Columbia, UMass Protests Continue

Joining a rising wave of protest against South African apartheid that has built up to today's nationwide protests (See story, page 1). Students at Columbia and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst yesterday continued a hunger strike and sit-in.

At Columbia more than 50 students are staging an open-ended hunger fast in an attempt to pressure Columbia to divest of $39 million for about 5 percent of its endowment--invested in companies which do business in South Africa.

Columbia senior Paird C. Lownsend, a member of the Coalition for a Free South Africa, which planned the event, said yesterday that he and six other students, including two Black South Africans, have not eaten any solid food since the task began 11 days age. Other students have joined the fast for irregular intervals in a show of solidarity.

Blacks May Face Treason Charges

The two Black students may face charges of high treason: upon their eventual return to South Africa, Townsend said, since any form of protest by South Africans against apartheid is illegal. The penalty for such action is a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of death.

"They believe very much in what they're doing," Townsend said. "They believe in their country, in their families, and in their people." Added Townsend, "I feel really angry, and the anger is keeping me from feeling the hunger."

In 1983, the University Senate, the main legislative body on campus--made up of students, faculty and staff--voted unanimously to divest of all Columbia's South Africa-related holdings. University trustees rejected the proposal.

"We've become very disenchanted with the normal legislative process," Townsend said, "and we hope this will put pressure on the trustees." He said trustees have flatly refused to meet with Coalition members.

A Columbia spokesman said the Manhattan university's only official comment on the fast was a prepared statement reading. "We're confident that the fasting students, their parents and friends will make sure that their health is protected, and we stand ready to help in that regard."

UMass Sit-In

Meanwhile, about 300 students at UMass-Amherst marched on a university building Monday to stage a sit-in, and as of last night almost 50 remained in the building.

Among the students' demands is total divestiture of the university's South African holdings, said Thomas W. Middleton, associate news editor of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, the campus newspaper.

However, UMass spokesman Jeanne Hopkins Stover said yesterday that the university already completely divested in 1977. "The issue is really one of a difficulty in understanding." Stover said.

Students insist that three companies in which the University of Massachusetts invests do business in South Africa. Stover said, but added that the university has determined that this is not the case. In response to student protests. UMass trustees decided yesterday to discuss divestment at a future meeting.

The UMass Sit-in was precipitated by a proposed $261 term bill fee for all students to finance dormitory renovation. Over objections that it was unfair for the university to charge even off campus students and fraternity residents to pick up the costs for the renovations, trustees approved the new fee yesterday.