Secret-police operation smears campus activists

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CHICAGO—A recent Chicago Tribune article (Dec. 13, 1987) claimed to describe a "terrorist cabal" at Northeastern Illinois University here, portraying the state-run school as a "threshold to the underground."

The article attempts to back its allegations by means of "unofficial" comments from the FBI and local police, as well as from a Justice Department "terrorism expert."

According to Daniel Stern, Prof. of Sociology at Northeastern, "This article has all the elements of an FBI media operation and political smear job" (unpublished paper, January 1988). The FBI has traditionally used smear campaigns, planted news stories, burglaries, and provocateurs against activists in groups for social change —including Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Several of the people mentioned in the article have been accused by the government of various crimes. But clearly their real "crime" is their support to Puerto Rican independence and other political causes.

MALCOLM l Fianie TOR Black fibonation To order and for list of other Socialist Action pamphlet titles, write to 3435 Army St., Rm. 308, SF, CA 94110 Jaime Delgado, a counselor at Northeastern, was convicted for allegedly plotting the escape of political prisoner Oscar Lopez-Rivera. As a well-known activist for Puerto Rican independence, he had spoken to the U.N. Decolonization Committee on this issue. A recent rally in his defense at Northeastern drew a wide cross-section of support from the campus.

Another who was mentioned, Professor Jose Lopez, was jailed for not talking to a grand jury-a notorious device for harassing activists and organizations. Another, Professor Charles Knox, was accused of impersonating a lawyer— although he is one.

In a bizarre and ominous twist, the files and school papers of one student, Irish Greene, were subpoenaed by the FBI after a charge was made against him by a Pamphlets for struggle The Legacy of Malcolm X Is the 'Rainbow' a Real Alternative?: A Response South Africa: The Black Unions Go Forward by Michael Schreiber ($1.25)

Everyday Life in Capitalist America by Hayden Perry ($1.25)

Student Activism in the 1980s by Adam Wood and Suzanne Forsyth ($1.00)

Dynamics of the Nicaraguan Revolution by Alan Benjamin and Jeff Mackler ($1.50)

How Can Labor Fight Back? A Strategy for Today by Nat Weinstein and Carl Finamore ($1.25)

The Meaning of Gorbachev's Reforms by Alan Benjamin ($.75) government informant in a courtroom. He stands accused of writing a paper.

In short, an elaborate web of accusations of "terrorism" is woven, even though no illegal actions ever occurred at Northeastern.

"Too many minority students?"

By far the most slanderous indictment in the Tribune article was made about the student body as a whole. The problems with Northeastern, we are told, are the following: the school has too many minority students. They have time for militancy because they don't study; the school has low academic standards.

And there's far too much academic freedom, allowing "rabid ideologues" to teach. The article contains commentary to this effect from a supposed expert on terrorism, M. Cherif Bassiouni, who teaches at DePaul University. "Universities that promote free speech and tolerate a wide range of ideas are particularly vulnerable to infiltration," he says.

Professor Fred J. MacDonald states in the article: "The last thing in the minds of most white middle-class kids is activism. Most live at home with their parents and work 20 hours a week....But some minority students from depressed circumstances have a different attitude."

These statements have outraged many students and faculty on the Northeastern campus. The article implies, wrote Professor Ronald Glick, "that minority students have time for militancy because they are not studying hard. When not in class or studying, most Northeastern students work 20 hours a week to pay for their education."

As a result of students' demands, the university has increased its minority SOCIALIST ACTI student body. It also maintains a series of programs to aid and support inner-city students, ill-prepared by their high schools for college. These programs are now under attack and students have organized demonstrations to preserve them.

Apart from its blatant racism, the article reveals a secret-police mentality that sees every campaign for justice coming not from conditions in society itself, but from a conspiracy in which innocents are duped.

This means every student is suspect who ever took a leaflet, wrote a paper, checked out a political book from the library, took a political class, attended a sit-in, rally, or demonstration, or advocated social change. The article, then, calls for the suppression of students' freedom of speech, association, and political rights.

University Provost Barbara Hursh states that the university will begin "reviewing the employment" of teachers who are facing criminal charges. Jose Lopez has already been denied tenure at the school—in order, the article notes approvingly, "to achieve balance."

These measures are quite in line with developments on some other campuses. The CIA recently announced a program to send agents onto campus to teach as "visiting professors." The Supreme Court just ruled that the First Amendment does not apply to high-school student newspapers.

These attacks require a united response by students and their organizations. Every student has a stake in defending his or her right to write, to read, to join organizations, to take whatever course he or she may choose.

A united response by students, from the student senate to every other group, would send a powerful message that these kinds of attacks will not be tolerated. Statements, meetings, and letters to the Tribune could make clear what the majority of the students, and the faculty as well, think of these attacks on their rights. • N FEBRUARY 1988 5