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Following a clash on College Street in front of visiting prospective Yale parents, campus cops are calling on the university to grant them the same First Amendment rights granted to students.
The clash occurred Sunday outside the Shubert theater.
Yale had rented the theater to host the visiting prospective parents and students during an annual “Bulldog Days” event geared at convincing applicants who have received acceptance notices to choose to attend the university.
The Yale Police Benevolent Association, which represents campus cops, protested outside the theater to call attention to the fact that its members haven’t had a contract since June 2016. Yale and the union have held 50 negotiating sessions but remain split over issues like life insurance, according to union president Richard Simons.
The union picketers handed prospective parents and students flyers highlighting crimes reported on campus by the university police chief and by news outlets.
“Yale’s campus may not be as safe as you might think,” read a headline in the flyer, written as an open letter to parents..
“Yale and its host city, New Haven, can at times be a dangerous place,” the flyer read, proceeding to cite potential “active shooter” incidents and bomb threats. The letter proceeds to affirm the cops’ dedication to keeping students safe.
Yale “agents” ushering at the theater rushed outside and snatched the flyers out of recipients’ hands, Simons said.
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“Yale’s ushers were rude to our members and attempted to stifle our free speech,” Simons (pictured) wrote in a letter to the editor sent to the Independent.
“In an ever more shocking display of undemocratic and borderline assaultive behavior, a female Yale usher forcibly wedged herself between a parent and our member in an attempt to prevent the member from handing a union leaflet to a parent. The usher then extended her arms and physically pushed our member back, away from the parent, as she escorted her charge into the theater. Our shocked member protested by saying to the usher, ‘Nice. You don’t treat people that way. We are standing on the public sidewalk; we have the right to be here.’ The usher’s aggressive behavior reflects poorly on Yale; however, our member remained professional, courteous and respectful.”
The letter proceeds to quote Yale President Peter Salovey on the university commitment to freedom of expression.
“Yale should practice what it preaches,” the letter concludes. (Read the full letter here.)
“What’s the most liberal place?” Simons asked rhetorically in a conversation Monday with the Independent. His answer: Yale. Except when it comes to his members’ First Amendment rights.
Yale issued official statements over the past two days defending its actions outside the Shubert and calling its cops’ pay and benefits “excellent.”
“The staff who were welcoming our admitted students were instructed not to interfere with the police union activities. We respect the officers’ right to hand out information, etc.,” Yale spokesman Thomas Conroy wrote it in an email message to the Independent.