Statement of Faculty Support for Jacob Miller and Evan Lisull

September 28, 2009

Dear University of Arizona Community,

We, the undersigned faculty and graduate students at the University of Arizona, write to express our outrage at the recent surge of student arrests by the UAPD over the matter of chalking, a form of symbolic expression protected by our First Amendment right to free speech. These arrests violate the core values of academic freedom and the principle of free speech inherent to every University setting. We also hold that these escalating arrests irreparably damage the image and legitimacy of the University of Arizona as a public institution of higher education. We insist that these oppressive tactics stop immediately.

On Thursday September 24, Jacob Miller, first year Master’s student in the School of Geography and Development, was arrested for chalking during the Arizona for Education rally. Most recently, in the early morning of September 28, Evan Lisull, Senior in Political Science, was also arrested for chalking in a symbolic protest to the previous week's crackdown. Both have been charged with “criminal damage” and “disturbing an educational institution” for their exercising of protected forms of speech. This is a disturbing escalation of events that should deeply concern us all.

We maintain that the chalking of pavement––for publicity, for art, for speech––is a common practice at almost all University settings. Here at the University of Arizona, one walks over instances of chalking on a frequent basis. As is well-known, chalking effects absolutely no damage to existing structures, and washes away easily, making it an ideal form for all types of social expression. This should be particularly the case at any world-class university setting, where all such symbolic expression is tolerated, welcomed, and appreciated, not because one approves of it, but because it is protected. This is not the situation at the University of Arizona, where these arrests display instead a betrayal of the University’s fundamental missions.

Chalking, in and of itself, does not constitute “criminal damage,” and further, its prohibition has never been enforced, and even less so with the criminal charges and fines both Mr. Miller and Mr. Lisull now face. We hold that this is an arbitrary application of the law whose objective is to inhibit and even silence speech in the wake of rising public opposition to the current UA transformation plan. We the undersigned hold that regardless of one’s position on this or any issue, assaults on free speech by the UAPD, such as those witnessed here on Sept. 24 and 26, will not be tolerated. We, instead, are bound by a democratic and intellectual responsibility to not only foster speech, but to the aggressive and tireless safeguarding of those spaces from which we all can speak. This responsibility includes safeguarding everyone’s constitutional freedoms from the institution itself.

Unfortunately for all of us, word of this incident has already made itself known nationally. The on-campus arrest of a university student on charges related to the censoring free speech is itself a story that cannot and should not be silenced. But we will not lie nor mislead our colleagues at peer institutions about the facts of this case. They must be made known. Tarnish to this institution’s image has already been accomplished from the first arrest, however, the full extent of it, stemming now from this second, might not be known for years. But we do know that the damage to the UA by their unwarranted arrests of Mr. Miller and Mr. Lisull can be either exacerbated or minimized only by subsequent actions from University administration.

We, the undersigned, therefore insist to both President Shelton and the UAPD that all charges against Jacob Miller and Evan Lisull be immediately dropped, and further, that all police action against acts of free speech by students, staff and faculty at this University cease.

(Corrections, suggestions welcome. To sign-on to this statement please leave name and dept in the comment field)

Faculty and Grad Student Signatures:

Abraham Acosta, Spanish and Portuguese
Jake Harwood, Communication
Dee Hill Zuganelli, Sociology
Louise Roth, Sociology
Mariel Watt, Anthropology
Seth Wright, Sociology