It’s a simple message: You’re free to protest, but if you stay too late or bug anyone, we may very well have you arrested and charged criminally.Such was the response from Seattle Central Community College to the Occupy Seattle protestors, who had floated the idea of transplanting their base from Westlake Park to the college in hopes of finding a more hospitable relationship with neighbors and police. To that, SCCC said, essentially: Keep your annoying protests to yourselves. Seattle Central Community College learned yesterday that Occupy Seattle protesters voted to move its base of operations to Seattle Central with the intent to camp on college property. Camping on college property is prohibited for all individuals and groups. If this rule is violated, the college may choose to impose its own sanctions, including criminal or civil prosecution.The letter goes on to warn against protestors against interfering with any college-sponsored activities or leased events, like the Broadway Sunday Farmers Market.And while the letter expresses support for “free speech rights of individuals and groups,” it makes clear that the college neither agrees with the protestors or wants them anywhere on campus. So that leaves the protestors with their current Westlake haunt, where the relationship between them and police has grown increasingly testy, and also Seattle City Hall, where Mayor Mike McGinn has promised them safe haven.Either one of those options would have been better than SCCC, however, as the off-the-beaten-path location and overemphasized political atmosphere of a college seems to contradict the movement’s original goal of getting in the face of the establishment–occupying their turf and voicing opinions in places that “the man” would rather they not. Follow The Daily Weekly on Facebook and Twitter.
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