Today's Outcome

I am posting this quickly, but there will be more details and feelings shared by hopefully not just me at another time. Right now I think we all need to decompress.

• A large group of students assembled outside of the building in which the board would meet starting at 7:30a.m. this morning. Students held signs that read "We are 71% of the budget," "We want dialog & transparency," "Listen to your stakeholders," and "No Tuition without Representation," and remained outside until the meeting began.
• After negotiations, the board of trustees allowed students to sit in the lobby next to (but separated by a wall) where the board was conducting their meeting.
• The board voted 16-18 to pass Tom's mission statement.
• While the board had understood that the students would relocate after the meeting so that they could eat by themselves if they chose, the students voted as a group to remain seated and conduct our own discussion about the outcome of the meeting. Campus police were called and we were threatened with the use of force, but we remained seated and continued to discuss. After this, the board expressed that it did not oppose our presence and as a result, the campus police left.