Emory students vote to end occupation

Emory University students who occupied an administration building to protest cuts to programs and staff agreed to end their occupation after a meeting Tuesday with President Jim Wagner.

The meeting began around 3 p.m. and ended around 6:30 p.m., according to the Emory Wheel, a campus newspaper. Students voted to end the occupation after Wagner agreed to meet with them at a future date.

Graduate student Katherine Bryant, one of the protest leaders, said the meeting is expected to take place within two weeks, before the end of the semester. Ten student delegates will meet with school officials to discuss their conces, she said.

The protest was just the latest response to what has been three months of campus outrage since Dean Robin Forman announced several programs would be closed, including joualism, physical education and visual arts.

In September, Forman said the changes come as Emory works to enhance core strengths and expand into developing academic areas. The cuts were not prompted by finances, he said.

Officials have said about 40 faculty and staff members will either lose their jobs or not have their contracts renewed.

Students and faculty say discussions about the changes were held in secret and they have questioned whether it will disproportionately harm minorities and other underrepresented students on campus.

Wagner and Forman didnt agree to reverse the cuts, but they were willing to discuss how the decision was made, according to a statement from the university.

In a Nov. 13 letter, Wagner wrote that Emorys recruitment and graduation of minority students continues to be among the strongest in the nation and said this commitment has never depended on one department or division, nor should it.