Following the Marsh Plaza protest on Nov. 9, some members of Boston University Occupies Boston said they are planning larger assemblies in the future.
“We proved what we wanted to do, which was to give a taste of our power and strength and willingness to stand up,” said Sean, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman who asked to keep his last name anonymous.
“The fact that 25 to 30 people defied three BUPD orders to take down tents and decided to stay there when these orders were given and during the hours when cops were there makes it a success to some degree,” added Jarib, a CAS senior who also asked to keep his last name anonymous.
On the morning of Nov. 9, Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore approached the protesting students at Marsh Plaza and asked them to leave. He then wrote a blog post about the protest, asking students to “respect the space” and not to “disrupt the flow” of Marsh Plaza.
Marsh is a place to “parade, show off, propose, chit-chat, sing, argue, play [and] protest,” Elmore wrote.
Jarib said BU only allowed the students to protest to a point.
BU Police Department Captain Robert Molloy said in an interview that the students started leaving at their own will by 8 a.m. after both BUPD and administration told the students that they were causing disruption.
“We did not forcibly tell the students to leave, but we did tell them that they were not permitted to be there,” Molloy said. “Marsh requires a permit for student activity like that.
Occupy members said their form of protest was perhaps a disruption, but also a right they held as students at BU.
“We realize we were disrupting, but Marsh is a community space for the whole BU community, and we are students, so we deserve to utilize the space,” Sean said.
Several protesters declined to comment on the specifics of future Occupy plans for next semester.
“I don’t really feel comfortable talking about future Occupy plans at this time,” said Brandon Wood, a junior in CAS. “I can say that the movement is not winding down by any means and we’re just gearing up for next semester right now.”
Both Jarib and Wood said that future Occupy events will be noticeable, and Wood added that next semester has a lot more in store than fall semester did for Occupy at BU.
Raul Fernandez, the assistant director at the Howard Thurman Center, said many students gather there to share ideas on the future of the Occupy movement at BU.
“This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there’s a lot of diverging opinions on where students want to go specifically at BU as part of the larger Occupy movement,” Fernandez said.
He stressed that the movement is student-generated, but added that a lot of the students’ opinions will probably come together next semester.
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I am a BU grad from the Class opf 1977. Generally, I think the administration at BU values and endorses a right to free speech and assembly and it is only fair th
I am a BU grad from the Class of 1977. Generally, I think the administration at BU values and endorses a right to free speech and assembly and it is only fair of those who demonstrate to follow the University’s rules for same. As long as this happens and it doesn’t impede the rights and passage of students or choose not to protest, it should be fine.
that’s a pretty controversial opinion, russell