The following account was written and widely distributed Friday, March 5. On Sunday, March 7 WTMJ removed this PantherVision footage from their website, so the link is no longer valid. To the best of my knowledge, the PantherVision footage of events from March 4 is not currently available to the public.

For those who did not witness an event, it can be difficult to place existing video footage into context. What follows is an explanation of the video footage and media coverage of yesterday's events based upon my first-hand experiences. This information is sent in the "spirit of open exchange of ideas and opinions that make UWM a great place for constructive dialog to occur and higher education to take place."

We met at the Union, marched and chanted our way over to Chapman. Once at Chapman, we were told one person could go in -- Rachel from SDS went in, was told the chancellor was gone but that she could leave our petition with 1,000 signatures for him. She came back out, delivered the news, the crowd wanted to enter and wait for him to return. The crowd moved around to the northside entrance. The following link picks up on what happened next and how things escalated:

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/86550432.html?video=pop&t=a&bctid=CLIP_ID_193164

As you can see, members of the crowd were banging on the door to be allowed in. The crowd pressed in, the police shoved back, one snowball flew. After a few minutes the crowd started to disperse -- the main objective had been to show up and make our presence known, which we did. Then two people were inexplicably arrested and taken to the south entrance. The crowd protested, the police maced/pepper sprayed, some protesters retaliated with snowballs. [The footage at the end of this link is what happened before the banging on the door and shoving. Note that one individual climbed up the gutter, waved at whomever was inside, and got down immediately when he was instructed to.]

For additional footage of what happened after the two students were arrested and led to the south entrance, see: http://www.youtube.com/user/thewaz#p/c/5A6994B42E8CDE4B.
Note that this immediately preceded the police’s spraying the crowd with mace/pepper spray.

After the initial arrests and macing/pepper-spraying, protesters were dumbfounded. We remained in the parking lot chanting and asking the police why students had been arrested. Our SA president Jay Burseth showed up and was detained. More police arrived, vice chancellor Luljack appeared, more students were arrested, WTMJ (NBC) showed up. The crowd was instructed to leave the parking lot. More protesters were arrested when they asked why. Which brings us to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s33YtHnn4Hs

The police threatened to arrest more people if we did not leave the parking lot. Many of us congregated on the sidewalk just south of Chapman. Our MGAA union staff member gave an interview with PantherVision (on the sidewalk), and after concluding the interview the police threatened to arrest one of the students from PantherVision. Our union staff member walked down the sidewalk to speak with a WTMJ cameraman about what was transpiring and he was arrested. The crowd moved to the sidewalk across the street to march and chant. The police yelled at us from the other side of the street that we could not protest there either. This brings us to the first part of this next WTMJ video footage and the second YouTube video below:

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/86413307.html?video=pop&t=a&bctid=CLIP_ID_192838

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VizB5zFiCF8

The remaining SDS organizers encouraged protesters to gather in the Union to discuss what to do about those who had been arrested. The crowd effectively dispersed. Some of us remained on the sidewalk just north of the library waiting to see if those arrested would be released (they had been taken into Chapman) and filling out our contact information for the ACLU because we had witnessed what transpired. One student had just finished writing down his contact information when two police officers inexplicably came running after him from across the street. He responded by running -- if you see video footage of a student in a knit cap running from the police, this is why. One police officer slipped on the ice and injured his leg while chasing this student.

WITI (Fox), WISN (ABC), and WDJT (CBS) showed up and began interviewing those who remained on the sidewalk.

WTMJ posted this initial report: http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/86387102.html?video=pop&t=a&bctid=CLIP_ID_192816

Luljack reappeared in the Chapman parking lot and began speaking to the major media outlet representatives. Seven of us students (including two with PantherVision) walked over to listen in. Luljack escorted the (non-student) media members into Chapman for a press conference, and locked out the two students from PantherVision.

After the press conference, WITI (Fox) left. Here is their report: http://www.fox6now.com/news/witi-100304-uwm-ruckus,0,43494.story

While WITI left, media members from WTMJ, WDJT, and WISN joined five students waiting at the UWM police station to find out about the charges faced by those arrested and to await their release. After being released, WDJT and WISN interviewed those arrested and included footage in their 10:00 coverage:

WDJT: http://www.cbs58.com/index.php?aid=11430

WISN: http://www.wisn.com/news/22743244/detail.html

Note that WTMJ, WDJT, WISN, and WITI all used the same PantherVision footage. Note also that Chancellor Santiago was not present at any of these events.

Regardless of one's opinions as to what transpired March 4, I believe that the coverage of these events offer a wonderful teaching opportunity. Please feel free to share this with anyone and everyone with or without my name attached.

Sincerely,
Brice Smith