A month went by after I protested the assinine "Abortion & Men" event... and then in December, I get an e-mail from some guy at the university's judicial services:
I received some information regarding an event hosted by Students For Life at Library Level A where you may have peacefully protested. I need to talk with you a little bit about our policy regarding protesting events. This meeting is not part of your conduct record, however, failure to contact me to schedule and meeting and keep that meeting will result in disciplinary action.
My immediate response was, "What the fuck? Since when do you get in trouble at a UNIVERSITY for a silent protest?"
Of course, I knew who was behind this little "complaint." Dr. Rourke.
I responded to the guy who sent me an e-mail, basically clarifying the situation, but he still insisted that we meet in person. He also said this:
You could have been technically removed
that evening due to what is called the Heckler's Veto.
I'll get back to that in a moment.
Thinking that my first amendments rights were going to be trampled on, I decided to enlist the help of a fellow friend to come to the meeting with me as moral support. I also considered contacting the ACLU if the situation went awry.
When we showed up, it was soon discovered that this guy was just doing his job. He has to follow up on complaints lodged against everyone, no matter how ludicrous the complaint. I kind of felt sorry for the guy, because he made it sound like Dr. Rourke had been harrassing him - sending him numerous e-mails and phone calls.
I explained the situation to him and he seemed dumbfounded. Apparently, they made it sound like I was being disruptive/distracting, standing near the speaker at the event, or blocking him somehow. In actuality, I was standing off to the side of the seated students at the event, so they literally had to make the choice to turn their heads to look at me standing their on the sidelines. They didn't have to look.
He passed on some info to me that next time I protested an event, they [Students for Life] were going to try to use the Heckler's Veto to have me removed. Hey, guess what, that's not going to fucking happen. The Heckler's Veto is ONLY used in escalating situations where there is a fear of violence or if the protester is verbally heckling the speaker with inflammatory statements to the point that they can't talk. So, that doesn't fucking apply to me.
I called the ACLU in Pittsburgh and explained my situation to them. They returned my call to ask me for a good time to contact me... but I am still waiting to hear from them again. I WILL protest more events and I will NOT be removed. I will file a legal complaint against these idiots if they try to take away my first amendment rights. Believe me, if I had a Pro-Choice group, they would be protesting MY events ALL THE TIME. And you know what? I believe that they have every right to do that! Just as I have every right to protest their nonsense.
It's hilarious how passive-aggressive Dr. Rourke has been.
Anyway, in light of Dr. Tiller's murder, what it really comes down to is that many "pro-life" people are domestic terrorists and religious extremists. Nothing surprises me any more.
To be continued...?
EDIT: THIS ENTRY WAS EDITED TO REMOVE INFORMATION THAT WAS DISCOVERED TO BE FALSE OR UNVERIFIED, AS WELL AS UNVERIFIED ALLEGATIONS/STATEMENTS THAT WERE ATTRIBUTED TO THE WRONG PERSON. APOLOGIES FOR A LAPSE IN STANDARDS.
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