STUDENT ACTIVISTS PROTEST TWO-STRIKE DRUG POLICY

Protest Outside Haggerty Administration Building Set To Coincide With
Judicial Hearing

Students gathered outside the Haggerty Administration Building Friday
to protest the campus drug policy, illegal police searches of student
rooms on campus and the judicial procedure.

A crowd of approximately 50 people gathered around 2 p.m., carrying
signs with slogans such as "Judge the grades, not the green," "Know
your rights, don't count on the UPD" and "We pay to live here, the
dorms are our homes, stop unfair police raids." The slogans were
accompanied by chants such as, "We don't need cops, we just smoke
pot."

"No other SUNY school would expel you for smoking pot," said junior
journalism major Brian Kimbiz, the main organizer of the protest.

Kimbiz said that campus police would tell students that they had to
submit to searches of their rooms when they were not obligated to. In
some cases, they would illegally enter students rooms without consent
from the resident.

"What I found out through my campaigning was that in Bevier, the cops
will just slide a key card and open the door and walk in anyway,"
Kimbiz said. "And then they will rip through a room. For some reason
this evidence is admissible in these cases, but in a real court
case, obviously, it would not be."

Pamphlets explaining the protest were handed out, as well as copies
of the Bill of Rights. The pamphlet claimed that Student Affairs, the
department on campus which holds judicial hearings, tried to
manipulate the judicial process to give students a smaller voice.

"Recently, Student Affairs has been claiming that they have the
authority to count only one of the three student votes [on the campus
judicial committee]," the pamphlet says.

"The administration doesn't keep up their end of the bargain with
letting us have fair hearings," said freshman art education major
Maegan Nally, who was handing out pamphlets.

Some students, like sophomore Jackie Mulhern, attended the protest
out of curiosity. "People were passing out fliers and I heard
students talking about it," said Mulhern.

Those behind the protest were also adamant in speaking out against
unjust police searches.

"I've heard that the police have been arresting people with unlawful
searches," said Ashley Townsend, a junior communication disorders
major. "People are getting expelled for something that is ridiculous.
It's just not fair."

Adir Cohen, an undeclared freshman, helped organize the protest after
one of his friends had been caught with possession of marijuana.
Police, Cohen said, illegally entered his room, finding the
marijuana, on the same day he received his acceptance letter into the
school's Honor's Program. Prior to that offense, the student
received his first strike a few months prior. The protest was
scheduled to coincide with their friend's judicial hearing, to take
place in the HAB.

"We're not doing anything wrong. Just because [of] a choice of an
alternative lifestyle. There's no reason why we should be treated
like this," said sophomore Rafael Weidenfeld. "We have to be more
careful in what we do."

The two strike policy, according to the Students Affair page on the
SUNY New Paltz Web site, says "...for possession of marijuana, first
offense: not less than Disciplinary Probation and educational and/or
clinical intervention, not more than Expulsion. Possession of
marijuana, second offense; not less than Expulsion."

At one point, Cohen and Kimbiz, addressed the crowd, expressing their
anger about the drug policy and police conduct.

"We're sick of seeing our friends go down like this. It could be
anyone of us," said Cohen. "We are all good students and all good
people."

Cohen told those in the crowd that no matter whether or not they
sympathize with this cause, the passion for their beliefs should be
strong.

"The real reason why we are here [is] we don't stand for this crap
and we stand by each other," said Kimbiz. He said though the
two-strike policy might not change, people must be aware of their
rights, "not only as students, but American citizens."