"The concern of the institution is that this could be interpreted as a
violation of the law," Ratcliff said in an interview Wednesday. "What
we're trying to be is pro-active here. If the FBI decided to pay attention
to this matter, the repercussions would go way beyond their group because
we're providing network services."
The law in question is one section of the USA Patriot Act, signed by
President George W. Bush last October, which outlaws providing "material
support or resources" to foreign terrorists who have been placed on a
State Department list. Material support is
defined as money, lodging, training or "communications equipment."
As of Wednesday, Che Cafe members had not removed the link from the Burn.ucsd.edu site, which is maintained
by the organization. Che Cafe did not reply to interview requests, but
said in a letter
sent to Ratcliff last week that he does not "have the authority to
unilaterally impose sanctions based on your opinion that we violated
university policies."
The State Department calls Colombia's FARC a
terrorist group because it has kidnapped and murdered U.S. citizens.
Because the FARC, also known by its Spanish name Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarios de Colombia, appears on the State Department's August list of
34 terrorist organizations, the university says it has no choice but to
ban hyperlinks. The law applies to "financial resources, personnel,
communications facilities," Ratcliff said. "The information on the site,
if you look at it, wasn't viewed as news by the institution, but
information the site meant to build support for these organizations. It
wasn't an impartial, balanced presentation with analysis or
interpretation. These were sites that were trying to generate sympathy."
A taste for anarchy
Che Cafe is a medley of a vegan
collective, a cafe that serves organic food, and a confederation of
self-described radical students. Its mission is to advance "radical social
change," and it keeps links endorsing anarchist
sites including Raise the Fist,
which the FBI raided in January.
The Foundation for Individual Rights
in Education (FIRE) said UCSD's reading of the USA Patriot act was
laughably censorious.
"I think their interpretation of materially supporting terrorism is
dreadfully overbroad and a massive threat to freedom of speech," said Greg
Lukianoff, FIRE's director of legal advocacy. Lukianoff said FIRE was
willing to represent the Che Cafe against the university, which must abide
by the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech because it is a
government school.
"All you'd have to do is declare someone a terrorist organization to
prevent someone from knowing who the enemy is or what they stand for,"
Lukianoff said. "That's not how democracy works."
When asked whether the university would prohibit a faculty member or
the student newspaper from linking to an alleged terrorist group, UCSD's
Ratcliff said he was not sure. "Those are good questions to ask," he said.
"As it relates to this law, it would depend on a case-by-case situation."
The UCSD university attorney did not immediately return phone calls.
In April, the Groundwork Books collective, another UCSD student
organization, got in trouble for linking to a different terrorist group,
the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which
is also on the State Department's list. It has removed the link.
Last week, Ratcliff sent the Groundwork Books collective a letter saying that
its members must write an essay saying they understand they broke the law
and would not do it again. "Groundwork Books will be placed on probation
for the 2002-2003 academic year and may be suspended and deregistered as a
student organization if during this time it posts material supporting a
(foreign terrorist organization) on a Web site it maintains," Ratcliff
wrote.
Che Cafe also hosts a collection of
statements, including political platforms, relating to the Kurdistan
Workers Party.
The Kurdistan Workers Party, according to the FBI,
is a Marxist-Leninist group that hopes to overthrow the existing
government in southeastern Turkey.
