U.Va. protesters say apology would violate honor code

[struggle4progress]

05/28/2006

Associated Press


Seventeen University of Virginia students ordered to apologize for staging a four-day sit-in are appealing their punishment, claiming it would cause them to violate the school's honor code prohibition against lying.

The protesters' appeal asks the university's Judicial Review Board, composed of students and faculty, to sentence them to community service instead.

Police arrested the demonstrators April 15 and charged them with trespassing. The students, who were protesting for what they call a "living wage" for all university employees, were acquitted in Charlottesville General District Court last week.

However, the student-run University Judiciary committee on May 2 ordered each protester to write a letter to U.Va. administrators thanking them for engaging in dialogue during the sit-in at Madison Hall ... They agreed to write the letters to the Madison Hall employees but said letters of thanks and apology to the administration and police would be "grossly inappropriate." ...

http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8HT04700.html

[BayCityProgressive]

1. I wouldn't

apologize either. What is there to apologize for???

[roguevalley]

2. lovely people. hang in there.

[man4allcats]

3. Raise a clinched fist high in support.

Good for them! It's great to see young people calling out bureaucracies on issues of morality.

[Biernuts]

4. Sample Apologies

UVa Students - permission is hereby granted for you to template these all-purpose apologies and tailor them for your specific situation.

"I regret deeply that your unconscionable policies exploiting university employees compelled me to engage in non-violent civil disobedience in emulation of Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior."

And if that doesn't work...

"I'm really, really sorry that you are an asshole, perhaps even the leading asshole in the state. Did I happen to mention that my father's $20 Million gift is being withdrawn? Instead, he is redirecting the money to establish a staff of civil rights attorneys with the mission to represent underpaid university employees in class actions against the university...."

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Well, good for them.

I know; someone's already said that. It's worth repeating.