At 3:00 p.m. on Dec. 6th, Occupy Hunter set up a table in the West lobby to start an occupation. The West lobby is open 24 hours and Occupy Hunter decided to stay in the lobby throughout the night in what they’ve deemed an organic process that has not yet made plans for termination. The outreach group has provided free pizza and free donuts to students passing through the lobby to enter and exit the building. There are four tables and a fluctuating number of students organizing the occupation. Inside the lobby, there is a table with books from the Occupy Wall Street library, a table for organizing and creating agendas, a table for homework and finals preparation, as well as a main table with posters, literature, fliers, a list serve sign up and free food.
10:45 p.m: Hunter College is winding down for the day. Currently, there is no Public Safety monitoring the occupation in the lobby.
11:00p.m: The security in the lobby changes shifts and all students are required to sign in.
12:20 a.m: Students continue to occupy the lobby. Other students use the lobby to study for finals.
http://occupyhunter.com/2011/12/07/occupation-in-the-west-lobby-needs-your-support/
12/7: The soft occupation carries over into day two. Occupy students are planning to form a press and legal committee and make plans to sleep in the lobby tonight with sleeping bags.
12/8: At 1pm today Mike Synan, one of Occupy Hunter’s organizers, sent a blast to the Hunter GA listserv announcing that the occupation was being evicted. When the Envoy arrived, students were already packing up signs and posters while debating their next move. While they sat debating, two officials from the school approached the group. “You can do here what you see other students doing here. You can sit and study. No organized distribution of fliers or food,” said Colleen Barry, who identified herself as the Associate Director of Student Conduct. With her was Madlyn Stokely, the Associate Dean for Student Support Services, who emphasized that the group would need a permit to continue using the tables in the lobby. Another staff member approached occupiers to invite them to a table on Hunter West’s third floor, where they moved to continue tabling. The third floor was filled with student activism and a loud drum circle that carried on until the late afternoon.
Occupy Hunter plans to table tomorrow Dec. 9 on the third floor from 2-5pm.
