Students stood outside Sullivan Hall to hand in a petition. They waited roughly 30 minutes until administrators came outside to take the petition.
Members of the coalition Students for Monteiro held a rally this afternoon to demand the reinstatement of Anthony Monteiro, an adjunct African American studies professor whose contract is not being renewed.
People Utilizing Real Power and Temple Democratic Socialists, the main student organizations in the coalition, spoke about topics ranging from gentrification to alleged racism in the College of Liberal Arts and their feelings about Monteiro in front of the Bell Tower. The students said that Monteiro was scheduled to speak, but he was not present and told The Temple News he had not planned to.
After the speeches, the group of about 30 protesters marched toward Anderson Hall and north past the Tyler School of Art before circling back and arriving at the doors of Sullivan Hall, which houses administrative offices.
The protesters chanted “Monteiro in, Soufas out,” “beat back Temple’s attack” and “up with the people, down with the police.” While the protesters gathered around the front door of Sullivan Hall, Temple police put up crowd control barriers on Beasley’s Walk, where there is a side door.
After about a half hour of chanting, Acting Executive Director of Campus Safety Services Charlie Leone along with William Bergman, special assistant to President Theobald, came outside to receive a petition from the protesters. Estimates for the number of signatories to the petition varied, with members of Students for Monteiro citing numbers between 500 and 900.
Last week, the protesters were stationed in front of the Bell Tower gathering signatures for their petition, which made four demands: reinstate Monteiro with tenure, fire CLA Dean Teresa Soufas, get student representation on the Board of Trustees and foster better community relations for Temple.
After Bergman and Leone took the petition, PURP member Paul-Winston Cange dismissed the crowd and announced a joint community-and-students protest on Wed. April 16 at 1 p.m.
“We’ll be right back here next week,” Cange said.
Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.
