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Student Protesters Gather To Continue Conversation


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Ohio University students that were a part of the occupation of Baker University Center before Thanksgiving break gathered in Baker Theatre Tuesday to discuss the occupation and demands that were created.

Students first discussed the positives and negatives of the occupation. They talked about how they were able to come together and occupy Baker, but they were disappointed that they were unable to clearly communicate why they occupied Baker during the occupation.

Following this discussion, students discussed the list of 11 demands that the students created at the occupation. These demands consisted of many different ideas, spanning from disarming both the Athens Police Department and the Ohio University Police Department to creating more opportunities for minorities through scholarships. They also called for more cultural competency classes to be required for all students, faculty, and staff and hiring more minorities in faculty and staff. Students also wanted to find a way to keep banners hanging in Baker for the rest of the academic year. They came to the conclusion that they would create shifts for students to physically hold these banners in Baker to get around the $10 a day fee that Event Services requires for an organization to hang any banner.

Students only consolidated these demands. They plan on reconvening at the beginning of spring semester to finalize and vote on the demands before they bring them to adminstration. A date and location has not yet been set for this meeting.