Targeting Researchers

Defendants in the UCLA case and their friends reacted with a mixture of scorn and caution. But two of the individuals named in the suit said they would fight the restrictions in court, but abide by them as long as they remain in force. Complaining that she was just "an above-ground activist" whose free-speech rights were being abridged, longtime protester Lindy Greene said, "I would honor the restraining order but fight it legally." Ramin Saber, another named activist vowed to abide by the restraining order but fight the imposition of a permanent injunction. "We're not going to just lay down." Jean Green, director of Primate Freedom and operator of the UCLA Primate Freedom Web site told NEWSWEEK that she would comply with a court order to remove the names and home addresses of researchers her site listed as "Targets." [As of this article's posting, the banned home addresses remained online.] But Green hinted that if her Web site can't post the researchers' whereabouts, she may continue the fight through e-mail, which the restraining order doesn't ban "so the information will still get out there."

The Animal Liberation Front activists who claimed credit for firebombings aren't likely to be deterred by an injunction, says Jerry Vlasak, who runs the Animal Liberation Front Press Office Web site, which reports ALF "actions" but operates independently of the ALF and its Web site and wasn't named in the restraining order. "It's laughable that someone willing to face a 30-year sentence for arson will be put off by a restraining order," complains Vlasak. "It's not going to have any effect."

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wasn't named in the suit and hasn't been part of the UCLA protests, but when asked to comment, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk says she does not support firebombings, but she supports protests at researchers homes and worries that the new limits abridge free-speech rights. "I think it's a freedom-of-speech right to say [to researchers] 'You better watch what you are doing'," Newkirk tells NEWSWEEK.

UCLA chancellor Gene Block defends the university's legal tack and says the school avoided trying to abridge protected speech by seeking to ban protests broadly. "This was carefully done," Block says. "We chose people and organizations who are involved in a way that leads to harassment of our investigators. When people decide to do something illegal, we have to stop them." Or try to. "These things are difficult to stop. None of us would feel good if there was any legal activity left that we hadn't taken. We have to do everything we can. It's really our obligation."

The ALF Press Office's Vlasak say that the plan will be ineffective, in part because it circumscribes the actions of only five above-ground protesters. "There 150 more who remain" that can say and do what they want, Vlasak says. But Hueston, the university's lawyer, says UCLA will seek to add new names of protestors shown to be threatening. He also promises "additional" measures, but declines to name them. Meanwhile, hearings to discuss whether the temporary order should become permanent begin next month.

© 2008