By Nadine Hoffman

UMass Boston administrators addressed allegations of systemic racism during a public forum on Monday (April 7), following the assault and arrest of Professor Anthony Van Der Meer by campus police during a confrontation with military recruiters last week. Although college officials have condemned the incident, the university has taken no action to drop charges against the professor, creating palpable tension as students and faculty members confronted school authorities, demanding accountability.

Van Der Meer was arrested last Thursday (April 3) while defending students' right to pass out anti-war fliers. More than 200 students and faculty members came to the Monday afternoon forum, sharing concerns of a communication break-down between campus authorities and students, as well as fear for their own safety in the wake of what has been characterized by witnesses as blatant police violence.

Chancellor Jo Ann Gora, who did not attend the forum, stressed the importance of civil liberties, saying in a prepared statement that freedom of speech and assembly are two "sacred" rights at the university. Many who attended the forum felt that those rights were violated by campus police.

Shown right: Professor Anthony Van Der Meer

"Every African American student does not feel safe on this campus," Melinda Emmanuel, director of the Black Student Center's administrative board, said. "If this is something that can happen to my professor…this could happen to me."

Wendy Baring-Gould, director of education and community outreach for the Arts on the Point program, was running an errand when she passed the scene of the arrest. She said she fears for the state of free speech in America because of what she saw. "Do we risk being charged for simply voicing our opinion?" she asked.

Chief Phillip O'Donnell of UMass Boston's public safety office and panelist at Monday's forum expressed concern regarding student and faculty fears.

"It's disturbing to sit here and hear that some students feel unsafe," O'Donnell said. "We have tried very hard over the years to ensure that this is a safe community."

O'Donnell called arrest a "last option" and added that only 12 arrests were made by campus police in 2002.

UMass Boston police arrested Van Der Meer on charges of assault and battery of an officer and resisting arrest Thursday following an altercation between National Guard recruiters and Black Student Center volunteers. The students, who were distributing fliers advertising a Martin Luther King remembrance day/anti-war moment of silence, were asked to move by recruiters. The guardsmen subsequently called police to have the students removed.

Van Der Meer, an advisor to the Black Student Center and member of the Africana Studies department, arrived on the scene to defend his students' right to distribute information. Visibly agitated, one of the recruiters yelled, "I hope you get shot in the head like Martin Luther King! I hope you all get shot in the head!" according to witnesses.

The same recruiter then instigated a short verbal altercation with Van Der Meer, who yelled back, "I hope you get shot too!" The recruiter began to push the professor, who raised nothing but his voice in his own defense. Officer J. St. Ives separated the two men, ordering Van Der Meer to quiet down while the recruiters left the building.

This reporter and others present watched as St. Ives, with no further provocation, assaulted the professor, pushing him to the ground, tearing his corduroy jacket and handcuffing him. Several officers dragged Van Der Meer away amidst student chants of "Police brutality, police brutality!"

Africana Studies Professor Jemadari Kamara, one of the panelists, warned that "unless we're willing to face up to the issue of racism the rest of this is for naught." Next time, he added, "the crisis will be more grave."

Kamara called Van Der Meer's arrest "a manifestation of set relationships of power that are out of order," adding, "I would urge us to commit ourselves to engage in a process of undoing racism."

The college's Muslim Student Association representative said her group felt "distressed that he was made to feel like 'a runaway slave' by our own campus police," and urged Chancellor Gora to investigate and bring the matter to justice.

Sylvia Beevas, assistant coordinator of the Black Student Center, challenged administrators to root out racist policies. "You say public safety isn't racist, but they've been harassing us," she said. "I don't feel like you guys are doing enough for safety." Beevas called for the dismissal of the officers involved in Van Der Meer's arrest.

Campus police targeted Van Der Meer once before, confronting him in his office and asking to see valid identification. The professor says he was wearing a baseball cap that day, and officers were on the look out for a black male perpetrator in a hat. "They saw a black man in a baseball cap," he said, and immediately suspected him.

Professor Van Der Meer, himself a member of the panel, had mixed sentiments about the situation. On one hand, he said he felt "overwhelmed by the support of the community" (excluding one death threat that he received on his answering machine). Despite that support, he said of his arrest, "It seems like Baghdad is coming to campus."

He called the incident "an embarrassment to the university as a whole," and added, "When something like this happens, I don't know who's who." Charges, he said, were being brought by police through the university.

"There are some systemic things that we have to address as a community and we can do it," he said. "We have to use our mouths as weapons and not use guns."

Vice Chancellor of Administration and Finance, David MacKenzie, reiterated the importance of open dialogue to prevent a recurrence of events like Van Der Meer's arrest. "This forum is for us to talk about how we should have discourse on this campus and what is the right to disagree," MacKenzie said. "We don't expect all of these issues to be resolved today."

"We need to keep talking about this thing," MacKenzie said, "so we don't become our own worst enemy."

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