Six University of Wisconsin student organizations are holding a five-day demonstration at Ed’s Express in Gordon Commons to oppose what they are calling prejudice attitudes of an Ed’s manager who allegedly harassed two black UW students.
The demonstration began Friday and will continue each night at 8:30 p.m. until Tuesday night, according to Black Student Union member Lauren Woods. She said the groups plan to end the demonstration with a rally on Tuesday night.
Woods said the demonstration is in response to an incident that occurred Tuesday, March 1 at Ed’s Express. According to Woods, Ed’s Express manager Dan Jonas approached a table where black students were sitting and said he was sick of “you people” leaving “your sh-t” at the table.
A female student, who is black, felt uncomfortable and left, according to Woods, and was followed by Jonas, who grabbed her arm. Woods said she pulled away and left.
About 20 minutes later, Woods said Jonas again approached the table and asked a black student to leave because he didn’t want him there. The student refused to leave, and the UW police were called.
Multicultural Student Coalition member Kevin Dopwell said five officers arrived and told the student he would not be arrested if he left peacefully, which he did.
Director of Housing Paul Evans said there have not been any penalties taken against Jonas as of this time because the incident is still under investigation.
“We are still trying to talk to a number of people who were directly involved to make sure we have all of the facts,” Evans said.
Evans said Ed’s Express has never had a problem with Jonas, and he is unaware of any other incidents similar to this one occurring in the past.
“We haven’t had any situations quite like this before,” Evans said.
Woods said the demonstration is not exclusively about the Jonas incident, but the organizations are using the incident as a way to inform students about the prejudice that occurs on this campus toward minority students.
“The primary goal [of the demonstration] is to inform students,” Woods said.
She added the organizations want to show the university administration that students are aware of the issue, and they will not tolerate UW staff members not being reprimanded for their actions. She said the organizations want accountability measures to be put into place so all students are reprimanded equally, and they also want staff members to be required to go through diversity education training.
Dopwell agreed the main goal of the demonstration is to make students and the Madison community aware of prejudice at UW.
“People are blind to it, or they don’t want to believe it is here,” Dopwell said.
The coalition of student organizations involved in the demonstrations are the Wisconsin Black Student Union, Multicultural Student Coalition, Student Labor Action Coalition, Action Dialogues, Promoting Racial and Ethnic Awareness and People Opposing Prejudice and International Socialist Organization.
