From: nlns@igc.apc.org (New Liberation News Service)
Subject: NLNS: AFTERMATH OF STUDENT TAKEOVER
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 12:48:11 GMT

/* Written  6:20 pm  Oct 13, 1992 by nlns in cdp:nlns.news */
/* ---------- "NLNS Packet 3.3 *** 10/12/92" ---------- */

AFTERMATH
*York's (University, Toronto, Ontario) executive offices were 
stormed by 300 students last March. The students were furious 
after witnessing a series of racist incidents directed against 
black students by York's guards. Six months later, their 
demands are being met.  
But has York really changed?*

Excalibur Staff

(NLNS)--It was seven months ago--on March 12--when 
hundreds of angry students boarded elevators in York's Ross 
Building and took control of the university's highest offices for 
three hours.
	They came looking for President Harry Arthurs, wanting 
him to approve an eight-point plan to prevent further incidents 
of racist treatment and harassment by members of York's 
security force and bouncers at The Underground pub.
	"We want Harry!" students chanted in the ninth-floor 
presidential offices--some banging on walls or furniture--until 
they were told that Arthurs was "out of the country" (Excalibur 
later confirmed that he was less than 100 metres away).
	The crowd told startled staff in the office to produce the 
university's vice president instead. They were asked how many 
they wanted to see. "All of them," several students shot back.

List of Reforms
	Four of York's top bureaucrats arrived two hours later 
and listened to students while Metro Police cruisers waited 
below. The protesters gave the vice presidents a shortlist of 
reforms which included:
* A full-scale investigation of York Security by an 
external body approved by the students leading the protest.
* Immediate dismissal of any security officer convicted of 
"discriminatory behavior" by a new review committee of 
students, professors, and community members.
	Committee members would be chosed by the University's 
Office of Race and Ethnic Relations and by the protest leaders. 
The group would act on specific incidents of alleged 
discrimination, and review the entire security force each year
* The immediate dismissal of all non-student bouncers at 
The Underground nightclub in the Student Centre.
* Mandatory race relations training for security officers 
and officials.
* One additional full-time officer in the Race and Ethnic 
Relations office.
	Leaders of the protest said they wanted a meeting to 
work out the details and told the administrators they would 
not be given a choice.

Changed Atmosphere
	"We're giving you 15 minutes to give us a yes, or we're 
going to stay here," former Excalibur editor Jeannine Amber, 
standing on a desk above the vice presidents and holding a 
megaphone, said after she read the demands.
	Just as their time was about to run out, the vice 
presidents gave in. Four days later they met with 300 students 
in the York senate chambers. They were joined by Student 
Centre manager Rob Castle and York Security's executive 
director Pam MacDonald.
	The protest changed the atmosphere on the campus for 
black students, according to Heather Dryden, a York Federation 
of Students vice president and an organizer of the occupation.
	Security officers now know their actions are being 
watched and students are more likely to approach her or the 
Office of Race and Ethnic Relations with complaints, she said in 
an interview last week.
	"It's made students talk more. Students are getting to the 
point where they are not keeping things to themselves," said 
Dryden, who guides the federation's approach to social and 
equality issues.
	But Dryden said she objected to remarks about the 
occupation by incoming York president Susan Mann, who told 
Excalibur last month that student protesters chose the move 
because it was part of a "tradition" for the university and had 
"an aspect of fun."
	Dryden argued that all of the protesters were serious 
enough to risk their academic careers right before final exams. 
She also said Mann should have met the students herself.
	In the same interview, Mann had called the move "an 
action of last resort" and said it suggests "some people are 
unwilling to use [the] existing structure" of the university to 
resolve their complaints.
	"These students went through every single process they 
could think of and had doors slammed in their face the entire 
time," Dryden said.

John & Jane Doe
	In the weeks before the protest, students--especially 
black students--tried to draw attention to several reported 
examples of racist behavior by security officers and alleged 
assault by a pub bouncer.
	A parking lot attendant had repotedly told a black 
student "This is not the jungle." In another incident witnessed 
by a large crowd, two students, also black, were asked for 
identification by security guards while standing in the crowded 
student centre. An officer had singled the students out and told 
them they looked "too young." Security staff are not supposed 
to ask for identification unless they see an offense being 
committed.
	Black students reacted by wearing "John Doe" and "Jane 
Doe" name tags for the rest of the week. Security officials 
hesitated before choosing Al Mossman--a York security 
employee--to investigate the incident. Hearing about this, 
students started planning the occupation in secret.
	"It was just an acccumulation of things and then it was 
'This is it!' and then everybody decided unanimously that they 
were going to take action," said Althea Morgan, a fourth year 
English student who was the object of the "This is not the 
jungle" comment.
	Seven months later, most of what students demanded 
during the occupation has been accomplished.
	One security officer implicated by students during the 
protests was fired; another was suspended without pay and is 
now back at work.
	An additional full-time race and ethnic relations officer, 
Teferi Adem, was hired this summer. Chet Singh, the centre's 
other officer, provided anti-racism training for security officers 
this summer. Similar training will be required every year.
	"The point of the whole matter was for them [the security 
officers] to understand how racism works and how they play a 
role," Singh explained last week.
	The Black Secretariat, an umbrella group of organizations 
in Toronto and Ontario, plans to start its external review of the 
department this fall. Review committee members will likely 
not be chosen until the secretariat begins its work, said Singh.

A Healthier System
	All professional bouncers at the Underground were fired 
immediately after the occupation and a code of conduct for 
security in the student centre would likely be finished by press 
time, manager Bob Castle said last week.
	He also said a student centre committee dealing with 
security in the Underground has been expanded and contains a 
majority of student members, another of the occcupations 
demands. Castle said a standard complaints procedure for 
security incidents at the pub has also been drafted.
	Complaints would go to a supervisor first, who has an 
opportunity to discipline the staff member and inform students 
who launched the complaint. Students can then appeal to Castle 
or the security committe itself, but Castle said management will 
follow recomendations from a special university office (like 
Race and Ethnic Relations, or the Sexual Harassment office at 
any time, even if that recomendation is harsher than 
managements'.
	"If the office of race and ethnic relations says they [the 
bouncers] should be terminated, we would terminate them," 
Castle said.
	Castle said the new system will be "healthier" than a 
system that has to be improvised each time.
	Singh also said York's campus-wide security advisory 
committee will be changed so that it is more open to 
participation and includes more students and ccommunity 
members.

Wait-and-see Attitude
	Most of the protesters are assuming a 'wait-and-see' 
attitude before commenting on the cchanges that resulted from 
the protest.
	"People feel this is just being done on the surface level to 
show the students they are doing something. As far as the 
administration is concerned, some people wonder if the same 
attitudes still exist," Morgan said this week.
	"We want to know how much power the [steering 
committee] is going to have. Will it effectively be able to effect 
the students? I myself am just waiting to see what is going to 
happen from this."
	In the wake of the rally, conflicts within the steering 
committee led to division among protesters. Morgan says such 
disputes are an inevitable part of organizing large groups of 
people behind a common cause.
	"Everybdy has a different idea about how to handle the 
situation. Everybody has their own solution, and everybody 
believes their solution is correct. [After the incident] a group of 
people had to sit down and decide which route they were going 
to take and that is very hard," she said.
	"I'm hoping positive things will come out of this. I hope 
it'll really do something for York."

*Excalibur* can be reached at 420 Student Centre, York 
University, 4700 Keele Street, North York, Ontario, Canada M3J 
1P3.

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