Word: violas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...these bases, Ryan-who conducted his own defense-sought to argue his case within the framework of Harvard's social and political commitments, instead of adhering to the narrower criteria on which Harvard and Viola were determined to judge him. He did not attempt to exonerate himself in any strictly legal sense; he freely acknowledged that he was demonstrating on May 11, and his argument concerning the May 8 picket line was intended to demonstrate Harvard's motives in prosecuting him as well as his own innocence. And as long as he refused to speak in Viola's legal jargon...
...trial began, a Harvard graduate student rose to read a petition which Ryan had circulated around Harvard to gain support for his position. Viola ordered him removed from the courtroom. Midway through the trial, he also ejected a group of five or six people for heckling him. As Viola began constantly overruling Ryan's arguments, the spectators hissed and booed him, and he repeatedly threatened to clear the courtroom. Finally, the judge placed a policeman in the rear of the court with orders to arrest anyone who made a sound during the trial...
Suddenly, during Ryan's summation, police arrested John Pennington '68-4, National Secretary of SDS, and charged him with contempt of court. Then, after cutting Ryan off for the last time, Viola ordered the courtroom cleared. As one or two plainclothesmen ushered the coterie of Harvard officials into a safe corner, Ryan's witnesses and 75 spectators were forcefully driven out and away from the courtroom building. During the mel?c, police seized three other spectators on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to assault and battery on a policeman. All four arrested now face prison terms...
...When Judge Viola had the courtroom cleared, Cheyney's witnesses were dragged from the witness seats; the Harvard witnesses, Deans May and Williamson and Archibald Cox, were allowed to stay. Plainclothesmen inside punched and shoved a number of the spectators, and when the latter started calling for the Harvard representatives to come out, police produced clubs and beat students out of the courthouse and down several streets...
...reason for all this was in the meanwhile becoming clear. Viola and the Harvard witnesses retired to the judge's chambers to confer for ten minutes...