Stetement of Protest Against the Administrative Members of Waseda University
To:
Katsuhiko Shirai, President of Waseda
University
E-ichiro Nojima, President of the Student
Department
Yoichi Shimada, Chairman of the Department of Student
Affairs
Hidehiko
Fukuda, Officer of the Department of Students¹Activities
On April 1st 2008, a senior student of the faculty
of Jurisprudence at Waseda University in Tokyo was about to install a billboard
protesting a new regulation prohibiting student activities at the time of the
annual welcoming ceremony. He was suddenly taken away and arrested by private
university officials on the charge of trespassing. He was eventually turned in
to the police.
The conduct of the university officials cannot be
justified. In the first place they have no authority whatsoever to arrest him
and turn him in to the police. Secondly, up until 2006, many groups presented
their billboards and gave speeches in the same public space during the ceremony;
it did not interrupt the ceremony. Then why did it come to be prohibited
beginning from 2007?
As some of you might remember, on December 20th
2005, a similar incident took place at the same Waseda University. An activist
who was distributing leaflets protesting the university reforms was privately
arrested by officials of the Literature Department and then turned in to the
police. The university administration was criticized for this conduct by many
people in and out of Japan. And now this recurred within less than three
years.
We believe that the problem in the extreme behavior of
Waseda University is not just of the university, but an embodiment of the
seriously disturbing tendency of the entire society. In Japan today, there are
innumerable incidents where people¹s
basic freedoms –
freedom of thought/conscience and freedom of speech –
protected by the constitution are violated. These affairs at Waseda are an
expression of the fact that the entire society has allowed a university, the
nurturer of speech, to trespass the ultimate line that has to be guarded in a
free society.
We hereby protest the conduct of Waseda University
officials and demand full explanation, apology, and compensation concerning this
misconduct immediately.
Petitioners:
Masakiho O-ishi (Professor of Waseda University)
Junichi Takahashi (Professor of Waseda University)
Shoji Hara (Professor of Waseda University)
Satoshi Ukai (Lecturer of Waseda University, Professor of
Hitotsubashi
University)
Hidenaga O-tori (Lecturer of Waseda University, Theater Critic)
Takumi Ide (PHD candidate of Waseda University)
Kensuke Nakayama (PHD candidate of Waseda University)
Shingo Hori (Student of Waseda University)
Keita Matsuura (Student of Waseda University)
Toshihiko Mineo (Student of Waseda University)
Kishu Izuchi (Film Director, Scenario Writer)
Yoshihiko Ichida (Professor of Kobe University)
Yu-ichi Ikeda (Literary Critic, Former Lecturer of Waseda University)
Mitsuyo Kakuta (Author)
Tatsuya Kimura (Associate Professor of Seijo University)
Hidemi Suga (Professor of Kinki University, Former
Professor of Waseda
University)
Teruo Takei (Literary Critic)
Gen Hirai (Music Critic, Former Lecturer of Waseda University)
Mitsuo Fukawa (Editor of Historical Studies of Printing )
Masafumi Yonetani (Lecturer of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) translated by Sabu Kohso