Yale students protest Levin

A group of Yale undergraduates has accused the university's president, Richard Levin, of violating the school's bylaws, claiming that he misrepresented an official document and failed to protect free speech.

The allegations, which were filed yesterday by the university's Undergraduate Organizing Committee in accordance with Yale's Undergraduate Regulations, also include failure to discourage physical restriction, coercion or intimidation of a member of the Yale community and a violation of university bylaws that requires administrators "to preserve mutual respect and charitable relations within the Yale community."

The students cite an incident that occurred during Yale's Parents' Weekend as evidence of a violation of freedom of speech. Yale freshman Thomas Frampton and Yale junior Alek Felstiner had been distributing pro-union leaflets on campus when police detained them for 20 minutes, telling them they were violating regulations, Frampton said.

Levin defended the actions of the police, but Frampton said that after looking over the regulations, he did not find any such rule against distributing leaflets.

"Essentially, he was making things up that weren't in the University Regulations," Frampton said, adding that he also found rules of which he believed Levin himself was in violation.

The students also wrote that they were disturbed about the ongoing labor strife -- thousands of university workers are preparing to strike -- in their community, and were upset that their president has been unresponsive.

"We want to hold him accountable for what's happening," Yale senior Abbey Hudson said.

Yesterday afternoon, a group of more than 70 students marched into Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead's office to make the charges, then proceeded to Levin's office where they gave him a letter outlining their complaints.

When the students approached Levin's office, his secretary told the students that he was not in and accepted the letter on his behalf. The students then began a press conference at which Yale sophomore Julia Gonzales spoke about the lack of dialogue between the undergraduates and the university administration. While Gonzales was speaking, the students saw Levin leave his office and approached him.

Frampton said that Levin declined to comment on the charges, and Levin said if he was going to be "treated like a criminal," he was going to invoke his right to the Fifth Amendment.

According to the students involved, the charges should trigger a tribunal at which Levin could defend himself. There could be grounds for censure or expulsion under Yale's Undergraduate Regulations, the students claimed.

A Yale public affairs representative declined to comment on the situation, saying that he had not yet reviewed the charges.

Gonzales said that the students have three weeks to resolve the issues "informally" with Levin, and if they cannot, they will bring the charges to an executive committee.

"I don't think it's ever been done before," Gonzales said. "We're kind of playing it by ear."

The biggest complaint involves the lack of dialogue on campus, according to Felstiner.

The students also complained of "repeated violations of freedom of speech on campus" in the letter they attempted to deliver to Levin.

The charges also involved a situation in September in which eight members of the Yale community were arrested for "legally-protected free speech." The students were angry that Levin waited a week to get involved with the incident and attributed the arrests of six more members of the Yale community to his slow reaction.

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