STUDENTS PROTEST ONE FLORIDA 2,000 MARCH ON CAPITOL, WIN CONCESSIONS
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Wednesday, February 9, 2000
Author: STEVE BOUSQUET, LESLEY CLARK AND TINA CUMMINGS, (CR)sbousquet@herald.com
An estimated 2,000 students flooded the state Capitol on Tuesday and succeeded where a sit-in and angry crowds have not: Gov. Jeb Bush agreed to modify his One Florida plan, which has plunged his young administration into a crisis.
After a two-hour meeting with Bush, student leaders at historically black Florida A&M University persuaded the governor to develop a system to monitor minority admissions to universities and offer SAT prep courses to high school students. Bush also agreed to put a high school student from a low-performing school on a task force studying inequities in public schools .
``A lot of us were concerned this was on a `trust me' basis. We wanted something we could hold the governor to, and we have that now,'' said Corey Alston, 22, a FAMU graduate student from Fort Lauderdale.
Bush did not budge on the basics: He remained committed to wiping out race and gender preferences on campus and in state contracting, and he refused to consider rescinding a Nov. 9 executive order.
The students, who marched peacefully and arrived with a list of nine demands developed as a result of campus workshops, also won promises of meetings with university chancellor Adam Herbert and with Bush's staff.
They headed back to campus calling the Bush meeting ``a first step'' to improving the One Florida initiative as the Board of Regents prepares to take a critical vote on the admission portion, known as ``Talented 20,'' on Feb. 17 in Orlando.
OPPOSITION GELS
The FAMU student rally was the latest sign of a coalescing opposition to Bush's plan affecting minority admissions to universities and minority contracts. It may be a sign of what's to come as a legislative committee will hold its final hearing Thursday on Bush's alternative to affirmative action.
The students marched more than a mile from the FAMU campus to the Capitol. They carried signs reading ``Bush ambushed us'' and ``His father was a liar too!''
The march stretched for three city blocks, and several streets had to be closed to traffic. The latest outpouring of opposition prompted lawmakers to hastily arrange for the Thursday hearing to be held simultaneously in two rooms of the Knott Building next to the Capitol, from 2 to 6 p.m. Senators will meet in one room and House members in the other. Both rooms together can seat about 600 people. Tallahassee Police Chief Walt McNeil had asked legislators to move the meeting to a larger site - and away from the Capitol - to avoid ``public safety concerns,'' saying as many as 1,500 students may show up for the hearing. But legislators decided to keep the meeting at the Capitol.
While student leaders met with Bush inside his office Tuesday, thousands assembled peacefully in the Capitol rotunda. They formed a giant circle around the state seal on the first floor of the Capitol where they held hands, sang Amazing Grace and We Shall Overcome and chanted the fight song of the FAMU Rattlers.
Derric Heck, 21, of Brunswick, Ga., vice president of FAMU's student body, faulted Bush for what he described as a paternalistic approach to deciding what's best for black Floridians.
``If you have never been in a low-income neighborhood, how are you going to know what I need? You don't know what I need,'' Heck said to loud applause. ``You need to ask us.''
DID THEIR HOMEWORK
The students basked in the praise from legislators who congratulated them for taking a stand. They passed out voter registration cards and implored each other to carry on their activism by going to the polls this fall.
Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Rep. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, whose 25-hour sit-in transformed them into overnight folk heroes in Florida's black communities, challenged the students to keep pressure on the political system.
``This is what the struggle is all about,'' Meek said. ``It's not about convenience. It's about commitment. . . . This is peaceful and will always be peaceful, but we want to be heard.''
Inside the governor's office, Bush, Brogan and top aides met for about two hours with five student leaders - in marked contrast to the governor's actions of three weeks ago when he refused to confer with Meek and Hill, whose sit-in sparked the opposition movement.
``It's warm in there. It's all smiles. There's no hostility. He's been very hospitable,'' said FAMU student body president Cornelius Minor, from Jonesboro, Ga.
Brogan contrasted the behavior of the students, whom he described as ``reflective and thoughtful,'' with the lack of specific suggestions at the previous two hearings.
``They had done their homework. I wish I could say that about everyone who has knocked the program,'' Brogan said.
The FAMU students also lobbied Bush to maintain racial and gender preferences in hiring, contracts and university admissions, but the governor said no.
``What I won't do is take a step back from the question of fairness. It is unfair to create a policy that discriminates in any fashion,'' Bush said shortly before he met with the FAMU delegation. ``We can build a better system that provides more opportunity, and does so in a nondiscriminatory way. Eventually that message will win out. The emotion right now makes it difficult, but I will not be deterred.''
Bush attended three hours of last week's seven-hour Miami marathon, then left for a trip to California to raise money for his brother's presidential campaign.
Bush said he would not attend Thursday's hearing, noting that legislative sessions can be seen on closed-circuit TV in the Capitol.
Herald staff writer Charles Savage contributed to this report.
After a two-hour meeting with Bush, student leaders at historically black Florida A&M University persuaded the governor to develop a system to monitor minority admissions to universities and offer SAT prep courses to high school students. Bush also agreed to put a high school student from a low-performing school on a task force studying inequities in public schools .
``A lot of us were concerned this was on a `trust me' basis. We wanted something we could hold the governor to, and we have that now,'' said Corey Alston, 22, a FAMU graduate student from Fort Lauderdale.
Bush did not budge on the basics: He remained committed to wiping out race and gender preferences on campus and in state contracting, and he refused to consider rescinding a Nov. 9 executive order.
The students, who marched peacefully and arrived with a list of nine demands developed as a result of campus workshops, also won promises of meetings with university chancellor Adam Herbert and with Bush's staff.
They headed back to campus calling the Bush meeting ``a first step'' to improving the One Florida initiative as the Board of Regents prepares to take a critical vote on the admission portion, known as ``Talented 20,'' on Feb. 17 in Orlando.
OPPOSITION GELS
The FAMU student rally was the latest sign of a coalescing opposition to Bush's plan affecting minority admissions to universities and minority contracts. It may be a sign of what's to come as a legislative committee will hold its final hearing Thursday on Bush's alternative to affirmative action.
The students marched more than a mile from the FAMU campus to the Capitol. They carried signs reading ``Bush ambushed us'' and ``His father was a liar too!''
The march stretched for three city blocks, and several streets had to be closed to traffic. The latest outpouring of opposition prompted lawmakers to hastily arrange for the Thursday hearing to be held simultaneously in two rooms of the Knott Building next to the Capitol, from 2 to 6 p.m. Senators will meet in one room and House members in the other. Both rooms together can seat about 600 people. Tallahassee Police Chief Walt McNeil had asked legislators to move the meeting to a larger site - and away from the Capitol - to avoid ``public safety concerns,'' saying as many as 1,500 students may show up for the hearing. But legislators decided to keep the meeting at the Capitol.
While student leaders met with Bush inside his office Tuesday, thousands assembled peacefully in the Capitol rotunda. They formed a giant circle around the state seal on the first floor of the Capitol where they held hands, sang Amazing Grace and We Shall Overcome and chanted the fight song of the FAMU Rattlers.
Derric Heck, 21, of Brunswick, Ga., vice president of FAMU's student body, faulted Bush for what he described as a paternalistic approach to deciding what's best for black Floridians.
``If you have never been in a low-income neighborhood, how are you going to know what I need? You don't know what I need,'' Heck said to loud applause. ``You need to ask us.''
DID THEIR HOMEWORK
The students basked in the praise from legislators who congratulated them for taking a stand. They passed out voter registration cards and implored each other to carry on their activism by going to the polls this fall.
Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Rep. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, whose 25-hour sit-in transformed them into overnight folk heroes in Florida's black communities, challenged the students to keep pressure on the political system.
``This is what the struggle is all about,'' Meek said. ``It's not about convenience. It's about commitment. . . . This is peaceful and will always be peaceful, but we want to be heard.''
Inside the governor's office, Bush, Brogan and top aides met for about two hours with five student leaders - in marked contrast to the governor's actions of three weeks ago when he refused to confer with Meek and Hill, whose sit-in sparked the opposition movement.
``It's warm in there. It's all smiles. There's no hostility. He's been very hospitable,'' said FAMU student body president Cornelius Minor, from Jonesboro, Ga.
Brogan contrasted the behavior of the students, whom he described as ``reflective and thoughtful,'' with the lack of specific suggestions at the previous two hearings.
``They had done their homework. I wish I could say that about everyone who has knocked the program,'' Brogan said.
The FAMU students also lobbied Bush to maintain racial and gender preferences in hiring, contracts and university admissions, but the governor said no.
``What I won't do is take a step back from the question of fairness. It is unfair to create a policy that discriminates in any fashion,'' Bush said shortly before he met with the FAMU delegation. ``We can build a better system that provides more opportunity, and does so in a nondiscriminatory way. Eventually that message will win out. The emotion right now makes it difficult, but I will not be deterred.''
Bush attended three hours of last week's seven-hour Miami marathon, then left for a trip to California to raise money for his brother's presidential campaign.
Bush said he would not attend Thursday's hearing, noting that legislative sessions can be seen on closed-circuit TV in the Capitol.
Herald staff writer Charles Savage contributed to this report.
Caption: color photo: studentes enter the Capitol to protest; photo: studentes at the rotunda in the Capitol, student with a megaphone (a)
MIKE EWEN / TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT LOUD AND CLEAR: A student with a megaphone rallies some of the estimated 2,000 protesters who marched on the state Capitol on Tuesday.
MIKE EWEN / TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT MAKING A STATEMENT: Students protesting One Florida crowd the rotunda of the Florida Capitol on Tuesday.
MIKE EWEN/TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT TALLAHASSEE SHOWDOWN: College students enter the Florida Capitol to protest Gov. Jeb. Bush's plan to wipe out race preferences on campuses.
MIKE EWEN / TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT LOUD AND CLEAR: A student with a megaphone rallies some of the estimated 2,000 protesters who marched on the state Capitol on Tuesday.
MIKE EWEN / TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT MAKING A STATEMENT: Students protesting One Florida crowd the rotunda of the Florida Capitol on Tuesday.
MIKE EWEN/TALLAHASSEE DEMOCRAT TALLAHASSEE SHOWDOWN: College students enter the Florida Capitol to protest Gov. Jeb. Bush's plan to wipe out race preferences on campuses.
Edition: Final
Section: Front
Page: 1A
Dateline: TALLAHASSEE
Record Number: 0002110310
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
Section: Front
Page: 1A
Dateline: TALLAHASSEE
Record Number: 0002110310
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
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