A group of protesters participating in the Occupy movement gathered on campus last Wednesday to express their opposition to what they see as San Diego State’s use of the student code of conduct to deter students from protesting against the California State University system.

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Ashley Wardle, the SDSU graduate student arrested at a CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach, and later tried by SDSU’s Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities, was present. Her arrest and dealings with SDSU’s disciplinary process sparked these rallies against the use of CSU’s student code of conduct.

There were several other graduate students protesting alongside the occupiers. Political science graduate student Amir Shoja spoke about his discontent with the way the CSU system is currently utilizing the code of conduct.

“They’re essentially using disciplinary code quite randomly, like the way they picked out Wardle,” Shoja said. “It’s them trying to make an example of students, so they’re afraid to contest (the trustees’) decisions.”

Wardle, Shoja and the rest of the group there to protest began their “mic check.” One person yelled out a message, the rest of the group then echoed the speaker, magnifying the volume of the speaker’s message.

“Public universities should be conducive to political activism,” several activists chanted on the steps of Manchester Hall. “Public universities should never bar student voices from the decision-making process that affects the student body.

“We will protest, and we won’t accept the use of the student code of conduct to silence us.”