So I was supposed to be running over off and on this week to check in on the sit-in at the Marvin Center. A couple undergrads were going to occupy the lobby to draw attention to how GW, DC's second-largest employer, doesn't treat its workers well and to demand a living wage for GW workers. But by the time I get over there, two hours after the noon kick-off, there's no one there. Turns out they all got arrested right away. I hear that they've been released, though no news on charges.

(If you're interested in more news on this, the DC Indymedia news story will probably include updates as they become available. Jobs With Justice has a huge number of pictures on their website.)

Any arrests at all weird enough. I've only heard of one other sit-in that ended in arrest, and I've heard of dozens. A lot of them end with the students agreeing to end the sit-in for a partial granting of their demands. And the U-W Madison arrests came only after several days.

But on top of the weirdness of the arrests, the fact that MPD officers would be doing the arrests is totally strange. I can't imagine that Joel Trachtenberg would want MPD arresting his students. The UPD would be more under his control. And there's always turf conflicts between MPD and UPD, so it's really strange.

Right now I can think of two explanations:

1. Trachtenberg is trying to intimidate students, and thinks that the MPD are more intimidating the UPD, which is probably true on a psychological level though in reality it's no big deal who puts the cuffs on you.
2. Somewhere along the line something got messed up and the MPD got called in and arrested everyone without the GW administration really supporting that course of action.

Anyway, if you all get a chance, put my tuition dollars to good use and jam Trachtenberg's fax. This page will send a free fax to him for you.
posted by weiss @ 11:24 PM