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Lawyer for students arrested at Black Lives Matter protest says USF email had 'chilling effect'<p></p>

 
Published Feb. 24, 2016

TAMPA — Two weeks after their arrest on a trespassing charge at the Florida State Fair, three University of South Florida students received a cryptic and seemingly ominous email.

USF's Office of Students and Rights and Responsibilities wanted to meet with the students to discuss the Feb. 7 incident that "you may be involved with or have knowledge of," according to the email. It included a link to the student code of conduct.

The email didn't say so, but that was the day students Reginald Glover, Pamela Gomez and Crystal Wilson chained themselves together on an access road at the fairgrounds during a Black Lives Matter protest.

It was a protest to bring attention to the death of 14-year-old Andrew Joseph III, whose family says he was treated unfairly in 2014 when he was ejected from the fair and killed while trying to cross Interstate 4.

An attorney for the three students said the university's letter had a chilling effect on their First Amendment rights.

When the attorney, Will Anderson, showed up with Glover for his hearing Tuesday, a USF official told them that no disciplinary action would be taken. The university also canceled meetings with the other students, the attorney said.

Anderson said he believes the university changed course when Glover showed up with a lawyer, protesters and a television news station crew in tow.

"(The official) said she didn't want to infringe on his rights and just wanted to talk about safety, and maybe choosing different actions in the future to protect his record," Anderson said.

"I don't understand the decisions we have to talk about," said Wilson, 26. "It's more like, why is the university picking on us? We were standing up for what we believe in, that the death of Andrew Joseph III was unjust and that all black lives matter."

USF spokesman Adam Freeman said privacy laws prevent school officials from commenting on specific cases. But he said it's standard practice for the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities, when made aware of an arrest, to contact students "to discuss the circumstances and provide the staff with more information about what happened."

"The purpose of the meeting ranges from basic concerns for a student's well-being to finding out if they were treated fairly through the legal process or to see if a student may have violated the student code of conduct," Freeman said. "It shouldn't be confused with an automatic disciplinary hearing or conduct review, and it appears there may have been some confusion on that."

He noted that off-campus conduct or behavior can be subject to the student disciplinary process. One of the potential infractions in the code is "violation of … local ordinance (or) state or federal law."

According to a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office report from Feb. 7, the three students and a fourth protester, Rebecca Killik, 27, chained themselves together and ignored requests from deputies to leave. The deputies cut the chains and arrested them.

The arrests were reported in the Tampa Bay Times. According to Anderson, USF's police force contacted the school administration. The students received the emails from the university on Feb. 22.

"They were beside themselves with the fear they were going to be kicked out of school or put on probation," Anderson said. "It's indisputable that this has a chilling effect moving forward. They say they're going to continue with their activities, but it really is weighing on their minds.

"Even if they don't get in trouble this time, what happens next time?"

The Tampa Bay chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement sent out a news release Tuesday saying USF appeared to be targeting student activists to intimidate them.

"It was an affront that the letter was sent in the first place," said Donna Davis, a co-founder of the Tampa Bay chapter. "It makes perfect sense of the university to backtrack and it makes perfect sense for us to continue to confront these issues when they come up."

Freeman defended USF's record on free speech rights.

"The university has been very supportive of that right on activities that take place on campus with various student groups, student organizations and even people not affiliated with USF who want to express their First Amendment rights on campus," he said.

The trespassing charges remain unresolved. Gomez, 26, could not be reached for comment. Glover said the meeting did feel like a "forewarning." But he and Wilson said they won't let it stop them from continuing to speak out against injustice.

"It will not stop us from continuing forward," Wilson said. "We're still going to protest."

Contact Tony Marrero at tmarrero@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3374. Follow @tmarrerotimes on Twitter.