Four students arrested for heckling FBI director

Elizabeth Ress
The Daily Free Press
May. 01, 2007

Police arrested four Harvard University students last night for heckling FBI Director Robert Mueller prior to his speech on the "Balance of National Security and Civil Liberties," witnesses said.

Harvard spokesman Joe Wrinn confirmed that four Harvard students were arrested outside the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He could not verify their identities or the circumstances under which they were apprehended.

Harvard senior Austin Guest, who was outside the event when he saw the police take away the students, said officers handcuffed the protesters after escorting them out of the building.

"[Officers] told me if I talked to [the students], I would be arrested," he said.

Police and forum staff declined to comment on the incident.

The event, which students described as particularly crowded, had more security than usual because of Mueller's high profile. The protesters "probably expected to be escorted out, but not to be arrested," Guest said.

Mueller was unfazed by the student chants to "free all political prisoners" and "close Guantanamo, stop the lies," and instead commended the protest, saying they were a testament to freedom of expression.

Once the audience had quieted, Mueller, who was appointed director of the FBI one week before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, warned that although the United States has "been successful in preventing another attack on our homeland, we are still not safe."

"Al Qaeda is no longer just an organization, but is now a movement," he said, adding that the FBI was "worried now of . . . [terrorist] pockets in our own neighborhoods," citing alleged terrorist activity in New York and Ohio as examples.

Mueller said that, to protect citizens from harm, the FBI needed to access certain information such as cell-phone records.

"We have a right to privacy, but we also have a right to ride the T . . . and not have bombs exploding," he said.

In concluding his speech, Mueller said the FBI strives to be transparent by admitting its mistakes, saying, "our ability to protect the American people depends in large part on the American people's ability to trust us."

John Cassidy, a Kennedy School graduate student, said he thought the arrested protesters should have voiced their opinions during the question-and-answer session that was held after Mueller's presentation.

"[Heckling] is a fairly ineffective way to get your message across," Cassidy said.

Several students said it is uncommon for students to protest speakers at Harvard forums, which regularly attract the world's most influential policymakers, but it has happened in the past. Alyssa Aguilera, a Harvard junior who witnessed the students' arrests, said protesters at past events had been quieted or escorted out, but never arrested.

"It's just sad that this is how the FBI responds to such situations, and it's telling of how they respond to situations around the world," she said.