Iowa State athletic department officials have denied a student organization’s request to stop using the services of Holiday Inn for traveling teams.

Students for a Free Tibet, a nationwide organization with an Ames chapter, has requested support for a boycott against the hotel chain and insists that the department relinquish its patronage. The boycott, which began March 10, serves to protest Holiday Inn’s role in the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Holiday Inn’s hotel in Llasa, Tibet’s capital city, hands over a large percentage of its revenue to the Chinese government, said Ryan Bergman, president of ISU’s chapter of Students for a Free Tibet. Human rights officials say Tibet citizens have been subject to injustices at the hands of the Chinese since their invasion in 1949. In addition to the boycott, the ISU students will join the International Tibet Support Community and about 280 other student groups nationwide on April 5 in protest.

Bergman sent a letter to ISU Athletic Director Eugene Smith on March 4, alerting him of the situation in Tibet and urging him to stop the utilization of Holiday Inn.

He said Smith’s written reply stated that he didn’t have the personal authority to participate in the boycott.

“I’d like to find out who does have the authority,” Bergman said.

Smith was unavailable to comment.

Barb Houk, assistant to the athletic director, would not comment on the department’s behalf.

Nonviolent protests at Holiday Inns are expected in many cities around the country. Students for a Free Tibet at ISU will rally at the University Park Holiday Inn, 1800 50th St., in West Des Moines.

Bergman said the protest will begin at 11 a.m.

Dennis Hale, general manager of the West Des Moines Holiday Inn, said the protest is “a bad approach.”

“Holiday Inn as a company approves people to run their hotels,” he said.

“The protest is misdirected because this hotel has nothing to do with the one in Tibet. There is value to the cause, assuming the information I’ve received is correct. But focusing on Holiday Inn worldwide as a company would be of greater value than standing outside our hotel.”

Bergman disagreed.

“They profit off the name,” he said. “So they are connected whether they like it or not.”

Bergman said the organization’s goal is to end the “strict control and cruel treatment” of Tibetans under Chinese rule.

“What we think we can do is open people’s eyes about the human rights violations and put pressure on China,” he said. “It’s hard to understand how they can treat them this way.”

Bergman said Holiday Inn is one of many businesses that maintain a direct relationship with Chinese authorities in Tibet.

China’s communist government sent troops to invade Tibet in 1949. A treaty was imposed on the Tibetan government in May of that year. It acknowledged Chinese sovereignty over Tibet but recognized the Tibetan government’s autonomy with respect to Tibet’s internal affairs.