The Student Union room was lined with two rows of large, soft cushioned chairs as The Five Demands poster and description projected on the white screen. Usually, a comfortable movie experience would’ve attracted a sizable crowd, but it was 6 p.m. on a Thursday (following a Wednesday schedule to make up for a lost day) and Hunter College was practically deserted. However, the small turnout didn’t deter the Hunter chapter of the New York Public Research Group from continuing to encourage any passerby to stay for the screening, neither did it stop them from dimming the lights and pressing play on the movie.
The Five Demands retells the events of April 1969, when a small group of Black and Puerto Rican students shut down the City College of New York for two weeks. Motivated by uprisings and protests throughout the country, the students occupied City College in an attempt to fight against institutionalized racism and demand City College’s acceptance rate of Black and Puerto Rican students to reflect that of New York City’s public high schools. The students came up with the five demands, a list of things the administration had to meet for the occupation to end. The demands included the creation of a separate school of Black and Puerto Rican studies and for all education majors to be required to learn Black and Puerto Rican history and Spanish language.
“I wanted to show the historical nature of activism and how it relates to contemporary issues,” said Alexander Pappas, an NYPIRG intern and a history major at Hunter, when asked about the decision to screen The Five Demands. As it turns out, this isn’t NYPIRG’s first, or last, showing of the documentary.
“We feel that it is important to the DNA of our organization,” said Zoë Vanrabenswaay, a project coordinator for NYPIRG at Hunter. “It’s always important to stay vigilant, and I think that’s part of the major lesson the students can take away from this. Your rights were fought for by the people before you, and you have the power to fight for them yourself.”
Mirroring the events of April 1969, in April of last year, a pro-Palestine encampment movement sparked across college campuses nationwide, including City College. Students across the CUNY system came together to set up the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on City College’s quad. Drawing on the strategies of the previous takeover, the organizers created a new list of five demands: divest, boycott, solidarity, demilitarize and a people’s CUNY. After five days, the encampment was shut down by NYPD. For the students involved, the aftermath was detrimental as they faced police brutality, threats of expulsion, and even felony charges.
The screening of The Five Demands created an opportunity for students to learn their CUNY history and draw parallels between 1969, 2024 and now. Even though the uprising in 1969 caused major changes in City College’s system, not many Hunter students know about it.
“A lot of what was in this movie was stuff I was unfamiliar with,” said Justice Case, a music major at Hunter. “I’m really glad that [this movie] exists. People knowing about this stuff is really important. It gives a lot of perspective knowing the kind of position we’re in now.”
Like many college students, Case has struggled with wanting to drop out at certain points of his academic career, but knowing the history of how minority groups, specifically Black and Puerto Rican students, fought for their education makes him appreciative of his decision to stay. Even though marginalized groups still face roadblocks in higher education, learning about the movements that attempted to pave the way for equitable education can remind students that they are the facilitators of change.
