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Pho to by Ala n Pog u e Police arresting UT demonstrators, April 18, 1986. You’ve got a successful trial bar. You’ve got a number of consumer groups who have worked together on this issue. And I think you’ve got an ability to appeal to the following sensitivity: although Texas wasn’t around then, 200 years ago we threw out King George, and we’re not about to abide coming under the yoke of King Lloyd from London. These foreign reinsurers are very much behind driving down our personal injury rights to the lowest medieval common denominator. We’ve got to be very careful because this is part of an overall, multinational corporate strategy to keep telling us that we’ve got to cut our antitrust laws, cut our worker salaries, cut our environmental safeguards, cut our personal injury laws, in order to keep up with the foreign competition. And that’s got to stop before we wake up some day and find our standard of living at levels below anybody’s expectations. I know the insurance industry’s got its usual civil justice so-called “reform” coalition. They’re scaring the hell out of the manufacturers and the retailers in this state. And they’re revving up for a massive drive. I hope you try to make it an election issue this year. Try to make Mark White take a stand on that. And also support Jim Mattox because he’s now gone out on a limb and said he’s going to investigate the concerted, collusive activity in the insurance industry in manufacturing this crisis and whipsawing business policyholders for a political agenda. And there aren’t many attorney generals who are willing to do this. I think it will come to very interesting fruition. Because there is collusion. There is concerted effort by the rating bureaus, the insurance services and through the Lloyd’s of London re-insurance level. But let’s not just be satisfied with stopping them; let’s overwhelm them. Austin NIVERSITY OF TEXAS ad ministrators, by making stub born efforts to restrict student protest here, have transformed a small but vociferous anti-apartheid movement on campus into a groundswell of revolt against university rules on free speech and assembly. In one of the largest demonstrations since the Vietnam war years, hundreds of students gathered on the west mall of campus April 18 to chant antiapartheid and free speech slogans. The University maintained the demonstration was illegal and, over a period of two hours, made 182 arrests. According to University rules, demonstrations on the west mall must be authorized and must take place only between noon and 1 p.m. Two other locations on campus are designated as free speech areas, where students can rally without restrictions. The April 18 protest was preceded by a similarly unauthorized rally the previous week, on April 11. Eight antiapartheid organizers erected a makeshift shanty on the west mall, symbolizing living conditions for South African blacks. Students passed around a wellused megaphone, taking turns in blasting Administration policies and the failure of the UT System to divest holdings in companies that do business in South Africa. The crowd grew from a few dozen to about 400 protestors. By 3:30, as the rally drew to a close, UT police, Observer intern Beau Barton is a student at UT-Austin. backed up by city cops, had arrested 42 .people, 37 of them students. They were charged with a class B misdemeanor for “disruptive activities.” The University had tried to get cooperation from Travis County Attorney Ken Oden, but Oden advised UT police against making arrests. He suggested the officers could detain and identify the protestors, and if later evidence showed they had broken the law, arrests could be made then. After the arrests Oden said he did not intend to prosecute the students. “It’s a matter of school discipline,’ 7 he said. “In my opinion, [UT] should separate law from discipline.” Ronald Brown, vice president for student affairs, would not say which officials in the UT administration were consulted before the arrests. As for going against Oden’s advice, he said, “Ultimately you have to make decisions on your own. We were in the field and welcomed any advice or input, but we were the people who had to act.” Many students are hesitant to speak publicly about the events, as they now face disciplinary actions by the university dean’s office. The organizers of the event have not identified themselves, not wanting to be singled out by the university. But some students are openly critical. “We believe that if the arrests were not illegal, they were certainly uncalled for,” said Greg Milnor, one of those arrested. “It has become painfully obvious,” said Doug Barnes, another of the arrested students, “that the regents aren’t going to respond to quiet requests. It’s time to up the stakes.” Isolda Ortega, a 20-year-old nonstudent who was also arrested, said, Free Speech: Austin and Johannesburg By Beau Barton 14 MAY 2, 1986