Law enforcement officials discuss how to handle a sit-in organized by members of the Northern Rockies Rising Tides environmental activist group. (Photo courtesy of Murphy Woodhouse)

UM students arrested in state capitol sit-in protest

by Mike Gerrity | March 19, 2010 | Montana Kaimin

Five people, two of whom are University of Montana students, were arrested Thursday for participating in a sit-in protest in Helena that disrupted a state Land Board meeting on the decision to lease Otter Creek to a St. Louis coal mining company.

The protestors are affiliated with a Montana-based environmental activist group called Northern Rockies Rising Tide. They attended the meeting to voice their opposition to the sale of state-owned coal in Otter Creek to Arch Coal Inc.

Montana’s Land Board met at the Capitol building in Helena to call for public testimony on the proposed deal, which it later approved. The state will exchange the land and its $570 million worth of coal to Arch Coal for $85.8 million.

Nick Stocks, a member of the environmental activist group that attended the meeting, said that after the board heard an hour and a half of public comments that spoke both for and against the plan, Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch made a motion to lease Otter Creek to the coal company.

At that moment, five men and women stood up and began chanting, “You’re not listening! Hands off Otter Creek!” After they walked to the middle of the room, they linked arms and sat down, repeating the mantra over and over.

The arrested protestors were Max Granger, 23, Genevieve Schroeder, 21, Mary Rosette, 21, Michael Phelps, 29, and Shelby Cunliffe, 24. Granger and Schroeder are both University of Montana students.

Brent Rowley, another member present at the meeting, said Gov. Brian Schweitzer called for a recess to the meeting so law enforcement could come and remove the protestors.

Cunliffe, who graduated from UM last year, said that all five of the protesters had gone into the meeting expecting to walk out in handcuffs.

“We had already gathered all the money for bail and whatnot,” she said.

Video footage of the protest showed the protestors sitting on the floor with their arms linked together while several Helena police officers talked with them. The five did not appear to resist the officers and stood up on their own to be handcuffed for disorderly conduct and led out of the meeting room.

Cunliffe said she was the first person to be taken into custody. She said the officers were gentle and kind to them during their arrest and detainment in the Helena jail.

“We were very civil,” she said. “We were complying 100 percent.”

She said the group members had planned to comply with police because they wanted to appear as civil as possible and because the price of the fines would have gone up significantly if they had not.

After they were all removed from the Capitol, the meeting resumed and the Land Board voted in favor of leasing Otter Creek to the coal company.

Cunliffe was taken with the other protestors to jail in Helena, where they spent almost 8 hours in two cells, one for the two men and one for the three women.

“We just napped and talked. It was kind of nice actually,” Cunliffe said.

By the end of the night, they heard that the New York Times and Wall Street Journal were picking up their story. Although the land was ultimately leased, Cunliffe hoped that with more people aware of the deal, they would be able to speak out against development of the land down the road.

“With more people knowing, we can have more support,” she said.

The protestors are due to appear in court at 9:30 a.m. Friday in Helena.

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Editor’s note: Murphy Woodhouse, who submitted the photo for this story, traveled with the protesters. He is a former Kaimin reporter.

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