By August Barham 

Feb. 28, 2020

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WASHINGTON—Three women representing an anti-Trump organization were removed from the American University campus while attempting to recruit AU students to join the fight against fascism on Jan. 23.  

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On its website, RefuseFascism claims, “the Trump/Pence regime poses a catastrophic danger to humanity and the planet,” and the organization works to drive them from power through non-violent protest. The group has been recruiting college students around Washington, including students at Georgetown University.

 

“We are out there trying to challenge students and to invite them to join us in protest," said Chantelly Lace, one of the Refusefascism organizers on campus during the incident.

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The group stood on the AU Quad, making announcements such as, “Trump, Pence, out now,” through a megaphone and flyering students.

People in various buildings on campus heard the group’s announcements, including, Jeffery Simmons, the School of International Service Graduate Assistant.

“I remember hearing them in the [SIS Dean’s] office even though they were all the way at the end of the quad,” said Simmons.

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As the organizers moved up the Quad and into the SIS building, AUPD received a call that protesters were disrupting campus operations, and officers were dispatched, said Captain Rima Sifri, Assistant Director of the University Police.

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“Campus security surrounded us, five or six of them,” Lace said.

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Simmons saw AUPD interact with the organizers and reported no concerns of conduct or force on either side. 

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“The officers conducted a preliminary investigation to determine if they were affiliated with the university or otherwise had been given permission to be on campus,” Sifri said.

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The organizers indicated they were not affiliated with the university, and AUPD requested to see their IDs, claiming it was university policy.

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“That was the first time they had interacted with us, so they went from zero to 60 on us,” Lace said.

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AUPD claimed the protesters refused to identify themselves, but Lace reported that she was the only one to not issue her ID and that had she been shown the policy, she would have complied.

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“If you want to show me the policy, I’ll give you my ID,” Lace said. “He refused to show me the policy, so I was refusing to give him my ID.”

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The group was barred from campus for refusing to comply with university policy.

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“The university is private property,” Sifri said. “To ensure the safety and security of the campus community, guests and visitors, we must ensure adherence to policy and the law.”

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The University Policy: Guidelines for Freedom of Expression and Dissent does not include a requirement for non-affiliated protestors to present identification. However, officers use Policy Statement II as a guide when addressing this type of service call.

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Statement II explains that the university has the right to facilitate protests based on “safety, the rights of others and the normal functioning of the university.”

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This includes demonstrations that produce “a volume of sound that prevents members of the university from conducting their normal activities,” according to Policy Statement III. D.

Lace said that her announcements were loud so people could hear her message. 

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“It was pretty loud,” Simmons said. “It was distracting, but I didn’t know what they were protesting.”

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Some AU community members agreed with the group’s right to protest but felt an issue arose when they went into a class building.

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“I understand how coming into SIS is disruptive,” said Hannah Landry, an AU Freshman, and SIS major. “Especially since students are taking classes.”

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Landry advocated for a clearer description of what constitutes “disruptive to normal university activities” in the AU policy.

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Responding to the university's policy on freedom of expression, Lace asserted that political free speech is not convenient and that students should question why AU is “shutting down this message so abruptly and forcefully.”

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“We are dealing with something that we have seen before,” Lace said. “Something that was a major part of that was shutting down any form of free speech that was against Hitler or against Mussolini.”

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Lace added that a key component of shutting down anti-fascist speech was polarizing college campuses.

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Georgetown University “shutdown” RefuseFascism protestors on their campus as well. Two organizers, Luna Hernandez and Bo Logan were arrested during a protest in the university’s free speech area, Red Square. The organizers were removed for unlawful entry on Jan. 27, according to an article by  Katherine Randolph in The Georgetown Voice. Georgetown’s Speech and Expression Policy classifies Red Square as a “public square” and states that it is “available, without prior arrangement, for individuals and groups.”

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Some Georgetown community members protested the arrest.

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“There were some professors that said ‘no, this is good that they are here. This is something that needs to be talked about,’” Lace said. “I wished that the same would have happened on American.”

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These incidents demonstrate a conflict between maintaining a calm and secure environment on private college campuses and the disruptive nature of protests. RefuseFascism organizers felt that students are wrongly placing education over political concerns.

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“Their heads are stuck in a book instead of actually looking at the world around us,” Lace said.

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Landry feels that low student involvement in political protest is related to high expectations and heavy workloads.

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“When I came to AU, I expected to be more involved,” Landry said. “But there’s so much work to focus on I can’t participate as much as I would like to.”

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