Yale arrests, releases Brazilian reporter for trespassing

A persistent reporter from Brazil found herself arrested, handcuffed, and jailed for several hours after she tried to track down her country's top judge at a Yale Law School event last week.

Claudia Trevisan, the US correspondent for O Estado de S Paulo, was released from her jail cell that same evening of September 26, and charges of criminal trespassing were dropped, as requested by Law School Dean Robert Post ’77JD—but not before the incident drew international coverage and protests from her newspaper and the Brazilian consulate in Hartford.

Yale defends the arrest, handcuffing, and brief imprisonment, saying that Trevisan tried to sneak into what she knew was a private gathering "by misrepresenting herself" to Yale police.

Trevisan tells a different story.

Last Thursday, she says in a blog post and in an interview with the New Haven Independent, she got word from her editors that Joaquim Barbosa—Brazil's controversial, corruption-fighting chief justice—would be at Yale Law School for a Global Constitutional Seminar that afternoon. She contacted the law school's communications director, who told her that the event was closed to the public and the press.

Trevisan replied by e-mail that she would come to New Haven anyhow in hopes that Barbosa would agree to speak with her as he entered or left the seminar.

"Believe me, I would rather not stand on the sidewalk of Yale," said her message, as quoted in the Independent. "My newspaper in Brazil really wants me to do this. I would appreciate if the organizers of the event could let [Barbosa] know that I will be there and would like very much to talk with him."

When she reached the law school, Trevisan says in her blog post, a security guard told her she could look around for the seminar. Eventually she concluded it was taking place elsewhere and headed for Woolsey Hall, where other Global Constitution Seminar events were scheduled.

What she found at Woolsey will sound familiar to those who have passed through the building's rotunda, which connects Beinecke plaza to the busy intersection at College, Grove, and Prospect streets:

Its doors were wide open and a lot of people crossed the hall to go from a square to the street at the other side. There were tourists, people chat[t]ing, a musical group rehearsing. Nobody to ask for information. No security.

"I went the upper floor and saw a policeman," Trevisan continues. "I went straight to him and asked if the seminar was being hel[d] there. My intention was to make sure and wait to the minister outside. I did not attempt to enter the room where the event was happening. The policeman did not answer my question and asked me to follow him, which I did."

Back on the ground floor, "he began to interrogate me," Trevisan writes:

I gave him my passport. I did not identify myself as a journalist, but said I was looking for minister Barbosa and had the intention to wait for him outside the building. We walked to one of the doors and when we were out and asked for my passport back. He refused to give it to me. That was the only moment in which I lost my temper. “You cannot to that”, I said. And he replied: “Yes, I can. We know who you are, you are a reporter (what a crime!!!), we have your picture and you were told several times that you could not be here”. Yes, I am a reporter, but this is not a crime.

In an initial statement defending the arrest, Yale said that Trevisan had been told that the seminar was private "and that she was not permitted on Yale property"—a seemingly strong response on a campus that hosts many public events and has numerous semi-public areas, including the downtown city street that houses the law school.

"She came onto Yale property, entered the law school without permission, and proceeded to enter another building where the attendees of the seminar were meeting," that statement said.

A later and more detailed statement does not mention the preemptive warning to stay off Yale property. Nor does it repeat the assertion that Trevisan "entered the law school without permission." But it does contend that Trevisan "sought to gain entry to the private gathering" on the second floor of Woolsey Hall "by misrepresenting herself to the Yale Police officer who was providing security at the event, claiming to be 'looking for a friend.'”

Trevisan denies entering the law school without permission and denies trying to crash the private meeting, although she acknowledges that she didn't identify herself as a journalist.

Yale's second statement also says Trevisan's conduct "should be contrasted to that of another Brazilian journalist who attempted to gain entry to the event. This journalist was informed that the meeting was private, and he agreed respectfully to wait on public property to interview those participants who wished to speak to the press."

In an e-mail, university spokesman Tom Conroy adds: "The reporters' requests to interview [Barbosa] were forwarded on behalf of the reporters to the judge and he declined the requests and the reporters were informed of that."

Yale's statements apparently did not satisfy Cezar Amaral, Brazil's Consul General in Hartford. “If this happened with an American correspondent in Brazil, it would be a scandal,” he told the New Haven Independent. “It would be front-page news.”

Yale's two statements are reproduced in full below.

Initial statement (September 28, 2013):

Before she came to the Yale Campus on September 26 to attempt to interview Justice Barbosa, Ms. Trevisan was told that the Global Constitutionalism Seminar attended by Justice Barbosa was a private event closed to the public and the media, and that she was not permitted on Yale property. She came onto Yale property, entered the Law School without permission, and proceeded to enter another building where the attendees of the Seminar were meeting.  When asked why she was in the building, she stated that she was looking for a friend she was supposed to meet. She was arrested for trespassing. The police followed normal procedures and Ms. Trevisan was not mistreated in any way. Although the arrest for trespass was justified, the university does not plan to pursue the charge with the local prosecutor. The Law School and Yale University accommodate hundreds of journalists in the course of a year at public campus events and for interviews with members of the Yale community and visitors. As with all journalists, Ms. Trevisan is welcome to attend any public event at Yale and speak with anyone who wishes to grant her an interview.

Statement from Yale University and Yale Law School (September 29, 2013):

Each year Yale Law School convenes a gathering of senior judicial officials from around the world. The proceedings of this gathering are private; Yale Law School is committed to providing an opportunity for participants freely to discuss issues of shared importance in an environment that supports candid communication. Because the attendees are justices on various courts, the event requires heightened security, including the presence of police officers. The safety and security of the attendees are of paramount importance.
 
When Ms. Trevisan initially contacted the Law School requesting to attend the event, she was told by law school administrators that the event was private and not open to the public or the press.
 
Ms. Trevisan sought to gain entry to the private gathering by misrepresenting herself to the Yale Police officer who was providing security at the event, claiming to be “looking for a friend.” The event was being held in a private room in a university building outside the law school. Although the first floor of this building is generally accessible to the public, this event was taking place on the second floor in a private room.  Staff who were present identified Ms. Trevisan as having previously been informed of the private nature of the event.
 
Because of her attempts to enter the private meeting and because she misrepresented her intentions to a police officer, Ms. Trevisan was escorted from the building and arrested for trespassing. As a matter of standard procedure, she was handcuffed.
 
When Ms. Trevisan was asked for identification, she presented her passport to the officer as her official ID. Once the officer copied down her identifying information (name, address, date of birth), her passport was put back in her purse, which was returned to her following processing, again, in keeping with standard police procedure. The Yale Police Department does not seize or confiscate passports or other identification.
 
When Yale Law School Dean Robert Post was informed that an arrest had taken place, he immediately requested that Ms. Trevisan be released and that the charges be dropped.
 
The case of Ms. Trevisan should be contrasted to that of another Brazilian journalist who attempted to gain entry to the event. This journalist was informed that the meeting was private, and he agreed respectfully to wait on public property to interview those participants who wished to speak to the press.
 
Yale University, including the Yale Law School, welcomes hundreds journalists annually to campus for events open to the public.