A group of Colgate University students staged a sit-in at the school's admission office last Monday protesting a series of recent racially insensitive events at the school.
More than 70 students, many of them black, were involved in the sit-in, which lasted for more than seven hours. Many Colgate officials, including the university's president, Jane L. Pinchin, were present at the sit-in, said Sally Baker, Colgate University's associate vice-president for communications.
During the sit-in, protesters presented nine demands to Colgate officials aimed at making Colgate more hospitable to non-white students after a professor made what many believed to be racially insensitive remarks.
Demands included a request for mandatory cultural sensitivity workshops for all professors and students and more recruitment of minority faculty and students. Protesters also demanded a formal apology to the campus for other recent racial incidents that are under investigation.
In an e-mail message Political Science Professor Barry Shain declined to appear on a campus television show about race because he was concerned about the quality of education that minority "and some female students" are getting at Colgate. Such students, Shain said are "seduced into taking exotic courses that make few demands on them."
Baker said she thought the sit-in was a "great discussion for all involved" because she thought it would spur actions to solve some of the problems.
We are "very, very interested in coming to a solution to the problems," Baker said.
Since the sit-in, Colgate has sponsored numerous meetings to talk about race relations. She said that officials have planned a meeting Dec. 9 with the students involved.
Here, University students said they found Shain's comments disturbing.
Third-year College student Cindy Rockholt said she disapproved of Shain's comments.
"As a professor, it was wrong of him to make that kind of comment," she said
"Universities are not places to be close-minded," third-year College student Amber Colella said.
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