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Genre
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Clipping
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Creator
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Glab, Theresa A.
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Wolfer, Jack
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Description
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News article about the Black students' rally at Rutgers University–Camden, mentioning Roy Jones, Michael Edwards (later Malik Chaka), and the Black People's Unity Movement (BPUM).
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Date
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April 16, 1971
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Publication
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Courier-Post
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Place of Publication
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Camden, NJ
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Pages
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15
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Spatial Coverage
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Campus Center
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Transcript
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Fired Counselor, Banned Student Lead Rally
Rutgers Blacks Hit 'Oppression'
By THERESA A. GLAB
Courier-Post Staff
A fired Rutgers counselor and a former student who has been banned from the Camden campus led an outdoor rally of black students there yesterday, protesting what they called the university's oppressive tactics.
Roy L. Jones, who was fired as of March 31 for alleged insubordination and non-performance of duties, and Michael Edwards, a Black Peoples Unity Movement (BPUM) leader, were on the speakers' platform in front of the College Center despite complaints issued last week against Jones for "defacing campus property" and against Edwards for trespassing.
Rutgers was reissuing complaints against them, a campus spokesman said.
Hits 'Intimidation'
A crowd of about 250 persons—its numbers augmented by a total of about 50 black students who traveled by bus from Rutgers in Newark and from the university's Livingston College in New Brunswick—gathered for the hour-long rally.
Edwards charged Dean James E. Young with "attempting to intimidate us by having people arrested." He was referring to the complaints against himself and Jones; a trespassing complaint against William Downing, another former student, and complaints against 24 students allegedly involved in vandalizing the campus library April 7.
Cites Election 'Tie'
He also said that scheduling municipal court hearings in the library incident for May 11—Election Day in the city—was an example of "the hookup between the city power structure and the university."
"Because of my association with BPUM, they are trying to discredit Poppy Sharp in his try for City Council," Edwards said. (Sharp is head of the BPUM and a candidate for council.)
"If the students are in court, they can't be out working for his election."
Jones told the crowd, "It's time for black students to rise up."
Cutting himself and Edwards off from the campus will not be en effective measure for the administration, he said.
"You can ban us if you want, but you best ban all black students."
Jones challenged any white administrator or faculty members in the audience to "come up and repeat the racist statements you make in closed-door meetings." No one accepted the challenge.
Support for the students was registered by a spokesman for Puerto Rican students and by the Association of Black Law Students on the Newark campus, who sent a telegram saying the membership "fully supports the demands of our brothers and sisters in Camden who are aspiring towards relevant and necessary changes within the university."
A bus-car caravan is scheduled to leave Monday at 10 a.m. from the Black Co-op at Second and Penn Streets for a similar rally on the Rutgers Commons in New Brunswick, Jones said.
Following the rally, students went inside the College Center at Fourth and Penn Streets for band entertainment and refreshments brought to the campus from the co-op.
[IMAGE. Courier Post Photo by Jack Wolfer]
BLACK students at Rutgers in Camden gather for rally yesterday in support of students and activists against whom complaints have been issued in connection with incidents on campus.
[IMAGE]
MICHAEL EDWARDS, Black Peoples Unity Movement leader and former Rutgers student, speaks at Camden rally. Black students from other Rutgers campuses joined in the rally.
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Language
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English
