_ FEBRUARY 9, 1983

 

THE OTHER PRESS

 

 

mcton takes direct action

ng and reclaimed the Security office within the build-

1e office was important because it contained the
mitting equipment that dispatched security all
bver the campus. ‘‘By listening to it we could tell what
they were doing and where they were,” said Alex-
ander. He soon saw the need to somehow re-take the
toom and eliminate security's base within the building.
Students were placed in various surveillance pos-
itions near the security office to wait for something to
pen. After becoming confident the communications
yost was safe, security guards began gradually leaving
e office to fulfill their duties elsewhere on campus.
‘‘We waited until all the security guards but one had

 

. Then 30 students stormed into the small office and’
dvised the guard to leave.’ He locked himself in an _

ce and got out through a window, terrified,’ Alex-
der said. ‘‘No threats were involved.”’

“The chief of campus security police
called Wednesday morning to say we

ad a bomb that’s going to explode.” _
Then the administration got silly.

“The chief of campus police called on Wednesday
orning to say we had a bomb that’s going to explode
it 10 .a.m.’’ said Roy. oh
The Taillon occupants, although realizing
hey’d be aware of any such devices brought into the
wuilding, decided to pas for the worst. ba
*We sat around and waited for it to explode, joking

bout what we’d do after it exploded-who we'd leave
essions to, and so on,’’ said Roy. “‘It was a

 

 
  
   
  
   
    
  
  

 

 
   
 
 
    
  
  
 
  
  
    
   
  
  
   
  
  

With the occupation in place, classes were somehow
naintained until Wednesday, when Finn shut down the
iniversity until the occupation was over.

In offices and rooms of the Taillon building, a new
canadian university had come to life- L’Universite
ibre d’ Acadie. In place of classes they would normally
’e attending, the occupants began offering classes on
heatre and dance, dealing with landlords, the question
f spruce budworm spraying and other subjects. _

- ‘*We wanted to make it clear we weren’t doing this to
void work,”’ said Alexander. ‘‘It wasn’t just students
ut for lark.”’

On Saturday, 15 students decided to start a hunger
trike to increase pressure on the administration to
aithfully negotiate.

Most of the press coverage of the occupation and the
hunger strike was positive. i

- **You wouldn't believe the coverage we got,’’ said
Cote. ‘‘It was really in our favour-the administration
just wouldn’t talk to anybody.”’

However , this positive cover didn’t extend to the
ocal french-language paper, L’Evangeline. ‘‘We were
bunch of wild rampaging kids in their eyes,’’ Alex-
ander said. Finn sits on the board of both the paper and
ts printing company.

On April 11, Easter Sunday, the students planned a
small service in the Taillon chapel-and were going to
d ont chocolates. Early in the morning the 250
Bdents who remained were asleep-in classes, admin-
tration offices, and spare corners, but mainly in the
hird floor chapel which could seat 450 people.

“We were a bunch of rampaging kids
ieee in their eyes.”

 

 

 

“About 4 o’clock in the morning someboby started
ollering, the police are coming! The police are com-
! And sure enough they were,’’ said Alexander.
At 4 a.m. on the seventh day of the¢occupation, about
75 Moncton City Police, RCMP, and university security
guards in full riot gear descended on the Taillon
a eres who participated in the occupation had

  
 
 

been told what to do if the police arrived-be calm, wait
for instructions before leaving, sit down on the floor
and so on-but nothing quite prepared them for seeing
the police advance in tight formation, riot helmets on
and long billy clubs: at the ready. a

“‘Some people were freaking out,’’ said Roy, who
was on the floor when the ‘‘evacuation’’ began.

In the chapel the police chief got a bullhorn and stood
at the entrance. ‘‘He said anyone who wanted to leave

willingly could do so and just walk out-no arrests, no

jail terms, no criminal records,’’ recalls Alexander. ‘‘It
was meant to scare the students.. Unfortunately, a
number of them believed it.’’

‘‘They gave a time limit of five minutes before they
were moving in, and while people were still walking
out, they moved in,’’ he said.

On the fifth floor Roy was awakened by people
running around looking for two Radio-Canada report-
ers staying in the building. Still sleepy, she went to find
Cote in a nearby office.

“When I turned around to leave, there was the chief
of security and the chief of police looking none too
happy,’’ Roy said. ‘‘I was thinking of trying to get
away, but right outside the door were five big cops with
helmets and sticks.’’

Meanwhile Cote had also just been awakened by the
commotion. As she left the office, a group of police
officers caught up with her. :

‘‘There she is! Grab that girl!’’ they yelled.

Instead of arresting Cote, the police isolated her in a

room and tried to convince her to order the students to
leave. She refused to do it. Outside she could hear the
English police baiting the students as they herded
them out into the early morning dark.”

‘The police were really bad,’’ she said. ‘‘They tried
to provoke violence-you wouldn’t believe the com-
ments. One Acadian student was talking to another
student and a cop hollered ‘you fuckin’ French frog.
You shut your mouth.’

 

“The police were really ba...They tried
‘to provoke violence...”

 

‘‘They were going to arrest me for obstructing justice
(not co-operating), but after they held me for a long
time, someone said, ‘Did anyone ask her if she’d leave
on her own free will?’ Two cops had this big argument
over whether they did or not, but they hadn’t. They
asked me I would:leave and I said yes. So I left.’’

Roy was one of the first students out of the building
that morning. ‘‘They kept pushing people out. After a
while there was a big crowd in front of the building.
Some people were completely hysterical, but mostly
people didn’t know what to do,’’ said Roy.

“Two people started singing ‘Solidarity Forever.’
They got arrested for singing to loud.”’

‘‘Those that were arrested were brought outside,
frisked and put in handcuffs. Then they brought them
back in the building. They just wanted the others to see
them and be scared.”’

“Eventually ‘‘a big line of cops’’ started pushing the
crowd down the street. ‘They were walking slowly, but
steadily towards us.’’ Roy said. ‘‘Thev arrested a few
people for walking too slowly, talking too much, or
whatever-just to intimidate others.”’

That Sunday morning 27 people were arrested,
making a total of 28 arrests during the occupation.

When Alexander returned to the campus after being.

booked at the Moncton police station, getting a hot
breakfast was the most important thing on his mind.
However, when he arrived at the Taillon building for
the cafeteria’s food, things weren’t quite the same. “I
had to have two pieces of 1.D. to get into the building,’
he said. ‘‘There was security people looking at every-
body.”’

tate that day, Alexander attempted to meet with
several other leaders of the occupation, but security
guards arrived on the scene and broke it up.

A new ‘informal’ rule had. been put into place-groups

 

‘Those facing trial and a criminal
record felt they had pulled off a victory.’

 

of more than five people were not allowed to congregate
on campus.

The campus ‘martail law’ was in affect until the end
of the 81-82 academic year. A psychology class was
denied permission to gather in front of a building for a
class picture. Students were forced to have meetings
off-campus. The only exceptions to the rule were caf-
eterias at lunch and classes. No year-end parties were
allowed. ae
' Padlocks were put on the Kacho nightclub and the
student run co-op store in the Taillon building. FEUM
lost $15,000 in perishable goods padlocked in the store.

Instead of the rumoured 25 per cent increase in
tuition fees, only 12.5 per cent increase was levied by
the administration. Across the province tuition in-
creases were lower than had been anticipated...

‘Those tacing trial and a criminal record felt they had

pulled off a victory.

“They had police pictures, affidavits,
everything you could think of.”

. In June students began receiving short, terse state-
ments from the university in the mail informing them of
their ‘‘non-readmittance’’ to the university. The letters
Singled out the occupation as the reason for the expul-
sion... 9s

In all, 17 students were denied readmission. Four
were offered readmission if they agreed never to hold a
position on a campus organization and also never
attend student meetings or other activities. Two could
come back provided they ‘‘respect university rules and
not participate in any legal or illegal demonstrations.”’
Two students were readmitted without any conditions.

 

 

According to Cote, the admissions committee wasn’t ~

interested in their own by-laws as much as they were

interested in punishing the students involved in the

demonstration.

‘‘They had police pictures, affidavits, everything you
could think of ”* she said. Cote claimed several of the
administration’s affidavits were false.

“The director of security gave an affidavit that one of
the expelled students had attacked a security guard.
The student went out with his lawyer for consultation
and came back into the room with the security guard in
pete The guard said it (the director’s story) was
a lie.’”’

Of the six students who were offered re-admittance
with conditions attached, only three accepted the un-
iversity’s terms. -The students charged with obstruc-
tion have begun being sentenced. In New Brunswick, a
‘guilty’ verdict means a $50 fine or several days in jail,
but more importantly, a criminal record which lasts for
two years.

“I think people who were expelled are
proud they were involved.”

 

So tar three students have been found and others
have had charges against them dropped.

“I think people who were expelled are proud they
were involved,’’ she said. ‘‘You’re fighting for a cause.
I think we wished it hadn’t changed our lives so much.
But we don’t regret fighting for our cause. We’ll never
regret that.”’

The struggle at the Universite de Moncton is far from
over.

The trials of the 28 students arrested are continuing,
and the financially hard-pressed Moncton students
association is still requesting donations to offset the
mounting legal costs.

Bo kaya! ne ab ye gs

 

 

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