8/11/2019 Press Release 9-25-14 - Student Leader Allowed to
Complete Term
1/1
STUDENT LEADER ALLOWED TO COMPLETE TERM
UNIVERSITY BACKTRACKS ON SANCTIONS
Mohammad Samir Siddique, the student leader at the University of
Wisconsin-
Milwaukee (UWM) who obtained a court order earlier this month to
allow him to enroll in
classes in spite of a disciplinary decision he said violated his
First Amendment rights, will beable to continue his education, an
attorney for the University of Wisconsin (UW) System
announced in court yesterday.
Assistant Attorney Christopher Blythe told Judge Jeffrey Conen
that his clients had no
intention to interfere with Siddiques university enrollment this
semester. In court, Blythe
committed the university to taking no action against Siddique
until the UW Regents could
review the findings made against him at the campus level, and
said that in no event would
Siddique be forced out of classes for which he had enrolled.
UWMs Nonacademic Misconduct Hearing Committee had found on
August 18 that
Siddique distributed copies of a petition and constitution for a
new student government,
helped organize its elections, and contacted the Regents on its
behalf. Siddique was elected
president of the group, the UWM Student Association, which is
suing to be recognized as the
legitimate student government. The similarly named Student
Association at UWM is currently
recognized by the administration. The universitys decision would
have forced Siddique to
immediately stop allactivity regarding representation and
association with the group
identifying itself as student association at UWM and to write a
letter to over a thousand
students renouncing that organization. If Siddique did not
comply, the university said it would
have prohibited him from enrolling for classes which began
September 2.
Siddique enrolled this semester after obtainingan emergency
order mutually restraining
himself and the university until the matter could be more fully
heard.Judge Glenn A. Yamahiro
agreed to the order on August 29 and signed it on September 9.
In court filings, Siddique and
fellow plaintiffs stated that they sought the order only after
the Regents refused to hold off
implementing sanctions while he appealed.
Siddiques attorney,Gary Grass,said he believes the university
changed its position as a
result of court filings and media exposure. You cant just kick
out a student and promise to fix
it later if you were wrong. What Mr. Siddique asked the regents
for was only common sense.
They treated him very dismissively. I think now theyre starting
to understand that they have
badly misstepped both practically and legally. I lost count of
all the legal problems w ith UWMs
disciplinary proceeding, and Im sure they dont like reading in
the paper that theyre censoring
students, said Grass. This is a win for Mr. Siddique and I hope
it will alleviate some of the fear
that I know some other students have felt, that if they speak
out, they will be disciplined for it. I
dont think UWMs official commissars will be so quick to get into
the same soup again, that
they got in for going after Mr. Siddique.
###
http://www.scribd.com/doc/237654265/ASAP-Press-Release-08-25-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/237654265/ASAP-Press-Release-08-25-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/237654265/ASAP-Press-Release-08-25-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/237654265/ASAP-Press-Release-08-25-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/239282947/COURT-BLOCKS-UWM-FROM-DISENROLLING-STUDENT-LEADER-Press-Release-9-10-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/239282947/COURT-BLOCKS-UWM-FROM-DISENROLLING-STUDENT-LEADER-Press-Release-9-10-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/239282947/COURT-BLOCKS-UWM-FROM-DISENROLLING-STUDENT-LEADER-Press-Release-9-10-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/239282947/COURT-BLOCKS-UWM-FROM-DISENROLLING-STUDENT-LEADER-Press-Release-9-10-14mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.scribd.com/doc/239282947/COURT-BLOCKS-UWM-FROM-DISENROLLING-STUDENT-LEADER-Press-Release-9-10-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/239282947/COURT-BLOCKS-UWM-FROM-DISENROLLING-STUDENT-LEADER-Press-Release-9-10-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/237654265/ASAP-Press-Release-08-25-14http://www.scribd.com/doc/237654265/ASAP-Press-Release-08-25-14
