From: Jim choate <ravage@bga.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 94 12:44:45 PDT
To: jamesd@netcom.com (James A. Donald)
Subject: Re: Voluntary Governments?
In-Reply-To: <199408231830.LAA01197@netcom7.netcom.com>
Message-ID: <199408231937.OAA11982@zoom.bga.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


> 
> And if MIT built some prison cells under the Admin building and started
> locking people up in the dungeons for long periods, then people would
> call MIT a government.

Can't speak for MIT but I can speak for UT Austin, they do have cells to hold
prisoners. The security forces at that school attend the Tx Dept. of Public
Safety training school and hold state law enforcement positions. The last
thing you want to do is really piss one of these guys, you would end up
in one of the state prisons for several years, Huntsville probably.

Schools can use physical force against their students. I have personaly seen
assaults on the presidents office when a group of students took it over in
the late 80's because of UT Austin holdings in S. Africa.  I have seen them
knock the holy shit out of students for nothing more than simply refusing to
move fast enough. The officers stormed the office in full riot gear with 
M16 automatic rifles and smoke grenades.

I suspect that MIT's security forces, even though it is a private school,
hold 'peace officer' ratings and this implies that they can carry weapons
at any time (though they don't usually). This holds for the small community
college that I work at now as well. The officers don't carry guns as a regular
part of their uniform except during registration when there are large amounts
of cash on campus or when important officials visit the campus(es).

Contact the head of security at MIT and ask for a tour of their facilities.
they usually grant such requests.