BY MARY NELL BOCKMAN
AMHERST, Massachusetts - After a six-day occupation, 150 students at the University of Massachusetts campus here left Goodell Library, claiming a victory in the fight for affirmative action. The students took over the building on March 3 to demand that the administration live up to agreements reached in 1992 after another campus protest. The Goodell building houses the Controller's Office, the main financial center of the university,

The 1992 action erupted after the acquittal of the four Los Angeles police officers captured on videotape beating Rodney King, a Black worker stopped for a traffic violation. Like many across the country, UMass students were outraged at the verdict. An 11-hour sit-in at the Administration building resulted in the university's agreement to implement some measures of affirmative action in enrollment and hiring, included increasing to 20 percent the number of Black, Latino, Asian and Native American students. The college admits that minority enrollment stands at 16 percent of 28,000 students, while minority faculty and staff stands at 12 percent and 10.5 percent respectively, well below the quotas agreed to.

The occupation began after 150 people rallied March 3 at the Student Union. The following day, hundreds of students walked out of morning classes to support the protest. Groups of students organized to get food, bedding and other necessities into the building, which was sealed off by university security. Tents were set up on the lawn outside Goodell and several dozen students camped out, despite sub- freezing temperatures.

Faculty from the Science Department, Economics Department and Women's Studies Department announced that they would not penalize students who missed class or exams and urged other faculty to do the same. The Service Employees International Union local, representing 900 staff members, endorsed the protest. The Graduate Employees Organization lent its offices to help organize, and volunteered to tutor students occupying the building.

The students' broad list of demands also addressed the right to an education, regardless of ability to pay. It included demanding $2 million more in financial aid for low income students, an end to fees imposed for late tuition payment, ending the holds on registration for students owing back tuition, and university funded child care, among others. A large banner hung from the front of the occupied building proclaiming, "UMass is for the public, not the privileged."

This theme was echoed by speakers at all-day rallies in front of Goodell during the occupation. Jonan Murchea told the hundreds assembled on March 4, "Students of color are being deprived of coming to school because they don't have the money." A first-year student explained that when she applied for financial aid she was sent loan applications. Her parents' income, $20,000 a year, makes her ineligible for any assistance.

Amy Winnice, a student who works in the Student Union, said, "At first it was hard to get involved because I came here to go to school. But it is the right thing. These issues affect all of our friends and ourselves. It is bringing the campus together."

Support also came from outside the campus. A local restaurant donated hot meals on one day. A march of several hundred students and faculty from the four other colleges in the area arrived at the rally site to wild cheering from inside and outside the building.

A dozen students from junior and senior high schools in Amherst walked out March 6 to join the protest. Jonah, a student from Amherst High, told the university Daily Collegian, "UMass is a business. They're going to treat people like any other big business does and there's always going to be problems."

Opposition to the occupation and the student demands was also visible. Anant Ahuja wrote in the Daily Collegian that having a set percentage of minority students admitted is "the most outrageous demand I have ever heard. That right there is discrimination." Other letters expressed support for the demands but disagreed with the building takeover.

The University administration responded to the demands by saying it "genuinely shares the students' concerns about the learning environment for minority students." In a written response they then explained that the demands would cost $13 million and would be given "consideration in the budgeting process." This initial response was rejected by the negotiators for the students.

On March 8, a 21-point commitment was issued by the university. It again agreed to meet the 20 percent quota for minority student undergraduate enrollment and 15 percent in graduate school. The administration agreed to hire several minority counselors and recruiters and to fund new programs aimed at retaining Black, Latino, Asian and Native American students. It promised to reduce the holds on registration due to outstanding bills and to increase financial aid. Other demands like childcare and departments for Irish, Native American, Latin American and Asian studies were to be studied.

The agreement was ratified by the students occupying the building who issued a statement saying, "We believe that the draft agreement can begin a process to resolve some of the inequities which led to this historical occupation.... Over the next several months we will be able to gauge the sincerity of the administrators' commitment to meeting all of our demands and can plan further appropriate action if satisfactory progress is not made."

Mary Nell Bockman is a member of the International Association of Machinists in Boston.  
 
 
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