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Evergreen Sit-in: Negotiations Started

author: oly SDS
Jun 02, 2008 08:44

Negotiations start today Monday, June 2nd. The students will continue to sit-in and hold events during the negotiation process. Kimya Dawson will be playing at the sit-in this week in support of the protest.

Last night Sunday, June 1st, marked the twelfth day of a sit-in in the hallway of The Evergreen State College(TESC) administrator Art Costintino. The students are demanding the immediate reinstatement of banned student group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) with a full apology from the administration, that Kelly Beckham, a student at TESC who was fired from her on campus job after participating in the sit-in be offered her job back and receive payment for time lost and that the process in which student group status is revoked be thrown out and rewritten by students.

The evening was capped-off with a “Night of Musical Insurgency”. The show, which featured David Rovics and Danny Kelly & Mark Eckert , included the same line-up of musicians as the show that followed the banned panel discussion which was the reason attributed to the banning of SDS. The event, which wasn’t advertized until late Friday night, had about fifty people in attendance and brought in people from TESC to Seattle. The night was used as a venue to educate people about the sit-in, and as is the case with all the events put on by the students participating in the sit-in there were no problems with violence or destruction.

The students, who are preparing to go into negotiations, starting today Monday, June 2nd, will be holding events throughout this process, showing their ability to organize autonomously, without the aid of the administration, and to demonstrate the importance of self determined education. In the next three days there will be three events held at the sit-in; tonight there will be a movie night at 7pm. Tuesday evening nationally know local musical artist Kimya Dawson will be performing. Last time that Dawson played on the TESC campus she brought in over 300 people and her last performance at the “Eagle’s Hall” sold out.

Dawson, a former Evergreen student, is in support of the sit-in and organizers are estimating that a couple hundred of people will be in attendance. The musical performance will take place on the 4th floor of the seminar 1 building on the TESC campus at 7pm. As is the case of all events put on by the students who are peacefully occupying the hall way the show is free to students and the public, and children are welcomed and encouraged to attend. On Wednesday night the third night of classes of “People’s University” will take place. “People’s University” is what the students have renamed the occupied floor; it is a space for students and community members to educate themselves and others. Wednesday night’s installment will feature workshops by students, a faculty member and former UN Peace Keeper Dr. Mohammad Ayub.

The students will continue to sit-in and hold events until their demands are met, stressing that this process is about much more than their student group status. It is about taking tangible steps to end political repression on campus and returning TESC to its original values. These goals have captured the support of members of the student body, faculty, alumni and community at large who are all concerned about a selectively enforced concert moratorium, the handing over of student records to law enforcement agencies, the use of less lethal weapons by campus police, the firing of students from on campus positions as a means to suppress political descent, the loss of faculty autonomy and the overall move away from the original values of the college.

Power to the People
Student Power
The Students of People’s University

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