2008 Woodie Awards
Twenty years later
On April 18, 1988, a group of UVM students entered the President's wing of the Waterman Building asking secretaries and policy-makers alike to vacate the area
Christopher Madden
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Features
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On a campus consisting of many students who pride themselves on voicing strong, often controversial opinions through protest, this historic milestone in our University's past will go uncelebrated, if remembered at all.
The Cynic reported on April 21, 1988, that after months of unsuccessful discussions between the Black Student Union (BSU), the Asian American Student Union (AASU) and then UVM president Lattie Coor, students had grown upset and angry with the University's indecisiveness and inability to cater to the simple requests of campus groups.
Around noon on April 18, 1988, a group of students-primarily members of the AASU - inspired by past UVM protests like those following Martin Luther King Jr.'s death in 1968, entered the President's wing of the Waterman Building asking secretaries and policy makers alike to vacate the area within five minutes, an April 19, 1988 Burlington Free Press article reported .
Among the requests of the students were the following: (1) each department was to have at least one faculty member of color; (2) the student population of color must represent the population of color in the United States; (3) the creation of a required course for first-year students on race studies and race sensitivity; and (4) the recognition by the administration that students of color regularly faced racist attitudes on campus, occasionally from their own professors, according to an April 19, 1988 Burlington Free Press article.
But when the students entered the building, their requests turned to demands. After clearing the President's wing, those students who were not of color were asked to leave in order that the 20 or so students of color would not be overlooked. This was not to be a social event but a dramatic action taken by students who were personally affected by the negligence of the University.
All but one of the employees of the University left without incident. Provost John W. Hennessey Jr. who was the only faculty member to remain, who explained to the students that the president was out of town and that he would not vacate for fear of infiltration by the students into sensitive school documents and offices in which students had no business, according to an April 21, 1988 Burlington Free Press article.
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George
posted 4/14/08 @ 8:42 PM EST
If this protest were to happen today, it would be considered an act of terrorism and the students would be tear gassed and tasered.
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