Students clarified their demands at Tuesday's event.
Ohio University students gathered at the “#handsupwalkout summit” in Baker University Center Theatre on Tuesday night to continue the discussion started at the occupation of Baker Nov. 24.
With about 90 people present at the event, students solidified and condensed their multiple demands, discussed plans for the future and decided to hold another meeting at the beginning of next semester.
The summit began by allowing people to comment on the positive and negative aspects of “Occupy Baker,” which was a response to the verdict not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August.
That shooting ignited protests nationwide over police use of force and started a national conversation about how black people are treated in the U.S.
The verdict was announced the night of the Baker sit-in, during which university officials allowed students to stay in the building after it closed at midnight.
“I think it’s important to note that we asserted ourselves and stayed in Baker,” said Calvin Fulton, a freshman studying plant biology. “For me, that was the coolest thing yet I’ve seen at Ohio University.”
Several students also expressed concern about how some people on social media reacted negatively to the occupation and didn’t understand the students’ reasons for occupying. Caitlyn McDaniel, OU Student Senate vice president and a senior studying war and peace studies, was also concerned about the turnout at the summit.
“I recognize a lot of people who were there, but I’m also seeing a lot of people who I met (at the occupation) are not here,” McDaniel said.
The majority of the discussion focused on the questions “why are you here?” and “what is this?” Students talked about why societal problems of race and diversity are important to them, as well as what actions should be taken moving forward.
“I’m here because I feel like a very dominant voice for my community,” said Brittany Spivey, vice president of OU’s NAACP chapter and senior studying sociology criminology. “I’m very passionate about educating what’s going on with this situation. I feel like it’s my duty as a black female in college to go back to my community and let the people know what’s really going on.”
Ryant Taylor, a senior studying creative writing who helped facilitate the event, said he hopes to further discussion about problems with society. Taylor has been a key organizer of campus protests, including last week’s sit-in.
“I don’t want someone like Mike Brown or Tamir Rice or other black people that have been brutalized or beaten to just disappear,” Taylor said. “It’s about understanding each other as people and being willing to talk about this. I don’t want to walk around in a world where people don’t care about each other.”
Rice is a 12 year-old boy who was fatally shot in Cleveland by police in November.
Students discussed the possibility of forming a coalition of student groups from the summit, and debated whether to focus on local, state or national issues.
Students also condensed and altered the demands initially proposed at Occupy Baker. The demands, which will be voted on at another meeting, likely next semester, included having cultural competency classes, increasing minority representation at OU and reforming the OU Police Department and Athens Police Department.
While some of the students’ demands call for disarming the police, Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said that is not going to happen. Students also argued police should wear body cameras, and discussed the benefits and consequences of police using such devices.
“We’re happy to talk with (protesters),” Pyle said. “But we’re not disarming. For our department, (having body cameras) makes no sense. It's not reasonable in cost, it's not reasonable in scope and there's no justification in asking for it because we don't have an accountability issue.”
Taylor said because the university did not allow the signs used in “Occupy Baker” to remain hanging, he will organize students to hold signs in Baker in shifts.
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