Protesters plead defense
during Tribunal hearing
by CAROL GOETSCHIUS
Staff Writer
After six hours of testimony
before the Student Tribunal,
the status of University
sanctions against Mike
Richardson, Ron Kurtenbach
and Gary Schleiger is still
uncertain.
Richardson and Kurtenbach
were placed on temporary
suspension and Schleiger on
temporary probation twice for
their participation in sit-ins last
Wednesday in protest of the
firing of Stephen Rozman.
The Tribunal must hold
hearings on such cases within
five days after the sanctions are
imposed and make
recommendations to the Office
of Student Affairs on whether
to continue the sanctions.
Although the Tribunal
voted in private Tuesday night
after the hearing, their
recommendations won't be
released until later this week
after the Office of Student
Affairs has considered them,
according to Michael G. Canar,
chairman of the Tribunal.
Michael Barrett, arrested
along with Richardson for
refusing to leave Varner's
'office, acted as counselor for
Richardson. Barefoot, his face
marked with paint, and dressed
in reptile- skin pants, Barrett
promised the Tribunal "This
won't be a normal hearing".
After the defense presented
IS minutes of selections from
records, three hours of charges
and counter-charges began
between the administration
and defense.
Barrett asserted that the
group that entered Chancellor
Varner's office at 11 a.m.
Wednesday planned no
disruptive action. Their
intention, he said, was to ask
Varner to arrange for the
Board of Regents to speak with
them.
Quoting from the Policy
Statement on Campus
Disorders as published in The
Campus Handbook, Barrett
said it's University policy that
"Every effort will be made to
end the disruption through
reason and persuasion".
"Making threats doesn't
show a willingness to discuss,"
said Barrett, referring to
Varner's refusal to discuss the
Rozman issue with the
occupying students or to
define exactly why they were
disruptive.
Defense continually stated
that the protestors were
entitled to a warning of possible
probation and never received
it. The administration asserted
that the 15-minute warning of
disciplinary action was
sufficient warning, although
the word probation was never
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stated.
Ronald D. Gierhan, assistant
in the Office pf Student
Affairs, presented the
administration's case against
the students. He stated that the
judgment of whether an action
is disruptive depends on the
person in charge, who was
Varner. The chancellor decided
that the students were
disrupting normal office
activities, he said.
For instance, the
chancellor's secretary was
forced to leave around 12:00
because of the demonstration,
according to Gierhan. Barrett
argued that if the secretary had
returned at 1:00, after the
normal lunch hour, she would
have found only two students
remaining in the office.
Most of the students left
around 12:30, said Barrett. He
argued that two people can't
disrupt normal office activities.
David Levine, professor and
chairman of the department-of
psychology, acted as an
observer at the sit-in for the
Faculty Liaison committee. He
stated that the actions werent
disruptive and no warning of
possible probation was issued
by Varner.
After his hearing was
concluded, Richardson said
"I'm pleased with the thorough
and objective investigation. I
hope the Student Tribunal isn't
treated as a Kangaroo Court as
was the Holtzclaw committee".
Schleiger presented much
the same defense as
Richardson. He stated that he
hadn't realized temporary
probation would be imposed
by Varner when they refused
to leave his office.
Steve Strassier, Staff Writer
for the Daily Nebraskan who
was present during the sit-in,
testified during Schleiger's
hearing. He quoted a secretary
as saying, "This is the most
hassling thing I've seen. We
don't disrupt their classes, why
. do they disrupt our office?"
President Joseph Soshnik,
testifying at suspended
graduate student Ron
Kurtenbach's hearing, said "at
no time did I consider Ron
disruptive" during
Kurtenbach's sit-in protest
outside Soshnik's Love Library
office last Wednesday.
Kurtenbach was suspended
and then arrested for failure to
leave a public building after
closing time.
Soshnik said Kurtenbach's
request for a security guard
during his planned three-day
sit-in protest was "an
unacceptable arrangement",
primarily because "an
arrangement with Ron would
not be binding on any other
students."
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