To all students currently affected by recent events at CCNY,

Here at Oberlin College we have truly seen the necessity of political freedom and spaces for students to organize and support each other. Last semester, as many know, there was a sustained series of hate-based attacks on the student body and the Multicultural Resource Center. Had students not had spaces like Third World Co-op, the Multicultural Resource Center, Afrikan Heritage House and the Edmonia Lewis Center (spaces developed out of student protest), many students would have been left without resources and support during these adverse times. These spaces serve students who are continually pressed to advocate and fight for their survival at higher education institutions that systemically push them out. Without them, the institution only further affirms that supporting and graduating these students is not their priority. Last Sunday, the City College of New York’s administration seized the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Student and Community Center, closing it off to students and community members. The University claimed that the Community space would now be designated as a Career Resource Center. Student belongings, including books and documents, were taken from the center to be held and “examined.” The center has been a hub for the activities of the Students for Educational Rights and the Revolutionary Student Coordinating Committee and allowed community outreach throughout the Harlem community.

On Thursday, Oct. 23, the students held a well attended sit-in in protest of the closure of the center. The situation soon escalated and a CUNY alumnus was pepper-sprayed and arrested. On Monday, Oct. 28, the Office of Student Affairs suspended and removed two student leaders from the City College of New York campus. In a few months, the Board of Trustees will vote on the Expressive Activities Policy, which would further restrict the First Amendment rights of student and faculty.

We also believe that these actions infringed upon the student’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. We are calling on the administration of City College and CUNY to immediately reopen the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Student and Community Center, to allow students to continue to utilize this space as a center for organizing and discussion, to give all organizers amnesty and to return all belongings and resources seized from the Center to students and community members. We believe the actions of the CCNY and CUNY administration have seriously infringed on student and community rights to organize and have intentionally disempowered students doing important anti-racist, anti-imperialist and anti-rape organizing.

We believe in the right of students to hold independently run spaces inside their university. We believe universities should be spaces of knowledge and exchange, where students can grow also as political individuals and empower themselves. We oppose an exclusively career-oriented university with no space for political dissent.
We oppose in the strongest possible terms the recent trend of militarization of the CUNY system and the clear attempt of CUNY administration to silence the voice of students by infringing on their first amendment rights. Both CCNY and New York police should have no space on campus. We support our fellow students at City College in their movement to stand up for themselves and their community and reclaim the Morales/Shakur Center.

Finally, we thank New York Students Rising and the Liberate CUNY Front for helping to keep students around the country informed about the injustices happening on your campus. We have much to learn from this assault, and hope we can prevent this from happening anywhere else.

Sincerely,
The Oberlin Student Coalition
Further endorsed by The Oberlin College Student Senate and the Responsible Investment Organization