University of Virginia Library

Free Use Of Force

It certainly would have been
difficult for calm to prevail as it
ultimately did. The situation was
volatile with 68 innocent people
just having been arrested and
hoards of arrest-anxious police
surrounding the University and the
City. It was manifestly imperative
that the school, its students,
faculty, and administrators regain
control if the continuance of the
peaceful and constructive protest
was to be maintained along those
lines - peaceful and constructive.

It almost goes without saying
that one of the primary problems
with police and National Guard
troops who are called out to deal
with campus demonstrations is that
they are given too much of a free
hand. Instead of being limited
severely in the exercise of force and
massive arrest available to them, the
police and Guard operate with a
minimum of restrictions. Here, the
result was only the arrest of 68
individuals. Those at Kent State
and elsewhere were not so
fortunate.

Once given the type leeway
that this new piece of legislation
provides the authorities, and it is
interim suspension only worse,
there will be no recourse if and
when it is abused, other than
maintaining its unconstitutionality
when brought to trial.

The details of a little-known
meeting with the Attorney General
of Virginia, Andrew Miller which
occurred last May will illustrate this
point. After the mass arrest of the
68, a small group, representing a
cross-section of people, some
involved with the Strike from the
start and others only from the time
that the police entered the foray,
met with Mr. Miller in Richmond to
discuss what appeared to those of
us at the meeting to be a clear
abuse of the authority of the
police. We came armed with
multitudes of signed affidavits and
of course our own personal
experiences.