Rutgers Students Detained by University Police for Chalking "RON PAUL"

[hXcLibertarian]

Not sure if this is the right forum for this, but..



Late Wednesday evening, three Rutgers University students in New Brunswick, NJ were detained by university police for chalking the words “Ron Paul” along with a peace sign on a brick wall on College Avenue. Four university police officers including two sergeants held and searched the students for approximately thirty minutes, while hundreds of students witnessed the debacle. Initially, one officer questioned the students, while backup quickly arrived.

Emily Focarino, a Rutgers junior who was waiting for her bus across the street described the absurdity of the incident, “They were just chalking a peace sign and four police cars came out of nowhere for something that’ll be gone the next time it rains.”

Using white Crayola chalk, the libertarians wanted to garner attention for their Presidential candidate of choice and on Wednesday night, they accomplished just that. Although the students were released without charges and citations, they may face fines or disciplinary action from the university.

Another student, Amit Patel defended their rights, “Agree or disagree with it, they have every right to chalk on public property.”

The students, who didn’t want their names publicized yet said that they were affiliated with the Rutgers Young Americans for Liberty and Rutgers Libertarians campus groups. Police demanded their college IDs, ran their names through a database, and asked to search their backpacks. Adamant about his free speech rights, one of the chalkers added that his group would construct a free speech wall in the coming weeks to protest what he described as “a blatant violation of free speech.”

The laughable Rutgers “chalking guidelines” have 11 rules–the first three are as follows,

1. Chalking requests must be submitted in writing five days prior to actual chalking.
2. Complete a Chalking Request form and deliver to the Student Involvement Office at 613
George Street, in the Student Activities Center.
3. Contact person must be present at the chalking and have a copy of the form with them.

Organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union have successfully challenged similar, unconstitutional guidelines at many colleges recently and according to The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, this is just one of many civil liberties violations that have occurred at Rutgers University. This incident will only further blight the damaged brand of Rutgers University as it oddly enough coincides with the first day of the Tyler Clementi trial and immediately after the revelations of the NYPD spying on student groups.

www.unelected.org/rutgers-students-detained-by-university-police-for-chalking-ron-paul (http://www.unelected.org/rutgers-students-detained-by-university-police-for-chalking-ron-paul)

[sailingaway]

Detained for sidewalk chalk. In a sense it is their property, but it is pretty pathetic, all the same.

--

oh man, they have RULES for sidewalk chalking approvals!!

[Tyler_Durden]

"NDAA them!!" said the Gingrich/Santorum-supporting Campus Police.

[kathy88]

Searched their backpacks? Cause? Unreal.

[Captain Shays]

We can truck in some of those TSA screeners to get a look at their bums (and other attributes) just for laughs. Then of course send them off to GITMO before they can vote for Ron Paul

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

Wsend them off to GITMO before they can vote for Ron Paul
I can see someone with authority actually saying that LOL

[Akus]

as much as i am a ron paul fan and as much as the reaction to that was excessive, they were defacing property and some kind of reaction was in order

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

as much as i am a ron paul fan and as much as the reaction to that was excessive, they were defacing property and some kind of reaction was in orderCops deface people's motor vehicles all the time by marking their tires with chalk. College adults (Yes, most people in college are adults, NOT kids) make a peace sign in chalk and get arrested?

[ronpaulfollower999]

Searched their backpacks? Cause? Unreal.

Looking for terrorist material (the Constitution) of course!

[PierzStyx]

as much as i am a ron paul fan and as much as the reaction to that was excessive, they were defacing property and some kind of reaction was in order

I disagree. Chalk washes away with water. It is neither permanent nor damaging to the ground. Nothing was defaced.

[AhuwaleKaNaneHuna]

Backup was called in????:confused: Was the officer afraid of getting hit with a piece of chalk by people promoting peace signs? lol

This story reads like it came from out of a communist country. :(

[Godmode7]

Get a bucket of water and make them remove it? People have gone mad.

[juvanya]

as much as i am a ron paul fan and as much as the reaction to that was excessive, they were defacing property and some kind of reaction was in order

This university is a public university, not private.

[Plague-of-Locutus]

Get a bucket of water and make them remove it? People have gone mad.

Not quite as easy as you think to get rid of chalk. It stains. You either need to power wash it off or use something slightly acidic like rainwater to get rid of it.

[hXcLibertarian]

Not quite as easy as you think to get rid of chalk. It stains. You either need to power wash it off or use something slightly acidic like rainwater to get rid of it.

Exactly! It makes perfect sense to violate the civil rights of a bunch of 18-22 year olds because of chalk that's long gone now.

[sailingaway]

Not quite as easy as you think to get rid of chalk. It stains. You either need to power wash it off or use something slightly acidic like rainwater to get rid of it.

sidewalk chalk washes off with a garden hose, easily.

[jasonxe]

I remember when the Colorado people were pissed when rp peeps spray paint "Ron Paul 2012" on local building. Hopefully this sends a message to everyone here not to do that.

[hXcLibertarian]

I remember when the Colorado people were pissed when rp peeps spray paint "Ron Paul 2012" on local building. Hopefully this sends a message to everyone here not to do that.

Being harassed by 4 cops isn't going to send a message to a bunch of college students. Remember, this is CRAYOLA CHALK we're talking about.

[Skywalker75]

I went to Hillsdale College (private) and Greeks would chalk up the sidewalks all the time. It always washed off.

.... not a big deal. Certainly not worth detainment.

[dillo]

defacing public property is a crime, the search was not warranted. I doubt it had anything to do with Ron Paul.

[MelissaWV]

1. Chalking requests must be submitted in writing five days prior to actual chalking.
2. Complete a Chalking Request form and deliver to the Student Involvement Office at 613
George Street, in the Student Activities Center.
3. Contact person must be present at the chalking and have a copy of the form with them.
4. Messages must be written a minimum of 30 ft. from the entrance to any building and 2 feet from all grassy areas.
5. Messages can be displayed on concrete or asphalt walkways (not brick) as long as the area is exposed to the elements.
6. Messages cannot be posted on any vertical surfaces, such as buildings signs, pillars, doors, bus stops, etc.
7. Chalk must be both water-soluble and erasable. No spray chalk or grease based chalk allowed.
8. Drawings may not be destructive or libelous in any way.
9. Chalking is allowed for 5 days and at the end of the 5th day, the requester is responsible for cleaning up the chalking.
10. If the chalking is not removed, there will be a $50 cleanup charge.
11. We reserve the right to deny any request.

Please note #10.

At most, then, this is worth a $50 fine. I wonder if the geniuses offered that as an option? Doubtful. This is a public university. Searching and detaining someone for scribbling with chalk is not suddenly okay because it's done by university police. At least it does not seem that either side resorted to some physical escalation.

[TheGrinch]

This university is a public university, not private.
A public university is still private property. Most everything is now anyways, but it's not public in the sesne like a public library that anyone can go to (even though even that is still private property).

Yes, it was definitely excessive by the police, but I don't think it helped that they did it on a wall and not a sidewalk. Yes, it is as far from permanent as it gets, but it doesn't have to be a political message for it to be heavily frowned upon to go chalking up buildings.

This is in no way to excuse the cops using that as an excuse, but it most certainly is going to invite trouble, and should be somewhat expected if you're going alter building's appearances, even in this insignificant way... That's not the way I want it, it's reality. Actually hell, I stand up for property rights, just not police state excessiveness.

[MelissaWV]

A public university is still private property. Most everything is now anyways, but it's not public in the sesne like a public library that anyone can go to, even though even that is still private property.

Yes, it was definitely excessive by the police, but I don't think it helped that they did it on a wall and not a sidewalk. Yes, it is as far from permanent as it gets, but it doesn't have to be a political message for it to be heavily frowned upon to go chalking up buildings.

This is in no way to excuse the cops using that as an excuse, but it most certainly is going to invite trouble, and should be somewhat expected if you're going alter building's appearances, even in this insignificant way... That's not the way I want it, it's reality. Actually hell, I stand up for property rights, just not police state excessiveness.

When I was younger, we would pick up "chalk rocks" and scrawl our initials on the sidewalk, or walk alongside brick buildings and just draw a horizontal line along the walls. No one cared. Now, apparently, there would be a police swarm and a bunch of backup called in.

[Gravik]

Don't forget we need drones flying overhead to make sure they don't run...

[Captain Shays]

Backup was called in????:confused: Was the officer afraid of getting hit with a piece of chalk by people promoting peace signs? lol

This story reads like it came from out of a communist country. :(

Keep in mind where this happened......New frigging Jersey

Last summer we had health dept officials harrassing little girls for selling unauthorized lemonade in front of their own houses. We need the gumment to protect us from little girls and chalk. Don't you know?

Brought to you from the people's republic of New Jersey

[Captain Shays]

I went to Hillsdale College (private) and Greeks would chalk up the sidewalks all the time. It always washed off.

.... not a big deal. Certainly not worth detainment.

Jeez. The Greeks creating all kinds of debt and riots and now chalk. What's this world coming to?

[TheGrinch]

When I was younger, we would pick up "chalk rocks" and scrawl our initials on the sidewalk, or walk alongside brick buildings and just draw a horizontal line along the walls. No one cared. Now, apparently, there would be a police swarm and a bunch of backup called in.
A couple innocent kids writing chalk lines down the wall, no, I don't even think today some young kids are going to get harassed about that... Than again you never know with a police state (only slightly sarcastic).

But at the university I went to, there was plenty of activism, demonstrations, handling out pamphlets, putting them up in the designated areas, etc., and yes plenty of chalk with messages on the sidewalk... But we didn't go putting our pamphlets up on the outside of buildings and chalking them up. We had too much respect than to spam up the institution with our message. Be better than the people you're trying to beat.

Again, I in now way condone the cops behavior and sympathize with how the kids are treated, but do I agree with turning sides of buildings into your own canvas for your message, no not really...

[hXcLibertarian]

A couple innocent kids writing chalk lines down the wall, no, I don't even think today some young kids are going to get harassed about that... Than again you never know with a police state (only slightly sarcastic).

But at the university I went to, there was plenty of activism, demonstrations, handling out pamphlets, putting them up in the designated areas, etc., and yes plenty of chalk with messages on the sidewalk... But we didn't go putting our pamphlets up on the outside of buildings and chalking them up. We had too much respect than to spam up the institution with our message. Be better than the people you're trying to beat.

Again, I in now way condone the cops behavior and sympathize with how the kids are treated, but do I agree with turning sides of buildings into your own canvas for your message, no not really...

I attend the university and know the students that were involved. The issue is that there were liberal, environmentalist chalkings less than 100 feet away from the Ron Paul chalking. The college usually doesn't care about chalking on that specific wall, but they did this time.

[Keith and stuff]

I know one of the students and told him about CopBlock, perhaps the best know chalking group in the US. He said he would contact CopBlock.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2-DvhjV0JY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-uat-fB7fQ


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpqeHtxPOlk

[Danke]

This is definitely a case where Tasers would have been justified.