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Oxy College students occupy admin building in diversity protest
About 400 students occupying the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center on Eagle Rock's Occidental College campus. They to camp out overnight.
(
Leslie Berestein Rojas
)
Students occupy the administrative offices of Occidental College on Monday, November 16, 2015.
(
Leslie Berestein Rojas/ KPCC
)
About 400 students occupying the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center on Eagle Rock's Occidental College campus. They to camp out overnight.
(
Leslie Berestein Rojas
)
Echoing scenes from campuses around the country, about 400 students at Eagle Rock's Occidental College on Monday moved into the college's administrative offices in protest of what they see as unfair treatment of minorities on campus.
Occidental spokesman Jim Tranquada said the students entered the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center at about 12:30 p.m. and were peacefully seated around the building. Many of the students said they plan to spend the night, and they appear to have brought supplies for their stay, Tranquada said.
A group that identified itself as Oxy United for Black Liberation issued a press release calling on school officials to meet 14 demands related to increasing diversity and representation at the school. The group has asked for a response by Friday.
"Amongst these demands," the press release said, "are the removal of Jonathan Veitch from his position as president, the creation of a Black Studies major, the hiring of more faculty of color, an increase in funding for campus organizations run by students of color, and the creation of a diversity training for faculty and students."
The protest follows a series of recent national protests at the University of Missouri, Yale and, more recently, Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif., which ended in the dean of students' resignation.
pic.twitter.com/Y6BI1T8oet
— OxyUnited (@OxyUnited) November 16, 2015
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(Southern California Public Radio's president and CEO, Bill Davis, is a member of Occidental College's Board of Trustees.)
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