The Michigan Daily --Thursday, September 8, 1988 - Page 19 h r4 NIVERSJTY Protest gives students a louder voice BY VERONICA WOOLRIDGE The Michigan Daily, November, 1986: " "The Free South Africa Coordi- nating Committee collected more than 2,500 signatures, solicited let- ters of recommendation from around the world, and lobbied University officials in support of conferring the (honorary) degree on jailed South African leader Nelson Mandela." The Daily, April16, 1987: "About 180 people filled Re- gents' Plaza yesterday to express their views on the University's 'end- use' clause at the 'Vigil for a Weapons Research-Free University,' a scene reminiscent of anti-military research demonstrations that took place 20 years ago on campus." The Daily, November 25, 1987: "About 30 students protested the Central Intelligence Agency, forcing their way past University security officers." The Daily, April 18, 1988: "About 20 noisy protesters de- manding the repeal of the Univer- sity's policy on discriminatory acts disrupted the University's Board of Regents' meeting to the public for the second time in two days." Being one student in a pool of more than 30,000, students may feel They have no voice. But through Protest, they have found that they can have a voice - often a voice 'loud enough to influence admini- 9trative and governmental policies. During the winter term 1987, several student groups mobilized to form the United Coalition Against Racism in response to an increase in racist acts in campus, including copies of a racist flier declaring "open season" on Blacks slipped under doors of minority students in Couzens dormitory, and the airing of racist jokes by a WJJX disc jockey. They also protested an overall lack of sensitivity toward minorities on campus. In addition to UCAR's founding, The Black Action Movement, in- strumental in pressuring the admin- istration to recruit and retain min- orities on campus in the 1970s, reactivated. The Daily, February 18,1987: "About 90 students in the re- cently-formed United Coalition Against Racism held their second organizational meeting last night to discuss plans to fight incidents of racism on and off campus." The Daily, March 17, 1987: "A newly-formed Black Action Movement III delivered an ultima- tum to Shapiro, saying that if its 11 demands are not met by March 23, the group will shut down the Uni- versity." The groups held sit-ins in the Fleming Administration building, organized rallies on the Diag, and conducted anti-racist teach-ins in the Michigan Union. They also marched through the streets of Ann Arbor - as many of their parents marched two decades ago in the struggle for human rights and equality. After the chanting ended, the ar- guments and negotiations with Uni- versity administrators commenced. Six days after the Black Action Movement launched a 24-hour boy- cott of the Michigan Union to protest the increase in racist acts on campus, former University President Harold Shapiro announced six reso- lutions to increase Black student and faculty enrollment, including the creation of a University Office of Minority Affairs. The Daily, May 27, 1988: "Martin Luther King's birthday next January may be a 'Diversity Day' with the University holding al- ROBIN LOZNAK/Oaily The two anti-apartheid shanties on the Diag, built in 1985 and 1986 by the Free South Africa Coordinating Committee, have fallen victim to numerous attacks by vandals. The shanties represent the shacks in which many poverty-stricken Black South African families are forced to live. ternative education programs instead of classes if officials follow through on a proposal by Interim University President Robben Fleming." "(The holiday proposal) would not have happened if it was not for protest," said Dyan Jenkins, an LSA junior and Black Student Union member. These events have led people such as Political Science Prof. Sam Eldersveld, who researches political trends on campus, to conclude that students are becoming more politi- cally active. "I would not declare widely that the University is a tremendously po- litically active campus, but studies have shown within the last three years that students can be aroused to protest," Eldersveld said. A common protest chant: "Hey hey, ho ho, (racism, sexism, militarism, the code) Has got to go!" Silent protest The one-roomed shanties, dressed in Free South Africa Coordinating Committee posters, were built on the Diag in fall 1985 and spring 1986 to protest racism and denounce apartheid. Shanties sit on the Diag and watch a commotion - chants, rallies, and cries of indignation. The commotion is a protest. Sometimes the protesters come out in droves, sometimes in smaller numbers. Often the protesters are armed with bullhorns, poster boards, clenched fists, linked hands and a din of slogans. They use the horns, the boards, the hands, and the slogans as tools to consecrate their statements. The shanties- have been repeatedly torn down, and on May 14, 1988, both were doused with gasoline and one was set on fire. Every time the shanty is torn down, students in F-SACC and other groups restore the planks that represent for them oppression, particularly for Blacks in South Africa. In addition to the racism shanty, a free Palestine shanty, and Soviet Jewry house have been built on the" Diag. Periodically, a Native Ameri- can tent appears. This variety of symbols reflects the number of mi- nority groups struggling to be heard on campus. The Daily, April18, 1988: "Several students criticized Uni- versity efforts to fight discrimination on campus, while administrators de- fended the programs as among the strongest in the country at a Michi- gan Civil Rights Commission in- quiry into prejudice on college cam- puses Friday." Vice Provost for Minority Affairs Charles Moody works closely with students to address their questions and concerns. "I have a lot of respect for students who are willing to organize and be a part of protest and also go to the next level and be a part of the solutions," Moody said. Jenkins describes students on campus who protest: "They are very determined people but they are stu- dents first and that's See Struggling, Page 22 I - - IR su 'i 0 0) We've made your banking easier! 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