More than 70 students and staff gathered in the African American Cultural Center Library in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center shortly after 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to make signs and check out books to protest the closing of the library they cherish as a symbol of their culture.
As they knelt around tables sharing big black markers to write slogans on red, yellow and green posters, outgoing Black Student Union President Courtney Williams encouraged students to fight back to protect their "hub."
The students had found out only the night before that their library wasn't just going to close for the summer, it was going to close permanently. Within hours, they organized a sit-in and a protest. Fifty students spent the night in the library as part of the sit-in and made signs for the protests during breaks they took from studying for finals. They also created a petition that many students and faculty signed as they filed into the library to prepare for the protest.
"The big thing is we can't have a cultural center without books," said junior Grace Akinlemibola as she signed the petition. "We need books to have a culture. If you take the library away, what else can you take away?"
Delia Alexander, a graduate student, was especially upset because she said she used the library to hold office hours and meet with students.
"I'm in this library a lot and I want to come out and make it known how angry I am, not just at them closing the library, but the sneaky way they did it," Alexander said. "We're taking the time away from our papers and studying and we're here to let the University know that whatever criteria they used to determine whether the library is valuable to students, they didn't use the right criteria."
The students said that one of the biggest causes of their frustration was that the library didn't receive the same technology updates as other libraries. They think that better technology would improve the facility and encourage more students of all races to use the library.
Senior Megan Selby, an education reform major, was upset because she said the library has so much value and IU claims to have a commitment to diversity, yet the University doesn't promote the facility.
"Instead of shutting it down, IU's response should be to get the word out about it," she said.
At 12:15 p.m., the protesters filed out the door waving the signs which said things like "Last to come, first to go" and "Black people don't just shoot hoops, we also read." A few were still in their pajamas from the night before.
As they marched up Jordan Avenue to the main entrance of the Herman B Wells Library, they carried stacks of books they checked out but refused to return and chanted "Shut us down, shut us up, shut us down -- no way!" Several cars honked their horns in support and some even pulled over to ask about the protest. The group stayed at the library protesting and talking to administration until around 3 p.m., according to African Students Association President Viviane Saleh-Hanna. She said that by that time, they had 100 supporters and 250 signatures on their petition.
Saleh-Hanna said that library administration promised not to close the library until the end of the 2006-2007 school year. Williams went to the IU board of trustees' meeting Thursday and talked to them about admissions standards, tuition increase and the library protest.
"This generated a conversation with the board of trustee members regarding our fight to keep the black cultural center library open," Williams said in an e-mail. "Provost (Michael) McRobbie stated in this meeting that the library in question will not be closing. He also acknowledged that NMBCC library is in a unique situation, and that there needs to be a matter standards in how we evaluate the 'success' of this library, adding that we need to include qualitative and quantitative evaluations."
Saleh-Hanna said that they view yesterday as a starting point to improve the facilities. She said they would like to add "updated computers with new software, new printers, more books and a reference collection that reflects current research on race, class, nation and politics." She also said that the group appreciated the understanding Ruth Lilly Interim Dean of University Libraries Patricia Steele gave them.
"We did appreciate the amount of time Dean Steele spent in discussion with us," she said in an e-mail. "We also appreciate that she has agreed not to close the library down during her term as Dean. We understand that there is more work to be done in regards to the relationship between black students and the IU administration, (but) her decision is reflective of a higher level of open-mindedness."
Steele, in turn, said that she had learned from the students' demonstration. She said she realized that the students had formed an emotional attachment to the library and was happy that they cared so much to protest.
"What I learned is that I can look at it from my cultural view and make assumptions that are not right," she said. "That library is an intellectual symbol and a refuge for those students. I can't stand in their shoes, but I got a glimpse of the caring and desire they have for that intellectual space."
