ALA Librarians condemn tasering of UCLA student

[pnwmom]

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6400543.html

From ALA President Burger's letter to UCLA:

"I was shocked, as were many of the 66,000 members of the American Library Association, to read about and watch the November 14, 2006 incident that unfolded at the Powell Library. On behalf of ALA I urge you to take immediate action to ensure that library patrons will never be subjected to this type of shocking and unwarranted treatment again. The violent manner in which Mostafa Tabatabainejad was treated is unconscionable.

We applaud your decision to conduct an independent investigation of this matter but also urge you to reexamine your security practices as a result of this incident.

While I can appreciate the need to provide for the safety and security of library users this incident reveals how easy it is for these situations to escalate. On college campuses throughout the country, libraries are places for sanctuary and peaceful study. Please restore that sense of sanctuary to the students and faculty at UCLA by ensuring that the privacy and security of all who use your campus libraries are protected from violence from the University's security force.

We live in difficult times in which many people in our country are persecuted and criminalized due to the color of their skin and their ethnicity. Our Association's Bill of Rights states that a person's right to use a library should not be abridged because of origin, age, background or views. We hope that UCLA and all its campus libraries honor this basic tenet of library service."

[Dean Martin]

1. unbelievable

Words escape me.

[pnwmom]

4. Librarians have been on the cutting edge of

civil liberties issues. All over the country, librarians have been refusing to go along with Bush's spying on library patrons.

Welcome to DU!

[Dean Martin]

8. my fiance's getting a degree in Library Science

She's getting her Masters hoping to become a Librarian in two years.

[pnwmom]

14. Good for her.

One of my best friends is a librarian. They're great people.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Librarians have a greater sense of justice

and know more about our Constitution than Chimp - or the security force - apparently do.

[pnwmom]

3. Did you know that the ALA decided to go ahead with

holding its annual convention in New Orleans soon after the disaster, when all that existed were promises that the city would be up and running in time for them? They could have backed out of their earlier arrangements, but they decided it was their duty to help the city, and they did.

I love librarians.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. No, but

it gives me another reason to love librarians! Thanks for the information!

[IntravenousDemilo]

5. I wonder if Chimp ever consults his ex-librarian wife. Or is she an anomaly among librarians? n/m

[Freedomofspeech]

11. She gives us librarians...

a bad name. Everytime I hear anyone refer to her as a librarian, I want to hurl. She must have been selling drugs instead of attending her LS classes.

[ThomCat]

6. Good For Them! Librarians take the lead again!

Those security guards should be in jail for what they did.
x(

[ThomCat]

7. Dupe.

Oops.

[AspenRose]

9. Librarians rock

:yourock:

[Ms. Clio]

12. I love librarians! They are patriots and civil rights warriors!

Way to go ALA!

[seabeyond]

13. would have been awfully nice for the SCHOOL to have actually used

these words...

good for them

expected more of ucla

[pnwmom]

15. Do you mean aclu . . . or ucla?

[seabeyond]

16. thank you. i thought something was wrong

[pnwmom]

17. I agree that UCLA's response has been disappointing.

But not surprising, since their official written policy allows the use of tasers on nonviolent protestors.

[Pithlet]

18. Good for ALA.

They rock. I was just thinking about this case and wondering what was going on with it.