CHRIS CODUTO /Arizona Daily Wildcat Rachel Wilson, a speech and hearing sciences employee, waves a peace sign during a protest inside the lobby of the Administration Building March 5.

Charges against the UA employee who was arrested March 5 after she and three students locked themselves to a railing in the Administration building were dropped Wednesday.

The students were referred to the diversion program.

Rachel Wilson, a speech and hearing sciences employee; political science sophomore Yuske J. Banno; engineering and physics sophomore Shawn Nock and biology freshman Laura Showalter were arrested earlier in the month on charges of interfering with the peaceful conduct of an educational institution and criminal trespassing, both misdemeanors.

Nock, who was engaged in a 24-hour anti-war protest last night inside a study room on the fourth floor of the Main Library, said Wednesday's arraignment went well.

"The charges were unfair. We weren't blocking any way to get into the building. They were the ones who shut it down," Nock said.

Nock said that he, Showalter and Banno still have to be accepted into the Dean of Students' program. There, they'll have to perform community service and write an essay, he said.

If they aren't accepted, they'll face a second arraignment in six months, at which the judge could refer them to Pima County's diversion program.

Nock said the 24-hour protest he's involved in could move out to the UA Mall by tonight after a meeting between the protesters, an attorney from the AFL-CIO and university administrators.

Nock said his group was told not to protest on the Mall, which violates the area's purpose as a free speech area. He said his group's defense was a case that the university lost more than decade ago against a group similar to his that also wanted to hold an ongoing vigil on the UA Mall.

No matter what, Wilson has said, the protests will continue.

When the four were arrested in the March 5 protest, they were demonstrating against the university's decision to hike tuition by $1,000 despite plans for the federal government to enter into the war with Iraq.

They rallied on the Mall in front of the Administration building during the lunch hour and ultimately ran into the lobby, locked themselves to a handicap railing with U-locks and chained the locks together.

They remained locked to the railing for nearly four hours as officers and fire fighters tried to safely free them.