In order to make a statement about Baker University’s housing policy, Assistant Professor of History Leonard Ortiz’s America in the 1960s class planned a demonstration Thursday and Friday on campus.
Ortiz said the class planned to set up a tent city on campus as well as offer activities for students to participate in.
Senior Austin Inzer, who is in the class, said the regulations of Baker’s off-campus policy seem to become more stringent every year and each time it takes a little more away from students.
Senior Claire Norland, also a class member, said a majority of the students she has spoken with are dissatisfied with the policies and hopes the camp-in demonstration will help bring change to Baker’s policy.
“We’re trying to bring back the protest style of the ’60s,” Norland said
Norland said as a university, Baker does a good job preparing students for their careers, however, students may leave unprepared for the real world if they live on campus the entire four years of college.
“It’s a time to grow up,” Norland said. “It’s a time to start paying bills and getting out into the real world.”
Ortiz said the demonstration is part of a class assignment for which the students are supposed to articulate their concerns about any current topic in a way that reflects students in the 1960s.
Inzer said the students in the class wanted to do something that would benefit current and future students.
Norland said the class will stay in the tents overnight.
She said by not returning to the residence halls Thursday night, the class hopes to better prove its point.
“We can’t bash (housing) all day and go back to our beds in the LLC,” Norland said.
Inzer said the students had no teacher interference.
He said organizing the event was difficult because it wasn’t easy to get everyone together.
Advertisement was difficult, and the weather also forced the class to postpone the event.
Norland said the students notified the administration as well as security about the event.
Ortiz said he hopes this will help students learn to become more involved and create change. He hopes it encourages students to be a part of the solution instead of the problem.
“Just be active in your community,” Ortiz said. “It’s important to take action.”