Occidental College Student Activists Demand Resignation Of College President Amid Diversity Protest

EAGLE ROCK (CBSLA.com) — A large group of Occidental College student activists is staging a sit-in of a campus administration building and demanding that the school's president resign, citing an atmosphere of racial insensitivity on campus.

The protest comes just after activists at the University of Missouri ousted that school's president. Similar protests have been held recently at Yale University, USC and Claremont McKenna College.

The activists' demands include removing all LAPD presence from campus and increasing the number of tenured faculty of color.

The group -- Oxy United For Black Freedom -- is also demanding the resignation of Occidental College President Johnathan Veitch.

The group says that under Veitch's leadership, campus diversity has fallen and that the needs of black and other minority students have been disregarded.

"This institution ignores how uncomfortable we feel on a day-to-day basis," organizer Diamond Webb said.

The board of trustees, meanwhile, has come out in support of Veitch.

"We stand in full support of President Veitch and have no intention of changing the leadership of the College," Chris Calkins, chairman of the board, said in a statement. "Our community has flourished in a multitude of ways under President Veitch's leadership, including working through some very challenging issues. We know that the only way that timely solutions will occur is under Jonathan's leadership."

Many of the student activists have moved their laptops and school books into the administration building, with plans to stay until at least Friday.