By CRAIG FREILICH POTSDAM – Police expecting a demonstration downtown today have a mission of “keeping everybody safe,” according to Acting SUNY Potsdam Police Chief Tim Ashley. College public …
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By CRAIG FREILICH
POTSDAM – Police expecting a demonstration downtown today have a mission of “keeping everybody safe,” according to Acting SUNY Potsdam Police Chief Tim Ashley.
College public relations representatives believe students will gather at the student union before they take their protest downtown at around noon.
Neither the college spokespeople, Potsdam Village Police or SUNY police claim any knowledge of where the protest will be, but police are warning motorists that traffic is likely to be disrupted.
Student protests have been mounting since a third hate letter was sent to a SUNY Potsdam faculty member.
On Nov. 24, SUNY Potsdam officials said a message described as a racist, homophobic death threat had been discovered directed at Prof. John Youngblood and the larger campus community. Youngblood had received similar threats in the spring. A former student, Amjad Hussein, was arrested charged Nov. 12 with felony harassment as a hate crime.
Students have demonstrated on campus, at the registrar’s office and at the office of the dean of students, at a basketball game, and elsewhere on campus. Their message has been that black students don’t feel the school has done enough to protect them in light of the threats in the most recent letter.
Ashley said the goal of the police today is to “keep everybody safe while they put out their message.”
He also said police plan to try to divert road traffic around road blockages.