Mixed Moss

Today I coordinated my first demonstration. It was totally cool. A bunch of us gathered at Tangeman University Center and set up a couple of tables, where we had literature to help educate people about the genocide in Sudan, petitions to sign, sample letters to write to your congress(wo)man or President Bush, and green ribbons available to wear. We also held a die-in. This is a super-cool kind of demonstration in which people lie down on the ground to symbolize the people who have died, and others trace around them in chalk. That way even after you have left people see the statement you left.

Well, they are supposed to at any rate.

About half-way through the demonstration Campus Security came out and yelled at me. Did Campus Scheduling know we were using chalk? Well gee, Officer Krumpke, I’m not sure. We have this piece of paper saying we can use this space. It says “creative and artistic expression activities. [Note: we knew we needed permission to chalk. We were proceeding under the supposition I learned long ago from my pastor that when you are harmlessly doing good, it is better to get forgiveness than permission.] “Well don’t chalk any more until I go and talk to Campus Scheduling.” Thanks, Officer Krumpke. Then someone came out from Student Gov and yelled at me. Then a nice lady from Campus Scheduling came out and didn’t yell at me. She said that she felt very badly and thought we had miscommunicated.

The thing is that there are Free Speech Zones around campus. You can only chalk by McMicken, and only if you register with Campus Scheduling as if for an event. “But, they said we had to be at TUC becuase we were doing a demonstration.” “Well yes, this is the only place you can have a demonstration.” “So it is technically impossible to have a demonstration and chalking at the same event?”

Apparently such is the case. And under no circumstances may you chalk on the little triad-shaped paving stones! Then she told me that Grounds had to come out and clean up after the last group who chalked, and that the chalk wouldn’t come off and they had to sandblast it, and they charged the student group $600! When I told Aaron and Oren, they other students in charge this week, they just about flipped. But the nice lady from Campus Scheduling said that she really didn’t want us to have to pay the fine over a misunderstanding. [I think she was feeling guilty about maybe taking money away from refugees.] So she said she’d try to find us a hose to use. Acting cute and pleading ignorance will take you far.

In the end, she would up getting the group at the top of the hill by McMicken, who was raffling off a hot tub, to let us borrow their hose. Then she went and got the water key from maintenance, showed us where the spigot was, got the water turned on, and, once we’d sprayed off the paving stones (which took all of thirty seconds; there’s no way that other group should have gotten charged or the sandblaster should even have some into the equation!), during which I got yelled at by one of the Amnesty International members for bowing to “the establishment,” turned off the water and returned the hose, told us to have a great day.

Apparently, we were not her biggest headache that day. When the hot tub group showed up they brought a large tent that they had forgotten to tnotify her they would be puting up. In driving in the tent stakes without proper guidance from Campus Scheduling, they hit a water main. Instant guyser. Good times.

I must say, getting yelled at four times and almost getting charged $600 isn’t bad for the first activist-oriented event I’ve ever hosted. I mean, lots of people get thrown in jail.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 26th, 2005 at 1:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.