Attribution

Loyola story attributed to the Chicago Tribune.
 

Loyola students who protested Thursday afternoon in a show of solidarity with the University of Missouri, also imitated controversial techniques Missouri protesters used that limited access to the local media they invited.

The Black Tribune, a publication run by Loyola students, published a call to action organizing dozens of universities across the nation and informed Chicago news outlets that Loyola would be one the schools holding protests to support campus inclusion for minority students.

Several hundred people, some wearing Missouri apparel, gathered outside the Klarchek Information Commons on Loyola University's Rogers Park campus for a rally where students spoke about negative experiences on campus while others held signs expressing their frustration.

"I have a few friends who go to Mizzou and heard that we were not only standing in solidarity with Mizzou but have to address the issues of racism that we feel the university is covering up," said Heather Afriyie, a senior sociology major. "We decided to come together to stand in solidarity and understand what it means to be a minority on campus."

Organizers led students in a brief march around campus in which they chanted "Not just Mizzou, it's Loyola too!" before stopping at Halas Field, where they locked hands and members of The Black Tribune asked media members, not including their own publication, to stand outside the perimeter.

"Hey, no media in the circle," Ryan Sorrell, chief editor of The Black Tribune, said holding his hand up to a cameraman. "Sorry, man. You're good, but just not in the circle."

Students then tightened the circle and yelled out "Lock arms!"

The move comes days after a viral YouTube video surfaced showing a confrontation between Tim Tai, a freelance journalist and Missouri student, and protesters who restricted media access to a protest site on the University of Missouri quad. In the video, Melissa Click, a communications professor, was calling for "muscle" to remove another journalist.

University Greek Life Director Janna Basler was placed on administrative leave Wednesday, and Click resigned from a role in the journalism school.

Despite the fallout in Missouri, Dominick Hall, a Loyola student and member of The Black Tribune, said: "We decided to do the same thing here … to emphasize this is a safe space for students — not media."