UMass group ends sit-in with victory

Officials agreed to several of the protesters' demands for increased minority representation. Students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst campus ended a week-long sit-in recently after administrators agreed to several of their demands for increased minority representation at the school. The incident began as a non-violent rally March 1, which concluded with over 150 members and supporters of the Asian, Latin, African and Native American associations occupying the Controller's Office in Goodell Hall. The students presented administrators with a list of demands, including greater diversification of the student body, more financial aid for low-income students and increased minority representation among faculty and staff. UMass junior Cassandra Jean-Danis -- who participated in the sit-in, -- said the demonstrators chose to occupy the Controller's Office in order to get the administration's attention. "It's the hub of the bureaucratic wheel that does everything for the administration," she said. "What better way to let them know that we're serious?" The students addressed their demands to Chancellor David Scott, but Deputy Vice Chancellor Marcellette Williams led the negotiations with the protesters because Scott was in Mexico. Students occupied the building for the next six days, and presented the administration with nine demands for greater minority presence on campus which they said was the minimum commitment they expected from the administration. UMass senior and student negotiator Maurice Caston-Powe said administrators only accepted three of students' demands. "Emotions ran high for both sides when students expressed their struggles and experiences with discrimination here," he said, adding that by the end of the meeting "there wasn't a dry eye in the room." March 7, negotiators for the administration presented students with a list of 21 steps they were willing to take in response to the nine student demands -- including a pledge to increase minority representation to 20 percent of the student body. "I believe our long-term goal of attaining 20 percent non-white students is socially and educationally responsible," Scott said in a written release. "Twenty-five percent of the nation's population is non-white, and nearly 20 percent of the Massachusetts high school population is non-white and both numbers are going up." The administration also agreed to allocate $70,000 a year for a Native American support program, reduce the number of registration holds due to outstanding bills by May and increase need-based financial aid. Caston-Powe explained that administrators ordered students to leave Goodell Hall by Saturday afternoon so that business could return to normal -- and that they threatened to arrest any students who remained in the building. He added that if any students had been arrested, the administration had stressed that it would no longer be bound by its commitments. The students debated late into the night about whether they wanted to accept the 21 commitments or continue the sit-in in hopes of receiving more concessions, Caston-Powe said. They eventually decided to end the sit-in and vacated the building March 8. "We figured we had won any way you look at it," Caston-Powe explained. "We now have 21 commitments from the university that weren't there before."