The day after students from the Diversity and Transparency Rally staged a sit-in in the lobby of Crouse-Hinds Hall, protesters are still holding their ground.

Forty students slept over night in the lobby area of Crouse-Hinds on Monday and plan to stay in the building until Thursday when the Board of Trustees will meet. Protesters marched to the building following the DAT Rally, which was organized through THE General Body, a coalition of about 50 student organizations. Students then spent the night in the lobby, with Department of Public Safety staff there as well.

The only time protesters are leaving the sit-in is to go to class, said Anna Moon, a sophomore art education major and one of the protesters who slept in the lobby overnight.

“Obviously this is about how important our education is, so skipping class would be counterproductive,” Moon said.

Moon added that other students can join the sit-in at anytime and do not have to sleep over night to be apart of the protest.

Faculty, staff and students have also brought food for protesters during the sit-in. Miles Marcotte, a junior geography major and one of the protesters, said the group has set up a meal calendar on a website called meal train, which helps people sign up for times to bring food to the sit-in.

Jonathan Schmidt, a freshman political science major and one of the protesters, added that the group will not meet with the administration again until the chancellor comes back to campus.

The administration also began a reading period so it could understand the list of grievances and prepare for the next meeting with the group, Marcotte said. An initial meeting was held with about 20 protesters and members of senior administration on Monday.

Protesters have also displayed signs in the lobby describing rules for the sit-in and the schedule for the day.

The schedule for Tuesday includes a negotiation team meeting from 2 – 3:30 p.m., a teach-in by women’s and gender studies professors Dana Olwan and Himika Bhattacharya at 7 p.m., and a meeting of THE General Body at 8 p.m. All of the events are open to the public and will be held in the lobby of Crouse-Hinds.

Marcotte said he thinks the sit-in is going well so far and he has met a lot of new people by joining THE General Body’s sit-in.

“It’s amazing for me, because most of the people here I don’t recognize,” he said. “It’s different people across all student groups. And I think that’s where our strength is, like the strength in difference, in the strength in diversity.”

Published on November 4, 2014 at 1:40 pm

Contact Anna: almerod@syr.edu