While many students were either sleeping or preparing for class, a handful of student protestors lined up on West End Avenue at 8 a.m.
A group of Vanderbilt and Fisk students coordinated the rally in support of the "Jena Six," a group of black high school students in Jena, La., who are facing trial for assault after a 2006 fight. Protestors are calling the charges and trail unfair due to the "racism (that) is alive and well" in Jena, according to an informational flier for the protest.
Junior Hamida Labi helped coordinate the protest and was the first student to arrive outside Towers East this morning. Within an hour, about 25 more students arrived, many bearing posters that read, "Racism still exists," and "Free the Jena 6."
Labi said she expects more members of the Vanderbilt community, as well as some Fisk community members, will come support the rally.
Several organizations are sponsoring the protest, inculding the Black Student Alliance, Are You MAD?, Alpha Phi Alpha Inc., Delta Sigma Theta sorority and Fisk's Women of Perfection, among others.
For complete coverage, see Friday's edition of The Vanderbilt Hustler.
