BEYOND THE HEDGES: Columbia students end seven days of protest
Students at Columbia University ended their protest for the creation of an ethnic studies department last Monday night.
The protests were a reaction to former Rice President and current Columbia University President George Rupp's refusal to create a department of ethnic studies as requested by the student body.
"Given the views expressed on these matters by my faculty and administrative colleagues, I see no likelihood of significant support for a Department of the study of African, Asian, Latino and Indigenous Peoples in the Americas," Rupp said in his letter. "Accordingly, I must inform you that I see no prospect for the meeting of this request."
The protest began on April 9 when 125 ethnic studies advocates took over Low Library. The group moved in following an afternoon demonstration rally in response to the decision. New York Police Department officers stormed the building the following morning. Twenty-two students were arrested for criminal trespassing and fire code violations.
Thursday, protesters moved their demonstration to Hamilton Hall and remained there until Monday night, when hunger strikers also ended their two-week protest.
The students left the building after NYPD officers threatened to arrest them.
The university did not meet the demands of the students and many left the building angry and dissatisfied. Columbia issued a statement saying that although its faculty did not want to create a separate department of ethnic studies, the university would pledge to "aggressively" expand offerings in ethnic areas.
-- Source: Columbia Daily Spectator, Columbia University, April 9-12, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 19.