Timeline

April 28, 1968

Six Black Sir George Williams University students (largely from the Caribbean) approached the dean of students to report their experiences of racism in the physiology class of Perry Anderson, assistant professor in Biology.

The official complaint of racial discrimination stemmed from allegations that Anderson intentionally failed or gave consistently lower grades to Black students, regardless of the quality of their work.

May 1968

A meeting was held between students and the university’s dean of students.

In the following months, events escalated when the Black students claimed that the university’s administration was not taking their concerns about racial discrimination seriously.

December 5, 1968

An investigations committee was struck by the university to hear charges of racial discrimination against Anderson. Prior to forming the committee, agreement was reached that committee membership would be a shared decision between concerned parties consisting of the Black students, university administration and Anderson.

January 20, 1969

Following a meeting between the Black students and proposed members of the investigations committee, the students issued a letter to the university administration stating that three members of the committee should be replaced due to their perceived inability to judge the case impartially. The students did not receive a response to their letter.

January 23, 1969

Black students received a letter from the university’s administration stating that the composition of the investigations committee was decided as well as the time of the hearing — January 26 at 10:30 a.m. The university’s decision on committee membership and the time of the hearing were in contradiction to the agreed upon procedure that committee composition and time of the hearing would be a shared decision by concerned parties (Black students, university administration and Anderson).

January 26, 1969

The students issued a statement of position to the university’s administration reiterating that the composition of committee membership and time of the meeting were a violation of their agreement and a breach of faith with the proper administration of justice. They also demanded that the university arrange a meeting to settle the composition of the investigations committee, agree upon the hearing procedures and meeting time.

January 26, 1969

During the hearing, the university exonerated Anderson against whom claims of racism were brought by six students.

January 29 –
February 10, 1969

After several months of inaction by university administration, the six student complainants and about 200 hundred other students barricaded themselves inside the ninth-floor computer room of the Henry F. Hall Building. The occupation eventually spread to the faculty lounge on the building’s seventh floor.

The sit-in was mostly peaceful and involved ongoing negotiations between the administration and protestors.

February 11, 1969

Thirteen days into the protest, at a time when it seemed that a mutual agreement had been reached and a new committee would be formed to hear the six students’ complaint, the negotiations fell apart after about half the students had left the building.

The university administration then called the police to remove the remaining protestors, which resulted in the students tossing thousands of computer punch cards from the window of the ninth-floor Hall Building to the street below.

From the street, a crowd could be heard chanting “Burn n—burn!” and “Let the n—burn!”

During the police raid, a suspicious fire broke out in the Hall Building and the violent arrest of 97 protestors took place.

February 12, 1969

Anderson was reinstated following his earlier suspension. Later that summer, a university committee acquitted him of all charges of racism.