Embedded Files
Who do you think created this artwork? What do you think the author of this image is trying to say?
Who do you think created this artwork? What do you think the author of this image is trying to say?
1965 Prattonia, 1965, p.4-5.
You are here for yourself. To see things. Pratt is what experimental psychologists might call an open field test - a myriad multiple experience. More than just teachers and blackboards and labs and studios, the school exposes you to a good deal of the joys and the woes, the smarts and stupidities of the past and present. Maybe things happen here you didn't plan on or you didn't expect, or you didn't want. But because of the conflicts and unavoidable interaction you can be a lot more of something by the time you leave.
Black Student Union Demands
Demands of Black Student Union.pdf"Black Student Union Demands" Pratt Senate Minutes, 29 April 1969. Pratt Institute Archives.
Black Student Union Demands
The Black Student Union’s demands contain many of the same demands as other student protests within Pratt Institute. However, The Black Student Union demanded focus on representation and diversity, such as the creation of of a “Black and Latin American Studies Department, to make higher education relevant to Black students.”
Furthermore, the Black Student Union discussed these demands through the experience of people of color. For example, the Black Student Union’s demands highlight how the acquisition of a neighborhood building on Willoughby by Pratt Institute would lead to urbanization and the displacement of Black families:
“It is inconceivable that the Administration will demand money from Black students, money that will be utilized to buy buildings in turn which will dislocate Black families. It is equally inconceivable that the same administration, has the temerity to declare themselves an agent for the community that understands community needs.”
Donovan's Reaction
What was President James B. Donovan’s reaction to the “Touch of Spring Protests?”
What was President James B. Donovan’s reaction to the “Touch of Spring Protests?”
President James B. Donovan’s reaction to protest is best embodied through his response to students’ “non-negotiable demands” by the Black Student Union following their protests of Pratt’s gate in which students padlocked and blocked access to the campus. During the incident, ten individuals were arrested, however charges were later dropped.
In response to these incidents Donovan stated, “When acquiescence to these demands was not immediately forthcoming these students met and gathered both their own members and non-student factions, proceeded to destroy Institute property and equipment, and to threaten and terrorize many members of the Pratt staff.”
Donovan would then send out a proclamation of four points that described the mandates in which students could be arrested. These four points are outlined within the document below. Furthermore, Donovan would write to the New York State police commissioner about the issue of student activism and protest within secondary academic institutions. Finally, within Pratt Institute, there was an elevation of police presence on campus following these protests.
Donovan's Four Points
Donvan Reponse -Four Points.pdf"United." Pratt Senate Minutes, 28 April 1969. Pratt Institute Archives.
Letter To the Commissioner
donovanwrites.pdfPrattler, Volume 30, Number 18, vol. 30, no. 18, 1969. JSTOR, jstor.org/stable/10.2307/community.29261901. Accessed 4 May 2021.
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