More than 1,000 people have signed a petition to “Free the Penn State 31” — the 31 anti-sweatshop activists who were arrested after an Old Main sit-in nearly two weeks ago.
Still, though there are hundreds of signatures on the petition asking Penn State President Graham Spanier to drop the charges against the activists, there is something that hasn’t been signed yet: the documents actually charging the 31 activists.
District Judge Jonathan Grine will not view or sign the charges until early next week, a secretary at his office said.
The students are not formally charged until Grine signs the criminal complaints, she said.
Penn State police filed charges against the 31 activists associated with groups United Students Against Sweatshops and Student Labor Action Project Friday after they refused to leave Old Main when it closed at 5 p.m. April 15, university police director Steve Shelow said.
Shelow said each person will be charged with a subsection of criminal trespass called defiant trespass, a third-degree misdemeanor.
Protester Stephanie Chapman, who was arrested at the sit-in, said the charge could carry a $2,500 fine or a year in prison.
According to a university press release, the students “may have an opportunity to receive a fine and/or apply for Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, which is a pre-trial program designed to allow first-time, non-violent offenders to circumvent a trial and clear their records.”
Last week, Grine said he assumed the university would charge the protestors with a summary offense instead of the more severe misdemeanor charge.
“A summary offense in Pa. could be up to about a $300 fine, court costs of about $122, and/or up to 90 days in jail,” Grine said last week. “I wouldn’t give anyone jail time for something like that.”
The Office of Judicial Affairs will also review the cases and decide if it merits judicial review, Penn State spokesman Geoff Rushton said.
Shelow said the decision to file charges was made by university police and the Centre County District Attorney’s office.
The students were advocating that Spanier support the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP), a fair labor initiative.
Ben Brewer (senior-Spanish), who was among the students arrested, said he has not heard anything from police besides a phone call last Thursday notifying him of the charge.
According to the group, administrators wrote a notice to the students right before the arrest, informing them that refusal to leave the building would result in arrest, but that “Penn State commends the civility of the students … ”
Brewer said the student groups will hold a rally at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Old Main lawn to show support for anti-sweatshop apparel and for the students who will be charged.
