Student opposition to the National Conference on Organized Resistance has been growing through a Web site and online petition that has garnered over 200 signatures of those against the group's annual conference returning to AU.
NCOR is currently scheduled to hold its annual conference at AU March 9 to 11, according to the NCOR Web site. The student-run group was founded at AU in 1998 and has held annual conferences on campus since then.
According to the NCOR Web site, "NCOR is an annual event that brings together activists from a variety of issues, struggles, ideologies and backgrounds for a weekend of learning and reflecting on the state of progressive movements occurring locally, nationally and worldwide."
The online petition, available at www.stopncor.com, stated that students are against some of the speakers NCOR has previously brought to campus, including Bernadine Dohrn, a law professor at Northwestern University who formerly led the underground activist Weathermen group and was once on the FBI's Most Wanted List.
"NCOR has hosted many dubious speakers and workshops that damage the integrity and reputation of this university," www.stopncor.com creators Richard Myslinski and Aldo Prosperi said in an e-mail. "Convicted eco-terrorists, convicted bombers, and workshops on making pornography have all disgraced the halls of American University."
The petition also states that those who sign it are against past behavior of NCOR participants.
"NCOR also has a history of destruction of property and harassment of students," the petition states. "In the past two years, there have been damages of several hundred dollars recorded to American University as a result of NCOR participants. Students have also complained about harassment for meal swipes by NCOR participants and student meetings held in Mary Gradon [sic] Center rooms were stormed by protestors."
"Our ultimate goal is to collect as many signatures on the Web site as possible and to bring this matter to the Board of Trustees and Housing and Dinning," Myslinski and Prosperi said.
NCOR President Elizabeth Sanders said she wished petition organizers had sought an "open dialogue" with her and other conference organizers before creating the petition.
"We feel the lines of communication could have been opened before now," Sanders said. "We are working with the administration to remedy the problems [from] the past."
Sanders said the petition made "some valid points" and she agreed that it is "unacceptable to come to this campus and disrespect this campus." However, she said NCOR paid for the $1,200 in damages out of its own pocket, using money raised from the conference.
Another charge levied against NCOR is that it uses student activity fee funds to host its annual conference, in addition to the $12 charged to all conference attendees. The Eagle previously reported that the $12 fee helps pay for lunches, advertising and speaker transportation costs. In addition, organizations wishing to host a table at the conference must pay between $25 and $75 for a table slot, according to the NCOR Web site.
Josh Kramer, chairman of the AU Club Council, said NCOR is a valuable conference to AU students and to the university as a whole.
"[NCOR] is an important event for the university and for a lot of people nationally," Kramer said. "It deserves the right to be funded like any other student organization."
Kramer said NCOR, like every other campus club wishing to receive funding from the AUCC, submitted a budget and attended an AUCC hearing where council members voted on how much NCOR should receive. This year the club received $4,500 in funding, an increase from the $3,250 it received last year.
The budget increase was a result of "very impressive improvements," including an "outside organizational committee," which tries to address some of the complainants brought against NCOR in past years, Kramer said.
Myslinski and Prosperi said in the e-mail they think NCOR is not structured like other AU clubs funded by the AUCC.
"NCOR is, as its name says, a national conference. It is not directly aimed at AU students," they said. "Also, to our knowledge, NCOR does not have the same structure as every club on campus; they do not have a treasurer or executive board and do not hold regular general meetings. Every other club on this campus is comprised of students, and we do not believe that student funds should be directed to an outside organization."
Some critics of the conference have said NCOR should not be funded by the AUCC because Kramer and other members have participated in past conferences.
Kramer said he is proud to say he attended NCOR, saying it shows the diversity of the AUCC. Additionally, he said it would be unfair to mandate that AUCC members not be part of controversial campus groups, because that would threaten the diversity the AUCC currently has.
Jordan Haverly, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, said he also disagrees with the level of AUCC funding NCOR receives.
"I have no problem with NCOR hosting a conference on campus," he said. "Everyone is entitled to their opinions. My problem is with their funding. They get more funding than the College Democrats and College Republicans, and most of their participants aren't even AU students."
Student reaction to the conference has been very heated. Some said NCOR has been a great asset to their experience at AU.
"[Being] the location of NCOR was one of the reasons I chose American University, and I will fight for its preservation," said Meryl Kopy, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. "It's important that we work together to address the concerns of everyone involved here, instead of simply shutting down a conference which has become very important to many people."
The Student Government is currently organizing a public forum to discuss NCOR's presence on campus.
"We're going to be holding a meeting next week to start a discussion. ... It's becoming an issue," said Ben Murray, speaker of the Undergraduate Senate, saying he hopes the forum will bring individuals from different viewpoints together.
