ACLU holds discussion on Patriot Act
By Xiao-Bo Yuan · The Johns Hopkins News-Letter · November 6, 2003
As part of the National Week of Youth Action against the Patriot Act, the Johns Hopkins chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) held an open forum last Thursday night regarding the USA Patriot Act and its impact on student life.
The forum featured special guest Patrice Web and an ACLU post-9/11 field team organizer who works in more than a dozen states across the nation.
The Patriot Act is a counterterrorism bill passed in October of 2001 that grants the federal governments increased powers of secret surveillance and investigation for intelligence purposes.
According to ACLU resources, the Patriot Act allows the government to expand the definition of "terrorist" to include domestic groups, monitor e-mail and internet activity, conduct secret "sneak and peak" searches of private homes and collect information about personal finances and purchases.
Since the act's near-unanimous ratification in Congress, citizens' groups have vocally opposed the Patriot Act, claiming that it allows the government to violate individual civil rights in the name of the war on terrorism.
The outcry has increased as thousands of immigrants have been interrogated and held in federal custody under the Patriot Act, at times without being formally charged.
"We don't need to give up freedoms to get security," sophomore and JHU-ACLU treasurer Jess Beaton said at the start of the forum. "[The Patriot Act] is basically a non-constitutional document that takes advantage of 9/11 issues.
"It's more broad-reaching than U.S. security, and it affects more than immigrants and people you don't normally come in contact with," Beaton continued.
In response to the Patriot Act's potential effects on students' privacy, the JHU-ACLU has joined college campuses all over the country in trying to pass a resolution against the Patriot Act in the Student Council.
The forum's featured speaker Patricia Web, a Maryland native and 1998 graduate of Towson University, encouraged students to back the resolution, suggesting that widespread opposition on college campuses will force politicians behind the Patriot Act to acknowledge the dissatisfaction of young voters.
"We don't see as many young people pushing this as older people," Web said. "These resolutions passing would send a huge message." According to Web, anti-Patriot Act resolutions have already passed on campuses in Washington State, New Mexico, Florida and Hawaii.
Web elaborated on the ACLU's opposition to the Patriot Act, claiming that the act has been extended to areas that are beyond U.S. defense against terrorism, such as drug surveillance.
"[The act] can now label you a terrorist by the amount of cash you have in your pocket," Web said. "There's been a crossing of criminal laws and anti-terrorism laws, and they are supposed to be two different things."
"The Patriot Act doesn't go directly toward preventing terrorism," agreed sophomore Blake Trettien, co-president of the JHU-ACLU, further stating that it promoted a culture of secrecy and fear in America.
The foundations of the Patriot Act, Web said, were not simply a product of heightened post-9/11 fear, but had proposed in various forms during the Clinton Administration, when a series of "War on Drugs" legislation allowed for secret seizures of private property.
Additionally, in 1996, President Bill Clinton passed multiple immigration laws to relax the existing due process, further laying the groundwork for the Patriot Act.
"The Patriot Act is one of the biggest infringements on civil liberties we've seen in a long time," Web said, "but it was bad before 9/11. Now people are paying attention."
The forum also turned to the Patriot Act's direct effect on college students. Web referred to "vague" campus policies that allowed Residential Advisors to enter and search students' rooms to "control chaos," while a number of students present at the forum complained of infringements that they had experienced.
One student shared a story about waking up one morning to a man -- "only loosely affiliated with the school" -- who had been given keys to enter his room and inspect for rodents without ever having notified him first.
Students at the forum agreed that college residents deserved a certain level of privacy.
Web encouraged students at Hopkins to push for recourses to policies, suggesting that they propose a provision to the current dorm policies that would guarantee notification within a specific time frame if one's room is searched.
Toward the end of the forum, Web also addressed the ACLU's position on file sharing, stating that the ACLU was concerned with privacy on the Internet and has sided against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in their attempts to bring criminal charges against people who download music illegally.