Tens of thousands of students at dozens of universities across the United States protested Wednesday against racism on campus in a day of action called #StudentBlackOut. The campuses included Yale University, Harvard University, Dixie State University in Utah, the University of California-Berkeley, Tufts University and Stanford University, where students held black balloons, which organizers said symbolize the weight and burden of being voiceless. The day of action was called for by the Black Liberation Collective, which issued a series of demands ahead of the mobilizations, including reparations in the form of free tuition for black and indigenous students, and school divestment from for-profit prison companies. Each university also issued a local set of demands, which range from increased funding for health services for students of color to renaming campus buildings commemorating leading proponents of slavery, such as residential dorm Calhoun College at Yale University, named after Vice President John Calhoun, one of the most prominent pro-slavery figures in history. At Princeton University in New Jersey, students occupied the president’s office, demanding cultural competency training for all staff, that the university rename buildings named after Woodrow Wilson, and that there be a cultural space dedicated specifically for black students. Inside the president’s office, Princeton students recalled how profits from the slave trade helped build the university itself.

Student protester: “Who built this place? We built this place! Who built this place? We built this place! We’re here! We’ve been here! We ain’t leaving! We are loved!”