Harvard Calls for Dropped Charges

Harvard University last night called for criminal charges to be dropped against the four undergraduates arrested last week for disrupting a speech by the director of the FBI.

Kelly L. Lee ’07, Michael A. Gould-Wartofsky ’07, Maura A. Roosevelt ’07 and J. Claire Provost ’07 currently face charges of disturbing a public assembly for their protest at a Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP) Forum event last Thursday. If convicted, they could face up to a month in prison or up to a $50 fine.

“The University is persuaded that more could have been done in the circumstances to apprise the students that they were in jeopardy of arrest,” said a statement released by Harvard last night. “Without condoning the students’ behavior at the Forum, broader principles have led the University to request that the criminal charges against the students be dropped.”

The four students interrupted a speech given by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III by yelling complaints from the audience. They were subsequently arrested by Harvard University Police Department officers.

A review of video footage from the event found several inconsistencies in the police report filed after their arrest, including an incorrect order of events and misquotations of the comments the students yelled. According to the students, they were also not given a warning before they were removed from the forum, which would represent a breach of free speech guidelines approved by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1990.

Lee, Gould-Wartofsky, Roosevelt and Provost all said last night that they were pleased with the news of the University’s request that the charges be dropped.

“We are looking forward to getting back to our lives,” Gould-Wartofsky said.

Though she didn’t expect police to react to her protest as they did, Lee said that in retrospect, the experience was worth the stress.

“In a way it was good to have such an issue made out of this case so that it highlights the issue that we were trying to highlight through our protest—the issue of suppression of civil liberties and the importance of free speech,” she said.

Provost said she, too, had no regrets about the protest.

“In fact this whole thing has made me more convicted that people should take the risks that they can afford to take to protest that which they think is morally reprehensible in this world,” she said.

Gould-Wartofsky said that while he is only guardedly optimistic about his situation until the charges are officially dropped, he had high hopes for the future of student protest at Harvard.

“We hope that this will be the last prosecution of peaceful protesters that ever happens on Harvard’s campus,” he said.

Gould-Wartofsky and Provost have served as members of the Crimson staff. Provost wrote her last news article in May 2004 and Gould-Wartofsky is a former editorial columnist.

The University’s statement came too late last night to reach HUPD for comment.

—Staff writer Jamison A. Hill can be reached at jahill@fas.harvard.edu.