Word: obu
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...predominantly white, and for most of the Fall few blacks took part in demonstrations concerning the painters' helpers. On December 5, however, the Harvard Organization for Black Unity (OBU) seized University Hall. They issued three demands...
...OBU members left University Hall after Administration spokesman Archibald Cox, professor of Law, agreed to negotiate the demands. Negotiations broke down six days later, chiefly because of disagreement over the 20 per cent figure. The administration charged that the figure was too high and that it did not correspond to the percentage of black workers in the Boston area as indicated by the 1960 census. OBU said that the 1960 figure was out of date, and that black and third world people constituted actually more than 20 per cent of the Boston population...
...December 11, OBU seized University Hall for the second time. The University first announced that the 91 blacks in the Hall were suspended and then obtained a court injunction against the demonstration. The blacks left the building at 4:45 p.m. after holding it for more than five hours...
...OBU's gains were not without costs, however; 45 OBU members received punishments ranging from one year suspensions to warnings. Philip N Lee, a third year Law student and head of OBU, was placed on probationary status until his graduation...
Harvard handled the conflict with OBU largely as a labor matter. President Pusey appointed Cox, an expert in labor management negotiations, to handle the talks with OBU. The agreement which was reached was a compromise, but it marks a considerable stride forward in Harvard's hiring practices. Yet the punishments meted out to the black students leaves a wide area of mistrust and bad feeling between blacks and the administration. This area of mistrust could result in new takeovers next year, for blacks feel they cannot trust a University which acceeds to a large extent to their demands and then...