Revoke Students for Social Justice's Funding

Student organizations and their members must abide by federal, state, county, and municipal laws, University of Rochester Rules and Regulations, and the operating policies of the University.
-Guidelines for All Student Organizations

We the undergraduates of the College of Arts and Sciences and Engineering, in order to form a more perfect Associationensure that student activity fees are appropriately spent on student activitiesand create a university environment in which students can pursue their interests
-Students Association Constitution, Preamble

On Monday, April 10th, a member of Students for Social Justice (SSJ) stole a set of Event Support keys from the Common Connection and broke into the AV room of the May Room. They played a CD with an ear-splitting speech protesting war profiters such as Lockheed Martin that were at the University of Rochester for a bi-annual event held by the Industrial Associates.

Industrial Associates is a professional organization that companies can pay to join. They have a long tradition of interacting with the Institute of Optics through research collaborations, consulting arrangements, work in professional societies, and a variety of informal exchanges of ideas and information. These companies also interview and recruit seniors and graduate students as well as offer internships to undergraduate students. In the description of the Industrial Associates on the Optics department website, the Optics department states, It would not be an exaggeration to say that our educational program could not continue its service to Optics without a strong Industrial Associates Program.

SSJ has a history of protesting events that involve the Optics department; these include the silent protest outside of the Career Fair in March of 2006 and the posting of fliers around the campus about war profiters. Silent protests and hanging fliers are not crimes, but stealing a key from the Common Connection and breaking into an AV room in Wilson Commons are criminal actions. Because of these actions, we feel that SA privileges for SSJ, including funding, should be revoked for the 2006-2007 school year.

The SA Constitution states that the SA will ensure that student activity fees are appropriately spent on student activities. The SA is currently funding a student organization (SSJ) that is not holding appropriate activities. More importantly, students, especially those in Optics and other engineering departments, are unable to be in a university environment in which students can pursue their interests. Silent protests still allow students to freely enter the Career Fair and interview with employers like Lockheed Martin. However, breaking into Wilson Commons property and disrupting a companys presentation does NOT allow students to freely pursue their interests. Students feel intimidated and companies visiting from off-campus surely take offense to their actions.

We feel the actions of SSJ were unwarranted and poorly reflect on the Students Association, the student body, and the image of the University. The student activities fee that we pay should not be used for actions that interfere with any students opportunities nor should the Students Association support student groups that take criminal actions.

By signing below, we endorse the above statement and ask that SA privileges be revoked for Students for Social Justice for the 2006-2007 school year.