Report says MPD didn’t give orders before mass arrests
An investigation into a mass arrest during the anti-globalization demonstrations last September has concluded police never issued dispersal orders to demonstrators as police had claimed, the Washington Post reported.
Council member Kathy Patterson (D- Ward 3) told the Post a report from the Metropolitan Police Department’s internal affairs unit concluded that MPD never intended to disperse demonstrators when they surrounded the Pershing Park and arrested hundreds on Sept. 27. The report allegedly said police intended to make the arrests
MPD Chief Charles Ramsey, for the first time last week, said it was unclear whether the crowd was given the order to disperse. Ramsey said the fact that the order was not given was irrelevant because the crowd was gathered without a permit.
“I certainly offer no apologies,” Ramsey told the Post. “Here are a lot of folks that come in and say they want to take over the city.”
Patterson told the Post the government had “violated the rights of hundreds of District residents and visitors. The 20-page report is confidential and has not been released because of pending litigation from those contesting the arrests.
Hatchet photographers and numerous GW students were arrested in the park.
Maryland budget cuts could hurt universities
University of Maryland officials have said proposed state budget cuts could cripple state universities.
The Maryland state budget crisis has hit the university system particularly hard after it received consistent increases in the late 1990s. University officials argued in the Washington Post that the proposed cuts would mean 500 to 600 layoffs and a potential 13 percent tuition increase.
The Post reported state officials are contemplating a $38 million cut to the university system.
Georgetown supports affirmative action
Georgetown University president John DeGioia affirmed the university’s approach to affirmative action and its support of the University of Michigan case in a speech Wednesday, the Hoya reported.
The university filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court on Feb. 14 during a speech entitled “Cracks in the Meritocracy.” He announced that Georgetown will side with the University of Michigan to uphold a continued commitment to affirmative action in the court cases Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger.
“We believe strongly that universities should be allowed to continue to consider race and ethnicity among other factors in our admissions processes,” DeGioia said in the speech.
