"Seventeen University of Virginia students convicted of violating the school’s behavior code during a four-day sit-in calling for a “living wage” are appealing their punishments, saying writing letters of “apology and thanks” to police and school administrators would cause them to violate the school’s honor code by forcing them to lie. The protestors’ appeal asks that the Judicial Review Board sentence them to community service instead.

The student-run University Judiciary Committee on May 2 ordered each Living Wage Campaign protestor to write a 500-word letter to UVa administrators thanking them for their willingness to engage in a dialogue during the nonviolent sit-in at Madison Hall. The students also had to write 250-word letters apologizing to Madison Hall’s five employees and to university police for the disruption they caused.

The protestors agreed to write the letters to the Madison Hall employees, but said any letters of thanks and apology to the administration and police would be “grossly inappropriate.”

“Basically, what they’re asking us to do is apologize for something that we don’t believe is true; therefore to write them would be a violation of the university’s honor code,” said protestor Carmen Comsti.

The protestors camped out in Madison Hall, the university administration’s headquarters, from April 11 to 15 hoping to persuade the administration to raise the minimum wage paid to university employees from $9.37 an hour to what they call a living wage of $10.72 an hour.

Police arrested the protestors April 15 and charged all of them with criminal trespassing. Several individual protestors faced additional charges. A Charlottesville General District Court judge dismissed all of the criminal charges last week.

The University Judiciary Committee on May 2 found the protestors guilty of unauthorized entry into or occupation of a university facility; intentional disruption or obstruction of teaching, research, administration or disciplinary procedures; and failure to comply with directions of university officials.

The appeal, filed on May 15, asks the Judicial Review Board, composed of students and faculty, to accept the letters of apology written to the Madison Hall employees and substitute community service in lieu of writing the other letters.

“An apology to the administration would indicate that for them to deal with students is not a part of their job, but is something extra for which the sitters-in required of them, which is not the case,” the appeal states. “A ‘thank you’ to the administration for facilitating dialog during the sit-in would mean that the protestors believed they did so.”

Protestor Sean Butterfield said the review board has two weeks to read the appeals and two more weeks to respond to them. The board can then uphold the sanctions, repeal them, give new sanctions or send the cases back to the University Judiciary Committee.

UVa spokeswoman Carol Wood declined to comment on the specifics of the appeal, noting only that the students are within their rights to do so." (John Yellig, The Daily Progress, May 28, 2006)

Contact John Yellig at (434) 978-7245 or eyellig@dailyprogress.com.