Friday, September 27, 2002

University Orders Student Group to Remove Online Link to a Rebel Group's Web Site By SCOTT CARLSON The University of California at San Diego has ordered a leftist student group to remove from its Web site a link to the site of a Colombian rebel organization. The university contends that the link defies the USA Patriot Act. The student group has not complied with the university's demand. The university sent a letter to the student group, the Ché Café Collective, on September 16, ordering the group to take down the link within four days or face disciplinary action. The student group provides a venue for bands, serves vegan food, tends an organic garden, and is involved in leftist and progressive political issues. It also runs a site called BURN, which provides links to sites operated by various political groups, including FARC, or Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. The university's letter explained that the link violates both the Patriot Act and the university's policy on acceptable use of computer resources. Providing "material support or resources" to a "foreign terrorist organization" is against the law under the controversial new Patriot Act. Material support is defined as including currency, lodging, training, or communications equipment, among other things. The U.S. State Department has designated 34 organizations for its terrorist list, including groups such as the Palestinian group Hamas, Peru's Shining Path, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Al Qaeda, and FARC. Nicholas S. Aguilar, the university's director of student policy and judicial affairs, says that a private citizen from the East Coast -- whom he refuses to name -- wrote the university to complain about the link and to point out the provisions in the law. "We are concerned that public resources are not used to promote or assist a terrorist organization in violation of federal law," Mr. Aguilar says. "This is a new law, and until it's declared unconstitutional, we're required to comply with it. "The BURN site has been hosted at UC for many years, and we've received complaints about the content before, but have respected the First Amendment rights to disseminate information, as long as it's not in violation of state or federal law," he adds. "Unfortunately, in light of this new Patriot Act, it puts the university in a very difficult position of on the one hand being sensitive to First Amendment rights, but on the other hand ensuring that university resources are not used in violation of federal law." Ché Café has not removed the link, however, and its refusal to do so is being supported by civil-liberties groups across the country. Mr. Aguilar says the university is still mulling its next move in the case. Students active in Ché Café could not be reached for comment. It's unclear to some observers, however, whether a link to FARC or any other group constitutes "material support." "As I read the statute, it is very difficult to fit linking to a Web site in these provisions," says Lee Tien, senior staff lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an organization that advocates for and defends civil liberties as they relate to technology. "The real goal of the law was to prevent donations of money and not to restrict speech." The student group also contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, a group that frequently wages free-speech and academic-freedom battles on campuses. Thor L. Halvorssen, FIRE's executive director, said that this is an "unmistakable slam-dunk case" for his organization. "The administration of UCSD are officers of a state institution, and they are bound to uphold both the constitution of the State of California and the U.S. Constitution," he says. "And where they think state or federal laws conflict with the Constitution, they are obligated to follow the Constitution." Asked if the Patriot Act should have any bearing on university action, he said: "If the U.S. government believes that this Ché Café issue was a problem, then the U.S. government would bring a case against them. The administration's involvement in this is nothing but an unmistakable, blatant, and egregious attempt at suppression and censorship. Federal laws are enforced by federal district attorneys, not by bureaucrat deans." Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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