Matthew Stein - Swarthmore College •May 11, 2017
Black student group at UC Santa Cruz threatens more campus takeovers if additional demands not met 
University of California Santa Cruz administrators recently agreed to meet to all four demands lodged by a black student group who
commandeered a campus building and would not leave until their conditions were met.
But in addition to the four initial stipulations, the group made three other demands to the university, and
it has warned UC Santa Cruz that it has four months to comply with these demands or “more Reclamations” will result.
After three days of occupation by students of Kerr Hall, Chancellor George Blumenthal agreed to give all black and Caribbean-identified students
a 4-year housing guarantee to live in the Rosa Parks African American Themed House; bring back the building’s lounge; paint its exterior
the “Pan-Afrikan colors” of red, green and black; and
force all new incoming students to go through a mandatory diversity competency training.
Yet the African/Black Student Alliance also demanded three additional provisions from UC Santa Cruz within its initial “Reclamation Statement,” posted on the website of the Afrikan Black Coalition. The group stipulated that if by Fall Quarter 2017 the university does not provide “detailed plans” on how to fulfill its new demands, “
there will be more Reclamations.”
The alliance’s three additional demands are that
the university purchase a property “to serve as a low income housing cooperative for historically disadvantaged students,” that the university “
allocate $100,000” for Santa Cruz’s “SOMeCA” student organization support department, and that the university
create either a Black Studies department or a Black Studies Minor or Major.
The alliance’s list of demands concludes with a quote from Assata Shakur,
a former member of the Black Panther Party and a convicted murderer: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom; It is our duty to win; We must love each other and support each other; We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/32561/
