UF Student Tasered at John Kerry Forum
0 Comments Published by UF Student Housing on Tuesday, September 18, 2007 at 9:43 AM.
I'm sure by now almost everyone has heard about the incident that occurred during a town hall forum hosted by Accent yesterday in which a student was tasered for causing a public disturbance during a Q&A session with former presidential nominee John Kerry.
Reaction to what occurred vary immensely...with some people believing that the student Andrew Meyer was clearly at fault for resisting arrest while others clearly believe that what occurred was an incident of police brutality where the arrest should not have been made in the first place.
I've seen all the videos of what occurred yesterday and have come to this conclusion (sorry if it doesn't conform to what you may believe)...i think BOTH the student AND the police acted poorly in this incident. First off, Andrew Meyer had a GREAT question. Actually two great questions that I'm surprised no one asked earlier. He asked why Kerry did not contest the election results of 2004 when there were so many voting irregularities and also why no one will impeach current president George W. Bush. Two GREAT questions!
Unfortunately, he kept on asking...without even giving John Kerry any time to respond, he asked the former presidential candidate if he indeed was a member of the secret society Skull and Bones. It was then that his microphone was cut off mid sentence. Kerry proceeded to try to answer the first of the two good questions asked but we all know what happens next. He is asked by police to cut it short, and honestly I believe they were just trying to escort him away from the mic without problem. Unfortunately he fought back and caused a scene. Forget the scene, he very deliberately fought with police officers.
I do not care how right you may think you are, resisting 6 police officers...not the best idea. He had his fair time to speak, and got time to ask THREE (albeit one completely dumb) questions. The fact that he started pushing police officers away was enough grounds for arrest. Of course, thats where it should have ended.
Unfortunately, thats not what happened. Even with 6 police officers, he was eventually held to the ground and tasered. I know he was given a warning, but regardless, I don't think tasering him was right. Do you really need to taser a college student? I mean just cuff him and haul him our of there. Absolutely NO NEED to taser! It should be used as an alternative to guns...honestly, does anyone in their right mind believe a gun should have been drawn or shot in this situation? I don't think so...so a taser should not have been used either.
The worst part about all of this is that it makes the UFPD look really bad when i'm sure most officers (if not all) are great people who really do care about this campus and its students. We had so many great national championships without incident for the most part. I always read about UF officials always warning students to be careful about what they put up on their Facebook accounts (drunk photo's anyone?) since anyone can see these photos and get a bad impression of you. Well it's too bad the UFPD and UF could not follow their own guidelines. So many camera's surrounding what was happening, yet no one thought for a second to handle the situation without violence (including the student!).
I just hope the reputation of this school is not jeopardized by the behavior of one over enthusiastic student and a few cops just using too much force. It's not representative of most UF Students nor is it representative of the UFPD.
Reaction to what occurred vary immensely...with some people believing that the student Andrew Meyer was clearly at fault for resisting arrest while others clearly believe that what occurred was an incident of police brutality where the arrest should not have been made in the first place.
I've seen all the videos of what occurred yesterday and have come to this conclusion (sorry if it doesn't conform to what you may believe)...i think BOTH the student AND the police acted poorly in this incident. First off, Andrew Meyer had a GREAT question. Actually two great questions that I'm surprised no one asked earlier. He asked why Kerry did not contest the election results of 2004 when there were so many voting irregularities and also why no one will impeach current president George W. Bush. Two GREAT questions!
Unfortunately, he kept on asking...without even giving John Kerry any time to respond, he asked the former presidential candidate if he indeed was a member of the secret society Skull and Bones. It was then that his microphone was cut off mid sentence. Kerry proceeded to try to answer the first of the two good questions asked but we all know what happens next. He is asked by police to cut it short, and honestly I believe they were just trying to escort him away from the mic without problem. Unfortunately he fought back and caused a scene. Forget the scene, he very deliberately fought with police officers.
I do not care how right you may think you are, resisting 6 police officers...not the best idea. He had his fair time to speak, and got time to ask THREE (albeit one completely dumb) questions. The fact that he started pushing police officers away was enough grounds for arrest. Of course, thats where it should have ended.
Unfortunately, thats not what happened. Even with 6 police officers, he was eventually held to the ground and tasered. I know he was given a warning, but regardless, I don't think tasering him was right. Do you really need to taser a college student? I mean just cuff him and haul him our of there. Absolutely NO NEED to taser! It should be used as an alternative to guns...honestly, does anyone in their right mind believe a gun should have been drawn or shot in this situation? I don't think so...so a taser should not have been used either.
The worst part about all of this is that it makes the UFPD look really bad when i'm sure most officers (if not all) are great people who really do care about this campus and its students. We had so many great national championships without incident for the most part. I always read about UF officials always warning students to be careful about what they put up on their Facebook accounts (drunk photo's anyone?) since anyone can see these photos and get a bad impression of you. Well it's too bad the UFPD and UF could not follow their own guidelines. So many camera's surrounding what was happening, yet no one thought for a second to handle the situation without violence (including the student!).
I just hope the reputation of this school is not jeopardized by the behavior of one over enthusiastic student and a few cops just using too much force. It's not representative of most UF Students nor is it representative of the UFPD.
Windsor Hall Gainesville Housing
0 Comments Published by UF Student Housing on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 12:54 PM.
I am an intern for Trimark properties and we recently acquired a new property called Windsor Hall that is designed as an alternative to traditional UF Housing.The property is located very close to campus and just a block from Sorority Row and 2 blocks from UF at Norman Hall. I know many freshmen who got pretty lousy housing assignments, so if any of you needed a great place to stay that was in the same price range yet offered so much more than a classic dorm, Windsor Hall Gainesville is the place for you!
Just an idea for any freshmen who don't like their housing assignments. Housing is pretty important, so as a Junior, I cannot stress how important it is to stay somewhere that you don't mind calling home.
Hope this is helpful!!! I'll be sure to post any new information as it comes in.
Hey this is adnan,
this is my first test post to the blog. I will be blogging about my internship and general student life here in gainesville florida.
hope you guys enjoy this!
Let's start off with Gainesville Housing near UF. Finding Student housing in Gainesville Florida can be one of the most difficult yet most exciting task for any undergraduate student.
