Mishka Zena

That being said, I wish to inform you all that I was in HMB from approximately 7 a.m.-ish (might’ve been a half hour before or after… not sure).  I am a faculty member here.  I have been with the FSSA from the beginning.  Nonetheless in here and elsewhere I have tried to remain civil in all debates, and I believe I have succeeded.  However if anyone disagrees, I challenge you to please channel your disagreements through David King and see if he’ll allow them to be sent in his name.

I went home on Thursday night after an hour-long meeting with Interim Provost Michael Moore.  The gist of that discussion can be found on Elissa Abenchuchan’s blogsite.  You just have to hunt around for it a bit and you’ll find it.

When I got home at approx 10:30 or 11pm, I checked my email and learned that there was a large meeting going on in SAC.  What was being planned was something that was not discussed over email.  I asked if they needed me to come back, and two members of the FSSA, whom I shall not name, told me no, sleep.  Which I did, right after sending an email saying I’d come in at 7:30 the next day.

At 6 a.m. my wife Amy woke me up and told me that the students had taken over HMB, and it was on the news.  I immediately made my way to Gallaudet, which takes around 50 minutes, give or take, and that’s where I’m getting the approximate time I arrived from (didn’t check my phone watch).  When I got there the gate wasn’t yet blocked, but I learned later that it was (with orange cones?  I’m not entirely sure what went on out there).

I learned the full story of what the students had done from a combo of sources… through people telling me and from emails/blogsites that I check as regularly as any of you do.  Since the stories were broken and scattered and incomplete from the people “telling” me, I decided to go up to my office on the 3rd floor of HMB to check the blogs, namely Elissa’s, which the most balanced, and then moving on to the others, including yours, Mike.

I finished scanning the blogs and then started checking my email.  I had about 40 new emails since signing off the night before, so I started at the bottom and kept clicking the “up” arrow to scan through them.  The longer Gally-Net postings I left alone for later.  The short messages bought me up to date even more on what was going on.

The next time I clicked the “up” arrow, I got a message saying “help.”  I kept scrolling up, and I started getting messages about DPS storming the building, all faculty get down here now, faculty frantically responding saying that the front gates were BLOCKED, talking about getting ladders to get over the fences…. after a minute of this I checked the time tags on the messages and realized they were sent minutes ago, so I took off running for the stairs so I could get down there.

I went down the stairs that lead to the SBG offices.  At the bottom of the stairwell a lone DPS security guard whose name I do not know was surrounded by approximately twenty screaming, angry, and frightened students.  They were not physically assaulting him in any way, but the screaming was loud.  I kept signing “Calm down” over and over, and several students responded that they had been pushed and shoved and one had his shirt ripped.  I do not know if they were talking about that particular security guard or the others at the other end of the building (I’ll get to them in a second).  Someone tapped my shoulder and I turned to see who… it was my friend Tony Barraza, who is an interpreter.  I talked to him for a second, and when I looked back at the DPS security guard, he had already left the building through the door, and the students immediately pressed together in front of it.

I went back into the SBG offices and saw plenty of crying students, among them Tara Holcomb and Leah Katz-Hernandez.  Tara told me that a DPS officer had pushed past her moments ago, twisting her arm in the process.  And then there were frantic, enraged stories about how that same officer had pushed a student and used a choke hold and how the officers were gathering at the door at the opposite end of the building (facing the Washburne Arts Center).

So I took off running in that direction, passing a number of students in the process who were telling me to calm down, everything was cool.  So I get there, and there’s three DPS officers and one woman whom I believe was a DC police officer.  She could sign.  She had met with the FSSA through the summer to advise them of their rights (re: protesting), etc.  I unfortunately had not been able to attend those meetings, but I recognized her from that day last May when the students blocked the 6th Street Gate.

The officers told me that a bomb threat had been phoned in, and they had tried to enter, but the students blocked them, and they had a job to do no matter what.

I countered by saying that I understood that, but I personally had been going around since Tuesday telling DPS officers about how various groups of students were discussing the fate of Carl Dupree, a student killed in a conflict on campus with DPS several years ago.  A story about an illegal choke-hold had been circulating among them, and I was trying to make the DPS officers aware of the level of fear and anger that was building regarding this story, because when the students moved Tent City from the front lawn to the mall outside of SAC, DPS would always be standing nearby… at times four to six officers strong.  So I thought they should be aware.  And it turned out that many of these officers did not even know who Carl Dupree was.  That’s very dangerous ignorance on their parts, and I do not mean that as an insult to them.  But it’s bad enough to have the varying levels of signing ability that they do.  To have a limited knowledge of their own historical interaction with the students with this community, especially when one such interaction resulted in a student’s death, is inexcusible.  At the very least it shows an insensitivity to the response that students might make (especially if the students have a greater knowledge of the story than the DPS officers do).  At worst, it shows callousness, in my opinion.  Especially when mixed with limited signing ability, which is something you most certainly can say about some of those officers.

I was able to talk with Bubba (I believe this is his name, anyway… I figured it out from reading other posts, so if I’m wrong here, please correct me).  He’s easily twice my size, and I am a 240 pound man.  He’s easily that again of Tara Holcomb’s size (she’s maybe 135 tops… probably less).  I’m just giving you a sense of proportion, here.  I don’t mean to criticize Bubba.

Anyway, Bubba said that he understood those fears, but he had a job to do, and he was going to do it, and the DC police officer backed him up on this, saying that the DC police were neutral in the crisis–I’m glad everyone is acknowledging that this is a crisis, by the way–and if a bomb threat is phoned in, they have to investigate.

I said to them something that went approximately like this: “Look, I understand all of this, but let’s all look at this as a game being played on a different level, okay?  Here you’ve got a bunch of students occupying a building.  They want to hold it down–they don’t want you in here.  Does it make sense that they would phone in a bomb threat?  No.  Because that would bring you in here.  Therefore someone else phone it in, and the top motivation for doing so now becomes getting you in here.  Therefore who do you think phoned this in?”

I left that question hanging for a second, and then the DC policewoman said that nonetheless she had a job to do.  To which I replied, “Yes, but before you do it, consider which is more likely, that this is a real threat, or this is bullshit.”

That led to a discussion of exactly how many cops they needed to let into the building (three) and possibly K-9 dogs on top of that.  A side discussion occured regarding how Bubba’s cap and glasses had been taken or knocked off during the scuffle (I’m not sure), and he wanted them back, to which I instantly replied that I would check, but then another student brought them anyway, and handed them to Bubba. 

We all reached a deal in which I would tell the students to let three cops in with dogs and to not resist in any way if the officers would for the time being refrain from trying to get the students out, and the DC policewoman said she’d check with somebody, and all of the officers left.  The DC policewoman said “Please do not force my hand” right before she walked out the door, and I responded, “I’m not stupid.”  I did not say this in a rude way or anything… I said it in a cooperative tone.

After that, I spent the next half hour or so talking to students about how, no matter what, they should not fight with cops (because they would lose), and at worst, if they were determined to resist, then make it passive resistance.  I talked to them about how frightened and angry groups of people can become mobs just like that, and a mob is an animal that will end up being able to do only two things, get broken up, or run away.  Both would lead to defeat, so why go in that direction?  Stay calm, no more of this Argh!-waving your hands in the air shit, adding more emotion to a situation that could not afford it.  And all of the students agreed, but then reports started coming in about how several had been pushed and shoved, and one woman, a student I will not identify until she gives me permission, showed me a bumpy red rash above her ear and told me she had been sprayed with something.  Another male student said that he too had been sprayed with something.  A lot of people were crying and it was general bedlam in there for another twenty minutes at least.

Eventually someone grabbed me and said to go into one of the side offices because a reporter wanted to talk to me (I guess I was being sent for purposes of verification).  Four other students (again whom I will not name at this time) talked to the reporter, and I went last, stressing to her that I was glad they were on campus now, and to please get the cameras inside, because that would counter any further entries by the police/DPS, but even as I said this I could see over her shoulder that two cameramen were already in the SBG office, along with a lot of frustrated and grim-looking faculty members, so I guessed that the campus had been opened again.

After about an hour of talking with these faculty members, a cheer rose up from the students in the office–they were happy that they got the scuffle on tape, and were now going to set about uploading it into the blogs.

Now there’s more to this story, but the other things I’ll post later have little to do with DPS.  So I’m going to cap it off here and sum up:

One DPS officer in three that I could see (Bubba) at the entrance of HMB facing the Washburne Building was signing.  I do not know about the signing skills of the ones who did not sign, obviously.  Bubba’s signing ability is something I would like to learn more about before commenting further.

The DC policewoman’s signing ability was adequate to me, but I do not know if she was present during the scuffle that broke out.  I saw the same video you did.  I didn’t see her around.

The DPS officer on the other side of the building, however, is a different story.  I do not know his name but I can identify him by face.  I had attempted to talk to him while the students were protesting in GUKCC while the BOT was meeting on Wednesday.  I was trying to tell all of the security guards  I could find about how the students were talking about Carl Dupree and tensions were high not only because of the BOT/JKF etc but also because of the fear of poilce action.  That man would not listen to me.  He moved away, rudely and coldly in my opinion, when I tried to talk to him.  He had no reason to do so.  At that time, all of the DPS security officers were standing clustered in a small group near the stairwell.  Several of them listened politely and attentively when I communicated with them–he did not.  And in fact after the students got that guy out, I told Bubba on the opposite side of the building that there was a DPS officer who in my opinion was ill-suited to handle further interactions of this type.  Bubba asked for his description and I gave it.  I will not give it here.

I can tell you now that approximately twenty faculty members are discussing a collective refusal to teach until student safety (especially regarding communication) can be assurred.  I think I can speak for everyone when I say that, especially since such a move is grounds for dismissal (for cause), it is highly stressful to be in the position of having to risk one’s career for student safety, but come on.  What would you do?  I’d rater be unemployed than see someone seriously hurt or even killed (which has happened), especially with communication skills this oblique.

A final point I’m going to make–a very grim and serious one–so pay attention, even the students are saying that they couldnt understand the officers… a statement which I think is very sad, because it’s a form of internalized audism.

Why?  Because that statement places the blame on the students, when in fact what’s probably more likely is that several of those DPS officers could not make themselves understood.