Walkout leaders plan 'secretive' takeover of admin buildings
The Cosecha Movement, responsible for organizing this month’s sanctuary campus walkout, is plotting a second nationwide operation to illegally occupy hundreds of administrative buildings.
In fact, a copy of the group’s “National Plan” obtained by Campus Reform reveals that potentially hundreds of student organizers across the country are preparing a “secretive” takeover of innumerable administrative offices and buildings.
[RELATED: National walkout seeks ‘sanctuary’ for illegal immigrant students]
While organizers of the mass occupation were careful to avoid revealing the precise location of the protests, documents obtained by Campus Reform confirm that they have decided on a date of December 1.
“If you share the location and time publicly, expect police to be waiting for you and you will be unable to occupy the space. Keep the information on a need-to-know basis, and keep it from spreading as much as possible. Only share the information with people or organizations who can be trusted,” one document advises, reiterating the need for student protest leaders to “think of ways to organize your action that will keep the information of what, when, and where as hidden as possible from police and university administration.”
Although organizers have not publicly confirmed the participation of any particular campus (per the aforementioned advice), a separate document obtained by Campus Reform lists prospective schools that may participate in Thursday’s sit-ins, including prestigious universities like Columbia, Yale, Brown, and Harvard.
For those who do participate, the documents also offer advice for student activists on preparing for the likelihood of arrest during an occupation, even encouraging students who are “planning on getting arrested” to “bring at least 3 dollars’ worth of quarters with them to use jail pay-phones” since it “can be extremely expensive to use collect calls.”
“Also, make sure you have a lawyer lined up—this can be done through organizations like a local labor union, the National Lawyer’s Guild, or the American Civil Liberties Union,” it adds, suggesting that “brave arrestees” should “fundraise for any fines or bail that may be needed” so that they “do not need to pay out of pocket.”
The documents go on to declare that an “occupation” is an appropriate follow up to the walkouts that occurred earlier this month, asserting that an “occupation is a time-tested tactic that serves as an escalation from walkouts.”
[RELATED: ‘Sanctuary campus’ leaders admit that colleges can’t ban ICE]
Campus Reform will continue to follow this story and offer any updates as the December 1 occupations occur.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski
