------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the May 24, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- PROTESTS SPREAD TO ROXBURY: STUDENTS DEMAND COLLEGE SERVE BLACK COMMUNITY By Frank Neisser Boston In another in a series of Boston-area campus protests, 100 students and staff of Roxbury Community College rallied at lunchtime May 10 in front of the school's Administration Building to protest continued neglect of student needs and harassment of staff. According to RCC's own mission statement, "Roxbury Community College is an urban college, which has both the expectation and obligation to serve, with excellence, communities with predominantly minority and recent immigrant populations." Concerned Students and Staff of RCC were protesting the school's failure to serve Roxbury, Boston's largest African American community. Students demanded chalk and erasers in classrooms, a cafeteria, books and a librarian for the library, paint and repair of facilities, and adequate toilet paper and toilet cleaning. They also demanded preference for RCC pre-nursing students for admission to RCC's own LPN and RN nursing programs, an end to harassment and witch hunts against the adjunct teaching staff, responsiveness from the administration, replacement of Provost Janice Jones, filling of the positions of teachers who have left but not been replaced, and that students and staff be treated with dignity and respect. Over the past several weeks students have met with the deans to discuss these demands, but have received no response. At the rally, some nursing students explained their problem. After completing the pre-nursing program at RCC, they found themselves not admitted to RCC's own nursing programs. The pre-nursing program is supposed to be designed to support the students from the Roxbury community, but they receive no preference for admission to the regular nursing program. Robert Traynham, a Boston school bus driver, told the rally that students in the Boston public schools face some of the same conditions and issues. He also conveyed solidarity from students sitting in at the Afro-American Institute at Northeastern University. Other speakers linked the struggle at RCC to the three-week- long sit-in at Harvard University that had just won some demands in the struggle for a living wage for all Harvard University workers. The RCC students also protested arbitrary dismissal and reassignment of staff. One staff member in the registrar's office who addressed the crowd was barred from entering the administration building. The students chanted: "Let him in! Let him in!" When RCC President Dr. Grace Brown came to speak to the students, she told them that their demands were being taken seriously and would be considered. This vague promise failed to satisfy the students, who continued to demand an immediate response. Several faculty and staff also expressed support for the student's demands at the rally. Over the past several months, teachers of color at the college have found that their personnel files have been arbitrarily reviewed and they have been found "unqualified" to teach courses they have taught for years. In many cases these courses have been assigned to new white staff members. Among the speakers was Terry Marshall, who as a student at RCC led a student sit-in in the Administration Building three years ago, where many of the same demands were raised. As the rally ended, the students vowed to continue their protests and actions until all their current demands are met. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
