UMass Boston Students Sit-in, Protest Administration Rulings

Student Organizing Committee (SOC) members at the University of Massachusetts-Boston who have been occupying the administration building's third floor since Monday morning have no intention of leaving until the administration "takes our demands seriously," committee representatives said yesterday.

SOC representative Janet M. Diamond said yesterday that "atrocious affirmative action policies and lack of reagard for student opinion" incited students to act.

SOC's demands, directed at university Chancellor Robert A. Corrigan, are:

* That recently dismissed Assistant Vice-Chancellor Heinz Bondy, who Diamond called "a consistent supporter of student affairs," be reinstated;

* That the administration reconsider its negative tenure decisions on two Black professors, Jefferson Cleveland, a music professor, and Marcia Lloyd, professor of art;

* And that students be given majority control in all University policy-making decisions.

SOC representative Margaret C. Hern said yesterday, "Corrigan used a technicality about contract signing as a reason to get rid of Bondy," adding that "the same technicality applies to about 30 faculty members who weren't let go."

Hern said the decision-making process concerning Cleveland's tenure began in his absence, contrary to university rules.

Caroline M. Schneider, director of public information at U/Mass-Boston, said yesterday the administration was not at liberty to discuss either the Bondy case or the Cleveland case, pending hearings by the school's Professional Staff Grievance Committee, with which both have filed complaints.

Schneider said that Corrigan "has shown a personal as well as a professional interest in improving the ratio of minority faculty and students."