-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the March 20, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------

UMass building takeover

Solidarity wins aid for students of color

By Mahtowin

About 175 students at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst campus occupied a campus administration building on March 3 in what was to lead to a victory for equal rights.

They demanded greater diversity as well as free child care on campus, an end to unfair and oppressive practices in financial aid and billing, and increased academic support.

Daily rallies of hundreds of students, faculty, and staff outside the Goodell Administration Building supported the takeover. Students also staged over night vigils in a tent city to ensure the safety of those inside the building.

In a tremendous demonstration of solidarity, about 2,000 students walked out of class on the morning of March 7.

On March 8, the students left the Goodell Building after university administrators agreed to many of their demands. United throughout the six days of occupation and struggle, the students who had occupied the building reached agreement on the accord through a consensus process.

ALANA leads struggle

The Asian, Latino, African and Native American Student Organization led the building take-back.

In 1992, ALANA students took over the admissions building to protest the lack of diversity on campus. Then, the university agreed to raise the population of people of color on campus to 20 percent within two years.

The administration did not live up to that 1992 agreement.

As a result, on March 3--the sixth anniversary of the beating of Rodney King-students rallied outside the Student Union and then staged a sit-in in the lobby of the controller's office. Because of strong on-campus support, this sit-in progressed to an occupation of the entire Goodell Building.

Campus police responded by shutting down the building and phone lines and by trying to prevent access to the students inside.

The university administrators' attempt to isolate the protesters was futile. Many individuals and organizations from the surrounding communities, from the campus, and from other campuses brought in food and other supplies to the building occupiers.

The Graduate Employee Organization, UAW Local 2322, University of Massachussetts-Amherst staff and faculty, and students from many other universities supported the students. Campuses from which support came included Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Boston University and other University of Massachusetts campuses.

That outside support was the key element that forced the university administration to negotiate seriously.

The students won an agreement from the campus administration to recommit to specific percentage goals for a more diverse student body, faculty and staff. They also won an additional counselor.

They did not win all their demands. For example, the university only agreed to a task force to study child-care issues. But the real victory was much bigger than whether or not the administration met all the demands. The real victory was the students' ability to bring so many struggles together.

Why the takeover succeeded

Nelson Acosa, director of the Office of ALANA Affairs and a Latino student leader, told Workers World: "This takeover was successful for a number of reasons. The fact that the students stood up for their rights has had the impact of energizing the entire campus and deepening the solidarity among students of all nationalities-Black, Latino, Asian, Native American and white. We also enjoyed the support of other campuses in this region.

"This action has also helped to educate the campus staff and faculty to the special needs that students of color have been struggling around for many decades due to the many decades of racism. The passage of Proposition 187 in California and its impact here has helped to up the ante in the struggle for social justice and change."

The inspiring unity and support shown were a result of the broad demands issued by the ALANA leadership. Those demands involved issues that touched most of the student body.

Black, Latino, Native, Asian and white students fought side by side for increased financial aid and free child care as well as for affirmative action. White students supported the demands of students of color.

As Acosa put it, "In this period of political reaction, when the haves are taking away all the hard-won rights of the have-nots, it is more important now than ever for students, workers and all the poor to organize, unite and fight back against a system that would rather build prisons for the youth, rather than provide good education and decent-paying jobs for all."

The takeover was a good example of how to do this.

- END -

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://www.workers.org)

Copyright © 1997 workers.org