Hopes melted into tears after protesting students met with top Ohio State officials yesterday.And tears turned into anger for some.”Once again we have been spit on by this administration.” said Shabaka Ture, member of the Afrikan Student Union and an OSU alumnus. “This is total disrespect to African people.” The administration agreed to discuss the union’s demands about the restructuring of the office with seven student representatives downstairs from where the protest was being held.But the protest moved downstairs and 70 students stood outside the meeting chanting and singing, “Barbara Rich is not our voice, she’s not our voice.”The student representatives looked fatigued as they emerged after more than an hour behind closed doors with representatives of the administration. They left and walked to the front steps of Bricker Hall to console one another. Four or five representatives embraced and shed tears, while encouraging one another to continue the protest. Ricardo Wilkins, president of the union, said the meeting with administrators did not make satisfactory progress so student sit-ins will continue until demands are met.The demands remain the same as yesterday:

  • Protesters do not want Interim Vice Provost Barbara Rich to be appointed to another term.
  • They demand any changes to the office be halted until President-designate William Kirwan takes over, a permanent vice provost of the office is appointed and all sides meet to re-evaluate the plan.
  • Written confirmation by May 15 that student demands have been met.

The changes in Rich’s plan would put two bureaucrats between students and the vice provost of the office. Students have had direct access to the vice provost in the past. The plan will also lead to the transfer of Lee Smith, an office associate, from the Hale Center to Lincoln Tower, Wilkins said.”Moving the OMA staff to different offices is like moving our family to somewhere else,” said Annie Young, vice president of the OSU’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.Smith declined to speak to the media about her transfer.Interim President Richard Sisson said in a closed meeting with media in his office that while he was not prepared to comment on two of the demands, he will not remove Rich from her position. She will serve another year-long term beginning June 30.Sisson promised to respond directly to students tomorrow around 5 p.m. He said until then he will be in contact with many key advisers. He said he hopes to have issues resolved tomorrow.”I take the observations of the students seriously,” Sisson said.From his home in Maryland, Kirwan said while he is not directly involved with the turmoil he has “complete confidence in the [current] administration.”Rebecca Parker, director of the Ohio Union and adviser to the student chapter of the NAACP, said students are not trying to dictate, they just want their voices to be heard. She emphasized the office is not just any office, but a caring, nurturing place for students.”In OMA and the Hale Cultural Center, students look at faculty and staff as surrogate parents. They are away from home and they look to us for guidance and support,” Parker said.Cinnamon Pelly, outgoing president of the OSU chapter of the NAACP, agreed the people in the office and the Hale Cultural Center go beyond an ordinary business relationship.”They know people on a first-name basis,” she said. “They give us advice, money and direct us to people who can help us. They take an interest in us personally.”