Upending the Ivory Tower. Stefan M. Bradley
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Название: Upending the Ivory Tower
Автор: Stefan M. Bradley
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Учебная литература
isbn: 9781479819270
isbn:
Days later, on the morning of March 11, 1969, the ABC launched what it would later call a “symbolic gesture” by staging a demonstration on Princeton’s campus. Moving beyond moral suasion, fifty-five black student members of the ABC and five white members of the campus chapter of the national New Left organization Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) entered the New South building that housed some of the university’s administrative offices and chained the doors shut. They decided not to just sit in but to take over the building, making the demonstration that much more serious. In the cold early morning hours, the agitators approached the janitor, who was also black. It must have been interesting for the janitor to see students that early in the morning. They informed the custodian that they were commandeering New South and that he did not have to perform his duties that day. According to Brent Henry, the janitor said “cool” and left the edifice.95
Although not adversarial, ABC and SDS had not worked closely on any projects before the demonstration. In addition to ABC and SDS, the Pan-African Student Association and the New Jersey Committee for South Africa assisted in organizing the protest. As the sixty students demonstrated inside the buildings, fifty others (mostly SDS members) marched outside the hall. In a move similar to that of black student protesters at Columbia in 1968, ABC leadership asked the few white students who were in New South to leave so that the black students alone could express their disdain with the university’s decision not to completely divest.96 In this way, these young activists employed Black Student Power by strategically using their race as a lever for power in negotiation with the university. The black demonstrators still enjoyed the support of SDS and the Third World Liberation Front, which was another group of students that opposed Princeton’s ties to the apartheid governments. If the ABC members believed that the university maintained racist ties to oppressive governments of predominantly black nations, then they wanted to be at the forefront of the movement to illuminate and break those ties. The sentiment mirrored that of black youth who demanded Black Power around the nation. For those black youth and Princeton’s black demonstrators, it was necessary for black people to take the lead on issues that directly affected black people.
Figure 2.3. Off-campus activists support the United Front’s campaign against Princeton University’s investment in apartheid southern Africa. Courtesy of the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University.
Figure 2.3. (continued)
SDS and other supporters of the ABC held rallies throughout the day. At one rally a banner read in capped bold letters: “CRY, BELOVED PRINCETON.”97 Surrounding the refrain were the words apartheid, murder, fascism, oppression, suffering, racism, and misery.
The black students were alone in the building. ABC leader Jerome Davis stated to the growing crowd of onlookers: “We have taken this action to demonstrate our disgust as black people and as human beings.”98 The protesters pointed to what they believed was “outright and admitted moral inconsistency of the university’s commitment to mankind and the Government of South Africa.” The university committee that studied Princeton’s ties to apartheid explained that to divest would be financially prohibitive. To that notion ABC declared: “Morality has no price” and refused to leave the building until it decided to do so.99 The occupiers did not allow many people to enter the building; they had to be wary of undercover police and counter-protesters. Hoping to have their story told accurately, they allowed reporters from WNJR (a black operated radio station based in Newark) to enter, but insisted that other journalists conduct interviews from outside. When a reporter asked when they planned to end the demonstration, an ABC representative replied: “When we leave, you’ll know.”100
As was the case with the black students who occupied buildings at Columbia, Cornell, Howard, City College of New York, Rutgers, and so many other universities, the students at Princeton did well to make provisions for their demonstration. Princeton demonstrator Gerald Horne, who was among those in New South, observed firsthand the methods and tactics that students had used during the uprising at Columbia University the previous year.101 He knew that having a successful campaign required preparation for arrest, meals, lodging, and other practical matters. The student agitators who took over buildings elsewhere had community members to bring in food and supplies, but the Princeton students planned for such provisions. The leadership of the ABC chose New South for their demonstration in part because there was a cafeteria, but there were other reasons. There were no classrooms, so the takeover would not hinder instruction and learning; it was, after all, midterms. Also, the building only had three points of entry, making it easier to secure the place. An important step for the demonstrators was to not unnecessarily destroy anything or to create a mess that would create more work for the black custodian. As they reflected on what they had just done, the demonstrators contemplated next steps.
Figure 2.4. A member of the Princeton Association of Black Collegians holds a sign during the group’s protest to end the university’s ties to apartheid southern Africa in March 1969. Courtesy of the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University.
Figure 2.4. (continued)
In spite of the students’ resolve to stand for black freedom, President Goheen pressured them to leave by pointing to the university’s policy against taking over campus buildings.102 The president observed: “Many members of the university, members of the staff no less than students and faculty, are deeply troubled by this incident.” The demonstration, he suggested, had “the potentiality of kindling latent antagonisms and provoking unconsidered counteraction.”103 If the university did not divest, it also risked antagonisms and counteraction. Goheen declared: “The university cannot tolerate this seizure.… The students face penalties up to and including dismissal.” He added, “I don’t believe in offering amnesty.” The black student protesters had not asked for it.
Deliberate in their disobedience, the demonstrators operated on the first and seventh floors of the New South building. Those floors housed the university’s comptroller’s office as well as the university’s payroll offices. The comptroller oversaw stock transactions, which included those with the companies that maintained relationships with apartheid-sanctioned governments, and the payroll offices issued checks to university employees.104 ABC members understood well that if the university was making the potential loss of money a main issue with regard to divestment, then black students would attempt to gain control of the issue by denying the university’s access to money and the building. To that effect, the demonstrators succeeded in stopping business in the building. In addition to halting the operations of the comptroller and payroll offices, the student activists impeded the progression of admissions applications as well.105 This was significant in the sense that Princeton was competing against the rest of the institutions in the Ivy League for students. The demonstration, by delaying the admissions process, could have potentially made Princeton less attractive to prospective students.
Figure 2.5. Association of Black Collegians members outside New South building, where they protested Princeton University’s investment in apartheid СКАЧАТЬ