34 Comments
Despite the stormy elements, at noon, the hunger-strikers organized a rally at the sundial. They explained to supporters that two strikers had dropped out for medical reasons, declared progress due to the university’s concessions, and reiterated the six points of negotiation. Due to Columbia’s agreement to make major cultures into a seminar format, shower curtains were provided for students to pen their thoughts on how the changes should proceed.
The typical cast of characters was on hand, including Reverend Earl Kooperkamp, former striker Bryan Mercer holding a mini teach-in on expansion, Tom DeMott and Tom Kappner of the Coalition to Preserve Community, Professor Dalton on the eighth day of his fast, a random lady from the Spartacists calling for socialist revolution, and Nellie Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council inveighing against the “outsider” Lee Bollinger (she mentioned that he was the highest paid university president in the country, which is not true).
Near the end, a student organizer got up to explain the game plan for today: negotiations on expansion will commence at 4:00 PM. At 5:00 PM, PrezBo will be holding an event with Kofi Annan to have a “critical conversation and dialogue” about matters of race and power, which she called an “attempt to divide and conquer this movement.” Faculty from CSER, IRAAS, and IRWAG, she said, will not be attending in protest.
More pictures after jump.
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34 Comments
@hmm Might i remind you that the hunger strikers reached out to the college republicans to have a joint gathering to meet about and discuss the controvery and the issues at hand? You anti-strikers only turned us down. Hows that for not caring about academic discussion….
@yeah cool. just like israel bombs palestine and then wants to talk about negotiating. you disingenuous violent racist prick
we’ve already figured you out coupe
@Anonymous you know, because personal attacks based on small things you’ve heard about people you don’t know is really the best basis for an intellectual reaction. i hope not all of the people against the hunger strikers are as absurd as some of you are.
@i wish the hunger strikers had ever cared about intellectual and academic discussion..however their fascistic actions suggest that they point to ignore rationality when it gets in the way of what they want and are willing to skirt all the ideals they supposedly uphold for power
this entire thing has been a personal attack on the entire campus populace
@Anonymous wow…you really seem like a concerned Columbia student without any prejudicial views.
@Small Mercies Karina Garcia, Bryan Mercer, and David Judd will all be graduating soon. The filth will be leaving the building.
@wait a second didn’t they graduate already? I thought they were all CC07…..
@Not sure I know Mercer had some issues graduating and will be doing so after this semester, and I think that’s one of the reasons he was so keen to force this to happen now. Karina probably hasn’t graduated because she is too dumb to pass Frontiers of Science.
@Anonymous if you don’t support the strike, for whatever reason, come to alma mater tonight at 8:30 for an opposition demonstration. The admin and the strikers need to know the limits of their claims to represent the student body.
Don’t be stupid or obnoxious about though, else you will hurt the rational people who have serious and legitimate concerns with this strike.
@Hey! Listen! The guy in the last photo expresses himself like Navi, the irritating fairy of Zelda fame.
@Uh-Oh To the Staff of the Blue and WHITE,
Why do you hate minorities? Racist pigs.
@COUPE COUPE BIBAMBA! Um its not just hunger-strikers on strike. There are lots and lots of people on strike. Just 4 of them happen to be really hungry.
TAKE THAT ROCK PEOPLE
@shut up Seriously, stop being a troll. Your comments are dumber and more ignorant than the people you are attacking.
1. Rock People?? Are you an Ivy League student or are you 5?
2. You certainly have a lot of nerve calling people who disagree with the strike racist, when in other threads I have seen you say outright “WE ARE GOING TO FORCE EVERYONE TO STUDY WHY WE HATE YOU!” “You” in this case being white people. (for anyone who doesn’t believe me and would like to read it for themselves, it is comment #261 in the Bwog’s “Breaking: 1968…” post, a few posts down from this one.) If that’s not a racist comment, I’ll eat my diploma. Fuck you.
@#27 correction: dumber and more ignorant than those of the people you are attacking.
Sorry.
@... UMass did better than you:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/11/15/umass_student_urge_walkout_to_air_grievances?mode=PF
@Savonarola First phrase: “Hundreds of students…”
Not five, I’m afraid. Or what is it now, four left? Two?
@hmm i am a student of color, for what that’s worth, and i don’t understand why president bollinger can’t talk to kofi anon about something timely like race and power. i understand the strikers’ demands and concerns, but i also feel like they should not categorically reject and denounce everything bollinger and the administration do. it’s counter productive and irresponsible. having said that, this is a comment only on what i know from this post = i’m not sure what the kofi topic was exactly, but give bollinger the opportunity to do something right, right? and what’s wrong with the topic?
@rocks I have decided after reading the Bwog for quite some time now that too many people are close-minded and racially insensitive on this site.
Feel free to disapprove of the hunger strike and their demands and what not. But those of you who are obnoxious and insulting about it, and those who are straight up racist and self-righteous, you people have been living under rocks.
Therefore, forever onward shall all of you be referred to as The Rock People, as to avoid accusatory confusion. When we say that you are ignorant and racist, we don’t mean those of you who disagree and are sensible about it. We mean the crack heads.
Take that, Rock People.
@wow they promised 1968 today…this isn’t even a 1996.
@AAAAAA Goddammit, this strike is making me embarrassed to be a leftist partisan. There’s a lot more to equality than class warfare, you chumps. And it’s patronizing to assume that everyone living anywhere near the expansion area is a member of some permanent underclass, who have to be protected from rising housing prices by the mercy of well-meaning University students.
Reserving a broad swath of Harlem for the couple thousand people living there now is incredibly short-sighted. There’s MILLIONS of poor people in the NY metro area, and every shitty one-story Harlem building that ISN’T bulldozed DOESN’T turn into housing. No new housing? I bet that’ll drive prices down!
The 197-a plan likes to bleat about inclusionary zoning, but we’re ten years into that program — how many subsidized housing units are available in New York? Well, let’s just check the web page that lists ALL of them: http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/apartment/lotteries.shtml There’s 639. You read it right, SIX HUNDRED apartments. How many working poor again? Three million? Six million?
Yes, Harlem is becoming unaffordable. But EVERYWHERE is becoming unaffordable. I’m pretty sure every one at CU took Econ 1101 — we need to get as many jobs, and as much housing, out of existing land as possible. Preserving Manhattanville for its 80 residents shortchanges everyone else.
The other issues… um, same thing, but apply parallels.
@bob f. The community residents who will be most affected by institutional expansion in their neighborhood should be allowed to democratically determine the decisions which affect their lives, not Columbia University’s unelected administrators. The local community board democratically voted in favor of a more community-oriented neighborhood development plan that Bollinger’s empire-building Columbia University Administration undemocratically refuses to accept. That’s why most leftist partisans are supporting the heroic November 2007 Columbia Student Hunger Strike Protests.
@Actually All the leftist partisans I know are NOT.
@AAAAA You’re kidding, right? You don’t actually get to vote over what somebody does with their property. The community (rightly) protested eminent domain. You don’t actually have a right to change everything that affects your life. Anyway, remind me again what “community-oriented” means, in this case? Because I’m pretty sure it means “xenophobic.”
But, then again, ludicrously weighted language like “empire-building” suggests you don’t really give a damn about rational argument.
@Consider... “It’s not funny, it’s not progressive, it’s not interesting, and it’s not worthy of attention.” If its not worthy of attention, then why are you giving so much?
Get a life besides hating on other people’s lives.
@Their points aren’t worthy of attention. Their presence is impossible to ignore, and that sucks!
@Concerned Alumni “Be thankful for everything we have here. And don’t whine for more – we’ve all got it pretty good.” (#2)
I’ve been hearing variations on this statement throughout the strike. And I agree with two thirds of it.
This place is pretty good. We should be thankful for that.
But what does ‘pretty good’ mean?
Does it mean that this is a University that treats most people with respect?
Does it mean this this is a University where most of us can feel welcome?
These are pretty good things. We should be thankful for them.
But I’ve yet to hear an argument as to why that’s a reason to let the University alienate or disrespect anyone.
@Well It’s not, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. These people are being taken care of by health services and allowed to camp out in front of Butler.
I also do not find the university to be an alienating place or a “breeding ground of hatred,” and even if it was, none of their proposals seem like they would solve that problem. If you have a problem and you go to a doctor, you want to know that what he’s prescribing you is going to make a difference. These people are playing doctor to the University without any proof that their demands will have the desired effect. They should at least get some malpractice insurance :)
@To all of you... It’s not funny, it’s not progressive, it’s not interesting, and it’s not worthy of attention. Most of the student body doesn’t even support this bullshit, and if prezbol fully gives in, that would be the worse thing he could do. I’m a minority, and I have never felt that my views and background have been trivialized. This really does infuriate me.
@Act Now Then come tonight for the anti-strike gathering. Do something about that anger.
http://columbia.facebook.com/event.php?eid=14797485014&ref=share
PLACE: Alma Mater
TIME: 8:30 PM
EVENT: a gathering against the hunger strike.
Whether you object to the resolution, the methods of the strikers, the capitulation of the administration to such methods, or any other reasons you might have to this disappointing turn of events, please come out and show your support.
We have 125 attending so you won’t be alone.
Bring banners.
RSVP @
http://columbia.facebook.com/event.php?eid=14797485014&ref=share
@God These people infuriate me.
@To Tom DeMott Get a job. Be productive to society in some way instead of a leech.
@Be thankful for everything we have here. And don’t just whine for more – we’ve all got it pretty good.
@by the way Reverend Earl Kooperkamp is pictured speaking in the photos above – he is a local reverend who sits on the LDC. Know the facts, bwog!
@hannah It is pretty funny to think of Earl Kooperkamp as a business owner… he’s a really cool guy.