York's notice of expulsion (Annotated)

From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material)

Lorna R. Marsden | Defend Free Speech at York University | 30 April 2004

Daniel Freeman-Maloy received the following letter on April 30, 2004. The envelope that contained it was post-marked for April 26, the letter itself dated for April 21. Comments by Freeman-Maloy are in square brackets.
Dear Mr. Maloy,
In the past year you have been involved in conduct that is unacceptable according to the standards of York University. Specifically, on October 22, 2003 you were seen attending an unauthorized demonstration in Central Square and in Vari Hall Rotunda and using an unauthorized sound amplification device. This demonstration was in violation of the Temporary Use of Space Policy and the Policy for Use of Vari Hall Rotunda.
On November 12, 2003 you were sent a registered letter from the Office of Student Affairs telling you that your behaviour was unacceptable and asking for your attendance at a meeting to discuss the October 22nd incident. You failed to reply to the letter. When seeing Ms Ridley from OSA in person, you responded to her request for a meeting by saying you were too busy but would try to set something up. You also refused to give updated contact information to our offices. These responses were unsatisfactory.[How can I provide updated contact information if my contact information hasn’t once changed? I am the President of a recognized student club (Students for a Critical Consciousness): my phone number is thus listed for the use of Ms Ridley’s office, and my York U email address has been listed all year on York’s website as the official contact for the group. Further, is it not absurd to receive a letter via mail from an administration that claims to not have your mailing address? In late February and early March, I even had an open debate in the pages of York’s student newspaper with Nancy White, York’s media relations coordinator, regarding the status of an abusively racist employer who sits on the York University Foundation. Plainly, it is not as if I had gone underground.]
On March 16th, 2004, you were seen setting up and participating in an unauthorized demonstration in the Vari Hall Rotunda. Again, you were seen to be using an unauthorized sound amplification device. This demonstration was also in violation of the Temporary Use of Space Policy for Use of Vari Hall Rotunda. During the October and March demonstrations, you interfered with the proper functioning of University programmes and activities, contributed to the threat of harm to the safety and well-being of York University community members, and failed to abide by reasonable instructions given orally and in writing by an official of the University authorized to secure compliance with regulations, rules, practices, and procedures, all contrary to Presidential Regulation 2.
[Wait just a minute. As noisy crowds confronted each other in Vari Hall Rotunda in a process throughout which many people used megaphones and chanted, I am to be singled out for punishment? Do I get a hearing, or at least some proof that I am singularly responsible for any (again, unproven) disruptions? And how does using a megaphone possibly threaten people’s very “safety and well-being”?]
As a result of your actions outlined above, and pursuant to my authority over the conduct of students [Read: unilateral authority?], I have determined that you will not be permitted to re-register at York University for three calendar years from May 1st, 2004 and I am instructing the University Registrar accordingly. After May 1, 2004, and until you re-register, you will have no purpose on campus and are therefore asked not to attend the premises of York University. [No purpose? I work as an editor at the school newspaper, and still have an exam to write!] If you are seen on the premises, you will be issued a notice of trespass. [Ouch.]
Yours, Sincerely,
Lorna R. Marsden, PhD
President and Vice-Chancellor