#Clemson5 arrested for remaining in Sikes, left freely with trespassing citations
The Clemson Five emerged from Sikes Hall on Thursday at 7 p.m. After remaining inside the office of President Clements for an hour and a half, five student protesters exited of their own free will, greeted by a crowd of about 200 students, faculty, staff and community members.
- All five students were arrested inside the building and charged with trespassing.
- The Clemson Five (from left to right): Rae-Nessha White, A.D. Carson, Ian Anderson, Khalya Williams and DJ Smith. They were part of a larger group of students who started a sit-in at Sikes on Wednesday to protest a perceived lack of action on the part of administration in response to a string of racially-charged incidents. The most recent incident was the defacement of a banner commemorating the history of African-Americans on Clemson's grounds.
- The sit-in continued overnight both inside Sikes and on its steps. After waiting to hear from Clemson administration, the protesters got word that Chief of Staff Max Allen, VP of Student Affairs Almeda Jacks and Provost Bob Jones would meet with them. "The organizers were called up by administration this morning," sophomore Sherman Jones said Thursday at 4:05 p.m. "They just gave us an update that they're working on the plan that we asked for, and right now we're just playing the waiting game."
- At 4:09 p.m., Jones (left), Allen and Jacks arrived with a letter from Clements, copies of which were passed out to protesters. Allen wanted to give students a chance to ask questions outside, but organizers decided to discuss the letter inside Sikes. The three administrators waited outside.
- Protesters talked about the president's letter one section at a time in an open-forum.
Review: Day 2 of #SikesSitIn saw an afternoon admin response, which student protesters decided to review as a group. pic.twitter.com/N5LILF7XPE- A complaint students had was the appearance that the administration took credit for actions it did not take. "I did not think that the administration had anything to do with the funding that was given to Emerging Scholars ... so I don't understand why they said it as if they had something to do with it," a student said. The comment refers to Trustee Mark Richardson's $1 million donation to Emerging Scholars.
- About a half hour into the protesters' discussion, Allen, Jacks and Jones ascended the steps and asked protesters to join them outside so they could make separate announcements.
"We need you to wrap this up in about 5 minutes," Chief Diversity Officer Max Allen said pic.twitter.com/9LqderejiK- After the sit-in organizers' refusal to leave the building, Jacks told them that they had to leave by 5:30 p.m. Jacks said, "We allowed you to stay last night, happy to do that, but tonight we are going to close the building ... at 5:30 ... and you will leave ... and take your stuff with you." If the protesters did not leave, Jacks said, "We will make you leave."
- Jacks told protesters that if they remained inside Sikes after 5:30 p.m., they could be arrested.
Jacks said that if protesters don't exit building by 5:30, protesters may be arrested. pic.twitter.com/rTZuhR4ag4- Allen, Jacks and Jones exited the building around 4:45 p.m, after which the protesters talked about who would like to leave and discussed procedures for exiting peacefully.
Protesters are discussing procedure for exiting building for those who want to leave Sikes by 5:30 p.m. #sikesitin pic.twitter.com/rMZMhTtwLo- Outside of Sikes Hall, protesters stayed on the steps in solidarity with those inside.
- Senior Quanza Sloan questioned Jacks' ultimatum. "How can student body voice our opinions if they're going to threaten us with arrest?" Sloan asked.
"How can student body voice our opinions if they're going to threaten us with arrest?" said Senior Quanza Sloan pic.twitter.com/L2UAz0Lcim- Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika and Dr. Todd May talked to students about strategy concerning who would and would not risk arrest.
