NEW ORLEANS – Two students were apprehended by the University of New Orleans campus police after trying to storm the office of the chancellor and getting into an altercation with authorities.
Chanting, "Shame on you," approximately 150 to 200 students protested the massive budget cuts to the university and demanded changes at the school.
Several students claimed the police struck protestors first and that some students were maced by police, while campus police claimed the protestors instigated the altercation.
Three or four students were apprehended by campus police after attempting to barge into the office of Chancellor Tim Ryan.
The school has seen its budget slashed, faculty laid off and services cut as state legislators look to close a massive hole.
Protests began early in the morning when seven students barricaded themselves inside a campus building.
Ryan wasn't in his office during the protests, but he met with reporters later and said he empathizes with the students, but the reality is there is a fiscal crisis.
Ryan said violence isn't a good way to respond. He said he is willing to meet with any student group under peaceful circumstances.
Later when students were protesting in the Quad, some students attempted to go inside the administration building to the chancellor’s office which caused tensions to escalate between students and police.
Things became heated in a stairway when a student trying to reach Ryan’s office confronted UNO Police Chief Tom Harrington who was blocking the stairway.
“I asked everybody to go back down,” said Harrington. “I was blocking the way and telling them to go back down the other way and he pushed by me. I said, ‘You can’t go, back down the stairs,’ and he punched me.”
“When I grabbed him and said, ‘You’re now under arrest,’ he punched me again, pulled me down the stairs and that’s when I twisted my ankle.”
Harrington, who injured his ankle and said he was punched in the ribs, was taken to the hospital.
“What we were trying to do is really say how hard we are struggling,” said Dyphna Franklin, a UNO student. “We all understand budget cuts, we all understand that the administration is trying to their best, but what we need is for you to hear us.”
