Occupation impacts lives of SCC members

By Robert Gold

Daily Staff Reporter

Air mattresses and sleeping bags line the floor. Movies like "Big Daddy," "Army of Darkness" and "The Professional" are stacked high on the television and VCR. A pot of cold coffee lays in the corner of the fourth floor of the Michigan Union where 20 feet away, a lunch table is filled with fruit, animal crackers, bread and hot cocoa.

A large sign that reads "Students of Color Coalition" and "Stop the Racism UM" hangs above the table of food.

The evidence clearly shows that SCC's takeover of the Union's tower has reached the one-month mark.

As the occupation reaches day 35, it has been physically and mentally taxing on many of the protesters.

Unlike at the beginning of the occupation, all protesters do not stay in the space at once. During spring break, the group set up a schedule where the students took turns guarding the room for three to four hours a day, Law student Colette Routel said.

SCC holds meetings three times per day for all members to discuss strategy and to dole out duties. Routel said when SCC members aren't in the room, they have tasks to complete like calling charity groups for donations and working on press releases.

LSA senior Jujuan Buford, one of the original students to occupy the space, said many people have lost weight and fallen hopelessly behind in class. Some students still attend their classes on an infrequent basis, while others plan to drop or are unsure, he said.

"You look at items and effigies that are very much hurtful," Buford said. "It's taken a psychological toll. It kind of bombards you."

Buford said that before the takeover he planned to graduate in the summer, but now he

expects to be a student next fall.

Routel joined the group in the tower a few days after the occupation began and hasn't been to a class since. She said it has been hard for her to balance the need to attend class and fight for a resolution. The bar association requires a minimum amount of attendance, she said, which could force her to go soon.

"The stakes are high," Routel said, adding that Law School costs about $25,000 a year.

Although every morning she is faced with the decision of whether to go to class, she spends many a night in the company of SCC protesters sleeping on the hard floors of the Union.

Students have adapted to the cramped corners of the seventh floor, Routel said, including the "bed" she sleeps in every night - underneath a giant moosehead in the eastern most part of the room.

Everyone has a different space staked out. Some sleep on thin benches lining the walls, others snooze in the stairwells between the fourth and seventh floors. Others lay on air mattresses and blankets on the fourth floor.

Routel said she adjusted to the physical demands of sleeping in the cramped room since Feb 8. During spring break, her insomnia ended and she now gets about four hours a sleep per day.

Although the protesters sleep and work in the tower, the rotation system allows them time to shower and get out of the tower. Buford said many people head home or to residence halls to shower and clean up.

Members said outside supporters have helped them to continue their protest.

Mary Penet, an Ann Arbor resident, said she has dropped off food to the students a few times during the occupation including a tray of oatmeal cookies yesterday.

"What they're doing is right, while it's hard, they have to keep going," Penet said.

Penet, who volunteers at the Ann Arbor Pow Wow, said she has been surprised at the administration's response to the protest.

"It's more than a space issue. It's mocking a culture," she said.

Larry Godfrey, a Rapid River resident, came with Penet to show his support. Godfrey, in the area doing construction work, said he was baffled the first time he walked into the space formerly occupied by Michigamua.

"I see no good use up there," Godfrey said. "It's stuff you should see in the movies and cartoons."

He added that SCC students were forced into their method of protest.

"When you get educated, and you start using this education, they say 'wait a minute, you're not supposed to do that,'" Godfrey said.

SNRE senior Joe Reilly - who has missed all of his classes and midterms since the Feb. 6 takeover - said he is now unsure if he will graduate in May.

"I haven't been able to focus on anything outside this building," Reilly said.

Reilly said no matter when SCC leaves the tower, the issues they are fighting for will continue.

"It's a constant struggle to open up people's consciousness and to challenge people's mind," Reilly said.

DANA LINNANE/Daily

LSA senior Kevin Jones, an SCC member, takes a short nap between meetings on the seventh floor of the Michigan Union. The SCC has occupied the top floor for 35 days.