by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
Jeanne Pahls, wife of former UNM professor and antiwar activist Robert Anderson, said she is upset by her husband's Sept. 29 arrest.
"I'm wondering why the police feel the need to slam someone on the ground for speaking the truth at a meeting that never should have occurred at UNM," she said. "I don't think that has any place at a university."
Pahls and at least five other people spoke in support of Anderson at a Board of Regents meeting Tuesday.
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Anderson was arrested on felony charges of battery on a police officer at a symposium about nuclear warheads at the SUB.
He said he was protesting the symposium because it didn't provide a balanced discussion about nuclear weapons.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge on Oct. 1.
"My husband went down there to speak the truth, and for it, he got shoved to the ground," Pahls said. "That's what happens when someone speaks the truth. It is a shameful day for the University."
Regent Mel Eaves said he takes issue with anyone who tries to limit free speech and is why Anderson's supporters were allowed to speak at the meeting.
Eaves did not attend the symposium.
"I don't know who was allowed to speak (at the symposium) and who wasn't," he said.
President David Harris declined comment.
Joseph Cecchi, dean of the UNM School of Engineering, said the Department of Defense provides research funding for schools, but there is no weapons research at UNM.
Cecchi said it is typical for universities to receive funds from the department without using it to research weapons.
Greg Mello, executive director of Los Alamos Study Group, an organization that supports nuclear disarmament, attended the symposium and spoke at the meeting. He said the symposium's panel did not represent the diversity of views on the weapons issue.
"There wasn't anything like an academic discussion going on," he said. "I think he was the least violent person in the room."
