Tommy Johnson
5 student activists were arrested on Wednesday (04/16) for protesting abysmal housing conditions at North Carolina Central University. Campus police and university admin justified the assault on student rights by claiming that three of the five arrested did not attend NCCU, and that the rally for their basic rights was “unauthorized.” However, videos of the protest clearly show hundreds of students protesting.
The repression of the 5 activists arrested involves charges of second degree trespassing, failure to disperse, resisting arrest, and delaying or obstructing a public officer. According to one student at the protest, police deployed “bear Mace,” a highly caustic chemical weapon designed for longer range and higher strength than typical pepper sprays. One of the arrested protesters was an adjunct history professor according to the students.
The student activists cited issues of mold and mildew in the living quarters, rodents, bugs, flooding, faulty air conditioning, broken elevators, broken or dysfunctional utilities like water, and broken washers and dryers. In response, the university not only deployed the police to repress the protesters, but blamed the inhumane conditions on “a shortage of housing nation wide” and growth of the university.
Old Problems, New Protests
In 2003, two of the dorms being protested were shut down because of mold problems and over 500 students had to be evacuated to hotels and other off-campus housing. Three months after the removal of the students, the University still had not fixed the problem. NCCU is and was a majority Black university, and lawmakers noted back then that this problem would not take place at neighboring schools with a white majority.
Targeting the Organizers
Days before the planned protest, University administrators sent a message to event organizers in an attempt to prevent the students from protesting for their rights. The event, it read, “is not sanctioned or approved by the university” and that it was “not sponsored by the student government.” The intimidation letter was signed by NCCU Vice Chancellor Dr. Angelica Coleman and addressed to a single individual, who the student organizers deny even knowing.
The students, who did not seek “approval” from those responsible for and profiting off their miserable conditions, refused to cancel and bravely proceeded with their event.
Donate to Support Those Arrested!
The Revolutionary Student Union launched a fundraiser that “will go directly to cover legal fees, and any other needs related to the defense of those arrested”, which can be found here.
The Worker expresses solidarity with all those fighting against slum conditions, including the arrested activists. We condemn the reactionary and repressive response of the university and urge readers to support the comrades and the fighting student masses of NCCU by donating to the link above.
Photo: Police arrest activists protesting slum conditions. Screen grab from video.
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