Save Joe Giordano!

We believe that Syracuse University has gone beyond their constitutional bounds in their indefinate suspension of Joseph Giordano. Mr. Giordano is an essential, important, and active member of the community, who for the past 3 years has been actively involved in campus activities. These activities include being the General Manager of WERW1570 AM, the campus student-run, free-format radio station, as well as the C.U.S.E. Project. The C.U.S.E. Project is an effort started by Mr. Giordano to provide a free, student-run performance venue on campus that embraces truely free speech - not school-approved free speech.

We believe Syracuse University has misapplied their own standards of conduct by his suspension, as well as subjected Mr. Giordano to a biased judicial system that has violated his right to due process. Syracuse University did not take Mr. Giordano's arguments, witnesses, who he is, or what he has done into consideration. This is evidence by the continued inability of the University to properly explain how Mr. Giordano is a threat to the safety of others, or how he is "more likely than not" cause an immediate breach of peace. By the University's standards, rapists, armed assailants, and other perpetrators of violent behavior receive less of a punishment than Mr. Giordano.

Furthermore, we believe that the University has abridged Mr. Giordano's rights to free speech, as none of his actions were constituted of fighting words nor were they designed to incite or illict any behavior. Punishing him is a form of thought control, as well as discriminatory against his personal belief structures and idealologies.

We demand that Syracuse University immediately reinstate Joseph Giordano as a student, allow him to receive full credit for his disrupted semester, issue him a formal apology, and afford him the same rights and respect as they would any other student who works so hard to make the campus and community a better place to be.