[CIMC-work] Iowa: University Ordered to Turn Over Records on Anti-War Activists

[DickReilly at aol.com]

FYI - Dick

University Ordered to Turn Over Records on Anti-War Activists 

by Ryan J. Foley, 
Associated Press, Saturday, February 7
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0207-07.htm  
    
DES MOINES, Iowa - In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, 
a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a 
gathering of anti-war activists. 

In addition to the subpoena of Drake University, subpoenas were served this 
past week on four of the activists who attended a Nov. 15 forum at the school, 
ordering them to appear before a grand jury Tuesday, the protesters said. 

Federal prosecutors refuse to comment on the subpoenas.

In addition to the subpoena of Drake University, subpoenas were served this 
past week on four of the activists who attended a Nov. 15 forum at the school, 
ordering them to appear before a grand jury Tuesday, the protesters said. 

Federal prosecutors refuse to comment on the subpoenas. In addition to 
records about who attended the forum, the subpoena orders the university to divulge 
all records relating to the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a New 
York-based legal activist organization that sponsored the forum. 

The group, once targeted for alleged ties to communism in the 1950s, 
announced Friday it will ask a federal court to quash the subpoena on Monday. 

"The law is clear that the use of the grand jury to investigate protected 
political activities or to intimidate protesters exceeds its authority," guild 
President Michael Ayers said in a statement. 

Representatives of the Lawyer's Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union 
said they had not heard of such a subpoena being served on any U.S. university 
in decades. 

Those served subpoenas include the leader of the Catholic Peace Ministry, the 
former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network, a member of the Catholic Worker 
House, and an anti-war activist who visited Iraq in 2002. 

They say the subpoenas are intended to stifle dissent. "This is exactly what 
people feared would happen," said Brian Terrell of the peace ministry, one of 
those subpoenaed. 

"The civil liberties of everyone in this country are in danger. How we handle 
that here in Iowa is very important on how things are going to happen in this 
country from now on." 

The forum, titled "Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!" came the 
day before 12 protesters were arrested at an anti-war rally at Iowa National 
Guard headquarters in Johnston.

 Organizers say the forum included nonviolence training for people planning 
to demonstrate. The targets of the subpoenas believe investigators are trying 
to link them to an incident that occurred during the rally. 

A Grinnell College librarian was charged with misdemeanor assault on a peace 
officer; she has pleaded innocent, saying she simply went limp and resisted 
arrest. 
"The best approach is not to speculate and see what we learn on Tuesday" when 
the four testify, said Ben Stone, executive director of the Iowa Civil 
Liberties Union, which is representing one of the protesters.

Mark Smith, a lobbyist for the Washington-based American Association of 
University Professors, said he had not heard of any similar case of a U.S. 
university being subpoenaed for such records. He said the case brings back fears of 
the "red squads" of the 1950s and campus clampdowns on Vietnam War protesters. 

According to a copy obtained by The Associated Press, the Drake subpoena asks 
for records of the request for a meeting room, "all documents indicating the 
purpose and intended participants in the meeting, and all documents or 
recordings which would identify persons that actually attended the meeting."

It also asks for campus security records "reflecting any observations made of 
the Nov. 15, 2003, meeting, including any records of persons in charge or 
control of the meeting, and any records of attendees of the meeting."

Several officials of Drake, a private university with about 5,000 students, 
refused to comment Friday, including school spokeswoman Andrea McDonough. She 
referred questions to a lawyer representing the school, Steve Serck, who also 
would not comment. 

A source with knowledge of the investigation said a judge had issued a gag 
order forbidding school officials from discussing the subpoena. 

ON THE NET:  Drake University: http://www.drake.edu/
National Lawyers Guild: http://www.nlg.org/     

Also See:   

National Lawyers Guild Target of FBI Subpoena: Legal/Activist Group Will Not 
Divulge Membership Information - NLG Press Release
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0206-09.htm

Des Moines Activists Ordered to Testify in US Court 
by Jeff Eckhoff and Mark Seibert, Des Moines Register
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0205-03.htm
    
    
    


    
    


    
    
    


    
    


    



    
    
    





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