Austin Environmentalist Robin Schneider Arrested at Obama Speech

Austin News

By DavidKobierowski / Aug 10, 2010

I grew-up with a strong sense of community and a lot of respect for police officers. They work hard risking their life to protect us. The die for us. They are often our heros.

And then there is the story of UT Austin Police arresting Texas Campaign for the Environment Executive Director Robin Schneider.  

Schneider was arrested, according to her Facebook page, at about 1:00 p.m., Monday afternoon, shortly before President Barack Obama was to speak at UT Austin's Gregory Gym.

According to Schneider's Facebook Post:

"They gave me a citation and were escorting me and a co-worker off the campus and we were discussing what to do. I decided to continue gathering names for the signature ad and saw some people I know (including a UT Law professor) and asked for signatures and they arrested me. I asked my co-worker to not do so because they was a community meeting near San Antonio that was important for one of us to be at. After they arrested an anti-war protester, they took us to the Travis County jail. Eventually, I was booked after being "patted down" 4 times. I did have a private cell with a view and the first bologna and cheese sandwich I've had in years. (I gave Dick the leftovers when I was released because he's a self-proclaimed 'freegan'.) The five of us arrested for criminal trespass at UT were released on our own recognizance. My court date is 8/23."

Is this what our police should be doing?  Aren't there more pressing needs out there like fighting real crime??  Austin's crime rate has been growing as our population grows.  Cars on homes in my neighborhood are broken into on a regular basis.  And this is what our police are doing?  Arresting someone for getting people to sign a petition to reduce the use of plastic UT Tower-shaped water bottles?  This sounds unbelievable, almost laughable, but sadly it's true.

And to boot, this was on public university property.  

Here's a link to one of the radio interviews post the arrest:

http://www.590klbj.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=1262877

Here's the link to the Austin Chronicle story:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/News/Blogs/index.html/objID10670...

Here's another arrest of another protestor:

And another video of a protestor, Ausitnite John Bush, Exec Dir of TAG being arrested:

 

Comments

MsLiberty

Tue, 08/10/2010 - 11:12am

John Bush is a 26 year old, Texas State graduate and the Executive Director for Texans for Accountable Government http://tagtexas.org. He fights for your rights (all types) on a daily basis! He has had radio shows, writes for Austin Free Press and previously for Citizine, traveled the country researching for Operation Defuse (on fusion centers) http://operationdefuse.com. (Check out the site to find out what its about), and has been asked to speak all over the country. He in no way was violent and was actually there to make sure no ones rights were violated! He did speak out against the war, and as you can see fromt he video there were MANY people outside the "Free Speech Zone" but they did not like what John had to say. It's a shame this happened especially at a State ran university.

DavidKobierowski

Tue, 08/10/2010 - 11:15am

A friend on facebook just posted the comment: "Book em horns". :)

Nancy_News_Onli...

Tue, 08/10/2010 - 12:30pm

It's unfortunate that John Bush attended the event WEARING HIS PRESS PASS TO ENSURE THAT NO ONE'S CIVIL RIGHTS were violated then he gets arrested. The purpose of the media to to report what goes on and sometimes ensure things do not get escalated. A media pass is not a bullet proof vest HOWEVER a media pass is to be respected as such, therefore the female in the beginning of the video should be repremanded for such behavior to a person wearing a media pass in full view. I wear a large bright pink media ID badge that I expect to be respected and honored, this is a scary thought. It's not making a big deal out of something small, this is something that requires immediate attention BECAUSE OF THE FACT that the person John Bush was wearing a visible media pass. I'm going to bring this behavior to President Obama's attention and Washington's attention BECAUSE I KNOW THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA would not have found this type of behavior of arresting an individual with a visible media pass. This scares me and reminds me of countries where journalist / media people are killed and/or thrown in jail. As President Obama would say "Not in America people." signed Nancy Morales News Online With Nancy http://www.newsonlinewithnancy.com

m_bey

Tue, 08/10/2010 - 1:45pm

The UT campus is private property, so they can arrest anyone who is not a student and charge them with trespassing without having to use one of the vaguer charges like "disorderly conduct." Historically, the UT cops have been very eager to arrest anyone from the community who tries to express themselves politically on campus, especially if the media is watching. Also, to answer Ms.Morales, the media is singled out for particularly harsh treatment in any political protest situation. During the anti-war protests at the start of the Iraq war, the only people who took a direct blast of pepperspray were people with news cameras. I assure you it was not a coincidence.

Nate

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 3:32pm

@M_Bey. I'm a little confused as to how U.T. is a private institution. Maybe you can clarify this for me. In 1876 the Texas Constitution set up the "Permanent University Fund" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_University_Fund This PUF makes it look like the people of Texas fund the University. That would make it a PUBLIC institution. I guess it's possible there has been some kind of legal wrangling since then but it looks like the PUF is still in existence today.

DavidKobierowski

Tue, 08/10/2010 - 1:55pm

Matthew, Thx. Very interesting. I didn't realize it was private property. My assumption being that because UT Austin is a public university that it's public property, especially outside, on a sidewalk where there were crowds of people gathering. Best, David

m_bey

Tue, 08/10/2010 - 3:48pm

David, it's not commonly known that you can be arrested for trespassing on UT property because it's only selectively enforced. The UT cops could arrest the entire room at a Cactus Cafe concert, and maybe even make the charges stick, but it's not convenient to do that. Arresting hippies however, that's darn convenient.

DavidKobierowski

Tue, 08/10/2010 - 3:35pm

Additional videos: Here's Robin being arrested: http://www.youtube.com/user/libchr#p/a/u/2/uDZEahnbhCk Here's another video, this of Dan McCarthy being arrested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djlWmg8wDj0

morgan

Tue, 08/10/2010 - 5:10pm

Morgan Meltz. As an old protestor from the '60s and '70s, I'm cringing at the comment I'm about to write, but here goes. We used to run workshops in how to or how not to get arrested, depending on what your goals were. From what I can see in the video clips, these people seemed to have followed the classic 'how to get arrested' scenario. I don't mean to imply that that was their aim, just that refusing to follow police orders, arguing with police, etc. will get you arrested every time. As background info, the 'Chain around the Cactus' demo was sponsored by students, and thus allowed. My husband and I, however, were handing out fliers when a campus policewoman politely asked us if we were students, faculty or staff. Being none of the above, we were not allowed to continue on campus property. Added to these usual rules for campus property, the President was here - the first black president who many of us feared might be assassinated before he could even take office. Of course, security was tight. Sorry, but these admirable activists could, and should, have found a way to make their points legally and safely.

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David Kobierowski

Talk Show Host on 91.7FM KOOP Radio's "A Neighborly Conversation", every Wed., 12noon-1pm. Also co-host "Texas Politics Today" on 91.7FM KOOP Radio, Austin. Every Friday, 2pm-3pm.
Website:
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