Timeline and Michigan Daily Links to the 2000 Occupation Articles (incomplete)
February 7, 2000 The day after the SCC took over the Michigan Union Tower and began their 37 day sit-in..
February 9, 2000 we began to give tours of the wigwam and the campus finally saw just what all the "fuss is about".
February 10, 2000 marked the fifth day of the occupation and we started to see published support for our cause..
There are several February 11, 2000 articles, here is the index, one is about a rally in support of the SCC, another is about a Michigamua alumni and his response to the protest, and still another is about the current (2000) Michigamua member's reaction. Surprisingly enough, a Michigamua member agreed with the SCC publicly by stating that "space allocation is a secondary issue, pain is the first issue" (or something to that effect, please see this link for the specific quote).
February 18, 2000 By the second week of the protest, we had several related articles running in the daily at a given time. By this time, we had decided to call out for some support and potentially national attention to the issue. It was clear by the second week that the University was going to try and sit us out, while we sat-in... So, we called Rev. Al Sharpton. An editorial about his expected visit is here. His visit was announced a few days earlier by one of his representatives. Some student reactions to the protest are included in this article. Finally, we made our presence known at several meetings of the Board of Regents. A few days before, SOLE began an occupation of the LSA Dean's office. It quickly became clear that Bollinger was much quicker in meeting with those students than he was with the SCC.. After less than 72 hours of occupation, the SOLE group had a signed agreement by President Bollinger and the occupation ended, at least they were supportive and acknowledged this.
Many accusations were leveled against the SCC during the occupation, but one letter in particular sums up the bunch.. In reality though, the SCC made no threats, stole no property, and broke no laws. Everything we were accused of doing to Michigamua they in turn did do to us in one form or another. This letter-writer called us terrorists... Ironically enough, this was before 9/11.. I don't know maybe post 9-11 people would be less likely to make such drastic comments..
By February 25, 2000 we were sick of waiting for the University to act, so we decided to take matters a little further into our own hands. According to this Daily article, the SCC Stormed a Lecture on Free Speech to be given by Bollinger, but I must say it was slightly less dramatic than that. It was, however, dramatic in the sense that, the SCC did effectively shut down President Bollinger's planned speech, still we would have preferred that he stayed and listened instead of running off. Later that night, we assembled again on the lawn of Bollinger's Presidential Palace and held a BBQ! Hey at least he paid for the hotdogs he ate!
It's funny how he tried to be our "buddy" after all that had transpired. Bollinger knew that Michigamua was wrong for disobeying the agreement of 1989, but decided that it was politically infeasible to publicly denounce them for breaking the agreement. Instead, his early stance expressed that he would not have advocated or even allowed such a contract had he been at UM in 1989 (we did point out to Bollinger that he was in fact, at UM in 1989, as Dean of the Law School). Bollinger's "buddy buddy" act was likely for publicity, because the Michigan Daily had spared no expense covering the tower occupation (click on link and search: SCC michigamua).
TO BE CONTINUED.......
This post is a work in progress. It is designed to give all of the visitors to this site who aren't familiar with the issue of Michigamua and the SCC some background information quickly. I do not necessarily agree with everything in these articles, nor do they necessarily accurately reflect what was going on at the time. However, due to time constraints at the moment, it is the best I can do..
IMPORTANT LINK: Michigan Daily Archives 1995-2001
February 9, 2000 we began to give tours of the wigwam and the campus finally saw just what all the "fuss is about".
February 10, 2000 marked the fifth day of the occupation and we started to see published support for our cause..
There are several February 11, 2000 articles, here is the index, one is about a rally in support of the SCC, another is about a Michigamua alumni and his response to the protest, and still another is about the current (2000) Michigamua member's reaction. Surprisingly enough, a Michigamua member agreed with the SCC publicly by stating that "space allocation is a secondary issue, pain is the first issue" (or something to that effect, please see this link for the specific quote).
February 18, 2000 By the second week of the protest, we had several related articles running in the daily at a given time. By this time, we had decided to call out for some support and potentially national attention to the issue. It was clear by the second week that the University was going to try and sit us out, while we sat-in... So, we called Rev. Al Sharpton. An editorial about his expected visit is here. His visit was announced a few days earlier by one of his representatives. Some student reactions to the protest are included in this article. Finally, we made our presence known at several meetings of the Board of Regents. A few days before, SOLE began an occupation of the LSA Dean's office. It quickly became clear that Bollinger was much quicker in meeting with those students than he was with the SCC.. After less than 72 hours of occupation, the SOLE group had a signed agreement by President Bollinger and the occupation ended, at least they were supportive and acknowledged this.
Many accusations were leveled against the SCC during the occupation, but one letter in particular sums up the bunch.. In reality though, the SCC made no threats, stole no property, and broke no laws. Everything we were accused of doing to Michigamua they in turn did do to us in one form or another. This letter-writer called us terrorists... Ironically enough, this was before 9/11.. I don't know maybe post 9-11 people would be less likely to make such drastic comments..
By February 25, 2000 we were sick of waiting for the University to act, so we decided to take matters a little further into our own hands. According to this Daily article, the SCC Stormed a Lecture on Free Speech to be given by Bollinger, but I must say it was slightly less dramatic than that. It was, however, dramatic in the sense that, the SCC did effectively shut down President Bollinger's planned speech, still we would have preferred that he stayed and listened instead of running off. Later that night, we assembled again on the lawn of Bollinger's Presidential Palace and held a BBQ! Hey at least he paid for the hotdogs he ate!
It's funny how he tried to be our "buddy" after all that had transpired. Bollinger knew that Michigamua was wrong for disobeying the agreement of 1989, but decided that it was politically infeasible to publicly denounce them for breaking the agreement. Instead, his early stance expressed that he would not have advocated or even allowed such a contract had he been at UM in 1989 (we did point out to Bollinger that he was in fact, at UM in 1989, as Dean of the Law School). Bollinger's "buddy buddy" act was likely for publicity, because the Michigan Daily had spared no expense covering the tower occupation (click on link and search: SCC michigamua).
TO BE CONTINUED.......
This post is a work in progress. It is designed to give all of the visitors to this site who aren't familiar with the issue of Michigamua and the SCC some background information quickly. I do not necessarily agree with everything in these articles, nor do they necessarily accurately reflect what was going on at the time. However, due to time constraints at the moment, it is the best I can do..
IMPORTANT LINK: Michigan Daily Archives 1995-2001
posted by CRT Law Mama at 5:10 AM
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