center E at 3 p.m. today at an Office of Career Services panel discussion for students considering jobs in counterterrorism.

REGISTRATION WOES

HSF has chosen not to register as an official student organization. According to coordinating committee member Kia D. Alexander ’08, the group utilizes off-campus meeting space provided by a sympathetic alum at 45 Mount Auburn St.

But Gould-Wartofsky, who is also a Crimson editor, noted that several co-sponsors of today’s rally, including the Society of Arab Students and Harvard No War, are registered campus groups.

“The deans confuse the issue. They’re using this as a false pretext to shut down the demonstration and violate the free speech of students,” Gould-Wartofsky said.

Yet unregistered groups have held protests on campus this year, according to Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II. He said that groups should inform the administration three to five days in advance to obtain a protest permit—although he added that the College is sometimes able to process requests more quickly, depending on the logistics of the event.

Gould-Wartofsky said that activist student groups first learned about the career panel this past weekend and therefore felt that they could not gain approval for their protest by today.

McLoughlin said that protest organizers never filed a permit request with College administrators—an assertion which Gould-Wartofsky confirmed.

BREAKDOWN IN COMMUNICATION

Activists met with Kidd in November and agreed that while HSF could not itself sponsor rallies, the Forum’s more than two dozen member organizations—ranging from the College Democrats to the Harvard AIDS Coalition—could register on-campus events.

“Since that meeting the Forum has not been complying with this understanding,” Kidd wrote yesterday.

“I urge you to resume contact with me so that we can come to some understanding about your activities,” she added.

But Gould-Wartofsky said that “it was [Kidd] who cut off communication until today.”

In a March 24 e-mail to Gould-Wartofsky, Kidd wrote that Jessica L. Tibbits, the administrative coordinator for student activities, “will contact you to find a time for us to meet after spring break.”

“It’s terrible that we didn’t hear back from her,” Gould-Wartofsky said last night.

Kidd could not be reached by phone last night to confirm or deny Gould-Wartofsky’s charge, and she did not respond to several e-mail messages.

SHOWDOWN AT THE SCIENCE CENTER

In a phone interview yesterday, Harvard University Police Department spokesman Steven G. Catalano would not reveal the department’s plan for handling the protest.

“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on staffing levels or patrol procedures,” he said.

“If the police ask us to disperse, that’s going to be up for everyone who attends to decide what they will do,” Gould-Wartofsky said. “We don’t want to be disruptive. We want to have a peaceful protest.”

—Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Joshua P. Rogers can be reached at jprogers@fas.harvard.edu.