Ferguson

Ferguson, Missouri became a hotbed of debate and activism in fall 2014 after the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. Demonstrations around the world ensued, including at Columbia. These local demonstrations, under the banner of Black Lives Matter, against police brutality led to around 500 people being corralled between 113th and 114th Streets by the police to dissipate the crowd. There was also a "die-in"--an event where black students lay on the ground motionless for 4 minutes to represent the 4 hours Brown's body lay in the street after being shot--at Tree Lighting. The administrative response to Ferguson (and Eric Garner's death in Staten Island) consisted of arts and crafts, telling students not to protest (then telling them protesting was fine and finals could be postponed due to emotional trauma relating from the non-indictments), and an open forum where student activists called for the cancellation of Orgo Night. Student criticism of the administration's response culminated in a silent protest at Midnight Breakfast, as well as several Spec op-eds. Then winter break happened, and campus returned to its regular yuppie self.

Someone else write a better description of this than me at Wikithon.