Senate Resolution #7

2003-04

Opposition to the USA Patriot Act

WHEREAS, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is proud of its long and distinguished tradition of protecting the civil rights and liberties of its students; and 

WHEREAS, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a diverse student body, including immigrants, whose contributions are vital to the academic environment, culture and civic character; and 

WHEREAS the preservation of civil rights and liberties is essential to the well-being of a democratic society; and 

WHEREAS, federal, state and local governments should protect the public from terrorist attacks such as those that occurred on September 11, 2001, but should do so in a rational and deliberative fashion to ensure that any new security measure enhances public safety without impairing constitutional rights or infringing on civil liberties; and 

WHEREAS, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Student Senate (ASUN) believes that there is no inherent conflict between national security and the preservation of liberty - Americans can be both safe and free; and 

WHEREAS, federal policies adopted since September 11, 2001, including provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56) and related executive orders, regulations and actions threaten fundamental rights and liberties by: 

(a) authorizing the indefinite incarceration of non-citizens based on mere suspicion, and the indefinite incarceration of citizens designated by the President as ""enemy combatants"" without access to counsel or meaningful recourse to the federal courts; 

(b) granting law enforcement and intelligence agencies broad access to personal medical, financial, library and education records with little if any judicial oversight; 

(c) threatening constitutionally protected speech through overbroad definitions of ""terrorism""; 

(d) driving a wedge between immigrant communities and the police that protect them by encouraging involvement of state and local police in enforcement of federal immigration law; 

(e) permitting the FBI to conduct surveillance of religious services, internet chatrooms, political 

demonstrations, and other public meetings of any kind without having any evidence that a crime has been or may be committed; and 

WHEREAS, new legislation has been drafted by the Administration entitled the Domestic Security 

Enhancement Act (DSEA) (also known as PATRIOT II) which contains a multitude of new and sweeping law enforcement and intelligence gathering powers, many of which are not related to terrorism, that would severely dilute, if not undermine, many basic constitutional rights, as well as disturb our unique system of checks and balances by: 

(a)     diminishing personal privacy by removing important checks on government surveillance authority, 

(b) reducing the accountability of government to the public by increasing government secrecy, 

(c) expanding the definition of ""terrorism"" in a manner that threatens the constitutionally protected rights of Americans, and 

(d) seriously eroding the right of all persons to due process of law; and 

WHEREAS, these new powers pose a particular threat to the civil rights and liberties of the students of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who are Arab, Muslim or of South Asian descent; and 

WHEREAS, many other student governments and communities throughout the country have enacted resolutions reaffirming support for civil rights and civil liberties in the face of government policies that threaten these values, and demanding accountability from law enforcement agencies regarding their use of these new powers. 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Student Senate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln affirms its strong support for fundamental constitutional rights and its opposition to federal measures that infringe on civil liberties; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Student Senate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln affirms its strong support for the rights of immigrants and opposes measures that single out individuals for legal scrutiny or enforcement activity based on their country of origin; and be it further RESOLVED that the Student Senate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln requests that University offices provide notice to individuals whose education records have been obtained by law enforcement agents pursuant to section 507 of the USA PATRIOT Act; and 

BE IT FINALLY REOLVED, that the Student Senate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln requests that the school library, as the Lincoln Public Library system has done, post in a prominent place within the library a notice to users as follows: ""WARNING: Under Section 215 of the federal USA PATRIOT Act (Public Law 107-56), records of the books and other materials you borrow from this library may be obtained by federal agents. Federal law prohibits librarians from informing you if your records have been obtained by federal agents. Questions about this policy should be directed to: Attorney General John Ashcroft, Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20530"";