The challenge on SC campus (May 15, 1969)

A newspaper article titled "The Challenge On SC Campus" printed in the Springfield Daily News on May 15, 1969. This article is two pages and written by Sidney R. Cook, Donald R. Newshouse, and Richard C. Garvey. This article goes in depth on the difficulty Springfield College faces in meeting the 11 demands presented to them while retaining appropriate control over the campus.In February of 1969, a group of black Springfield College students sent a memorandum to College President Wilbur E. Locklin, in which they state that they feel displeased with the prejudices suffered by the black community at the school. They go on to list nine demands of the school that would benefit the black community, such as the enrollment of 200 students into the incoming freshman class of ‘73, the addition of a black staff member to the admissions office, and the hiring of a black coach for one of the athletic teams. Later that year the faculty rejected the demands of the black students. The day after, a group of almost every black student on campus entered the Administration building and began to hurl insults at the administrative staff until all students, led by Dr. Jesse Parks (the only black faculty member on campus at the time), left the building voluntarily and marched across campus and then off campus. Later that year, President Locklin began plans to build an experimental black cultural center at the school. In March of the next year, unsatisfied with the progress of civil rights at the school, a group of 49 students and several “outsiders” enter the Massasoit Hall dormitory, forcibly ejecting the students on the third floor and taking control of it. The protesting students would remain there for two days, until the college obtained a Superior Court civil injunction and the Sheriff’s Department led all the occupiers out of the building and onto a motor coach bus to bring them directly to court. No one was sentenced to jail time, but all were fined. All the students were dismissed and ordered to stay off campus “for their own safety.” In addition, the college leveled their own fines and required to serve 300 hundred hours of community service before students would be considered, individually, for re-admittance to Springfield College. Most of the students chose not to return. Nearly two years after the first incident, student protestors again seized the Administration Building on April 6, 1970, this time by white students in protest of the perceived “double jeopardy” placed on the black students in that they were punished by both the Superior Court and the College. The students were arrested by police and charged with trespassing and were later expelled from school. The students sued the college in Probate Court because the college judicial system offered no due process to students. The court agreed and prevented the college from proceeding against any of the occupiers until a new judicial system was in place and approved by the court. During the Collegium that took place over the summer of 1970, college officials determined that the students that were removed from campus should be invited back by the President, and, if they chose to return, participate in a series of workshops with a group of College representatives to improve black-white relationships on campus. The list of black demands continued to be worked upon by administration, and some of the demands of black students were met gradually over the next several years