The Georgetown student arrested last semester during an anti-military protest has been sentenced to three months in federal prison.
Sophomore Dont’e Smith (COL ‘08) appeared before the Federal Middle District Court of Georgia on Monday morning to plead guilty to trespassing onto a military base last November. Smith had traveled with other Georgetown students on an annual trip to protest outside Fort Benning, the headquarters of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Military Cooperation, more commonly known as the School of the Americas.
“As it stands, I have six to eight weeks before I self-report to the federal prison system,” Smith said. He says he will serve his sentence at a location somewhere around D.C. or his home city of Houston.
Smith, who planned on withdrawing for one semester only, went before an academic hearing board earlier this month and was suspended for a year after being told that his academics would suffer.
“They felt it was in my best interest not to be at Georgetown and wished me luck,” Smith said.
Over 180 protesters have spent time in prison for protesting the continued operation of the School of the Americas base, according to the School of the Americas Watch, the organization that has helped Smith cover fines and legal bills. The SOA states that its mission is “to provide professional education and training” while “promoting democratic values, respect for human rights and knowledge and understanding of United States customs and traditions.” Protesters have countered that graduates of the facility have gone on to commit some of the most egregious human rights violations in Latin America.
For now, Smith is planning on spending time with his family and is unsure of whether he will attempt to reapply to Georgetown.
His current plan is to become an activist against the School of the Americas by going on a speaker tour to universities around the East Coast and Texas, and to raise money to cover his $500 fine, as well as to reach out to support people before his prison term.
“I’m really at peace with my decision,” Smith says. “The judge said our actions are meaningless since the school is still there. I’m going to be a lot more active pushing for this place to close.”
