Adjunct media study professor Laura Curry's arrest on April 15 has inspired a mobilization on campus to petition for a dismissal of the charge of disorderly conduct.
Amidst a tumultuous period on campus, as an anti-abortion exhibit displayed graphic images of aborted fetuses that were offensive to a large portion of the community, much inquiry has been generated as to whether or the University Police Department was justified in issuing the arrest.
Just as UB Students for Life was acting within its First Amendment rights to display those images and protest abortion procedures happening legally in the United States, Curry had the right to express her beliefs, too. Her use of the word "f**k" was not grounds for her speech to be restricted.
It should be noted, however, that UPD was in a complicated and difficult predicament. Due to the nature and gravity of the images and subject matter, there was a huge cause for concern that any interference with the demonstration could escalate into a larger problem.
The video of the episode with Curry, taken by an unknown person, has been well circulated on the Internet and is familiar to much of the campus community by now. It lasts around 2:30 and records the incident in which Curry questions the officers' reasoning behind asking her to calm down - to refrain from her use of foul language and to alter her demeanor in voicing her opposition to the display.
Curry's response was simple: The display was more profane than her language and the images were more disorderly than her conduct.
There is no reason she shouldn't have been able to express her distaste for the exhibit, but she also should have accepted the officers' request to simmer down and express herself in a different way.
Over the course of the two-day protest, large numbers of people congregated outside the Union and conveyed their feelings about the abortion issue and reaction to the display being brought to campus by the anti-abortion student group. Nobody else got arrested.
It is understandable why Curry's behavior seemed truculent. She was clearly inflexible to cooperate with the cops when they asked her to adjust her method of protest. She pointed to the sign while creating a scene.
Police hold the right to make subjective judgment when determining if someone is "disturbing the peace." They warned her for over two minutes and attempted to calmly explain to her why they thought she was being disorderly.
As disappointing as it is that a professor at the university was obstructed from expressing her form of free speech, the reality of the situation is the law is the law and it is what it is.
It is disconcerting that she got arrested when there many other people who screamed and cursed during the protests. While it is true that Curry should have listened to the police when they spoke with her and explained that they wanted to diffuse a possibly provocative situation, it is also true that the display was shocking. In her state of bewilderment over obscene imagery and an inflammatory demonstration, it is possible that Curry was unable to really process the officers' words and compute the likely outcome of her continued emphatic expression of outrage to the exhibition.
Nonetheless, it was the assessment of the police present that her exercising her freedom of speech had crossed the line to where it was interfering with another speaker's freedom - and that is how the law operates.
Thus far, over 600 people have signed the petition requesting a dismissal of the charges. Whether it will help her remains to be seen, but it is a good gesture of solidarity from those in the community who share Curry's position.
In the future, students and faculty alike should remain adamant to express themselves but cautious in their method and application.
Curry is scheduled for an appearance at Amherst Town Court on May 9. Whether she is charged, the court should take into consideration the provocative atmosphere at the university that day and understand the state of confusion it infused in many people's minds.
For everyone else, this should be a learning experience for how to act next time an event like this churns up everybody's emotions. It is best in the long run to try to remain composed.
Email: editorial@ubspectrum.com
