The Rutgers Union for the People's Democracy held a rally yesterday on the steps of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus to protest what it calls "Black and Latino ethnic cleansing" by the New Brunswick Developmental Corporation.
Rutgers College junior Buffy Weill-Greenberg, the speaker for the Union, said DevCo is working with the city and the University to change the class structure of the city by forcing out lower-income residents and minorities.
She said DevCo's Monument Square redevelopment plan, which is set to begin demolition at the end of this year, is "blatantly racist and undemocratic."
She said DevCo is using its influence and money to remove people from their homes in the name of the city and the University even though most students and residents are unaware of the impact that the plan will have on them.
"This vision does not represent the city of New Brunswick or the students of Rutgers University," she said.
University Graduate student Tom Degloma, who is working toward his doctorate in sociology, said that University President Francis L. Lawrence is working with the city and DevCo to eliminate lower-income housing by replacing homes owned by the New Brunswick Housing Authority with expensive condominiums.
"I am angry at the fact that they are conducting an ethnic cleansing," he said. He said lower-income residents who are unable to afford the new condominiums will be forced to flee to the outskirts of the city.
The president of the New Jersey Freedom Organization, 1996 Livingston College graduate Xavier Hanson, compared the redevelopment plan to South African city layouts. "The poor are forced into a ring of shanty towns around the city."
He said corporations which support DevCo, including Johnson & Johnson, have "no accountability" because Lawrence and the city are working with them. "They are destroying a block for a tiny minority at the expense of Black and Latino communities," he said.
Hanson said many people in DevCo have connections to the city and the property owners in the area. "The mayor's cousin, John Beng, owns the block between Livingston and New Street. Also, the treasurer of the University, Richard Norman, sits on a corporate council." Norman left the University over the summer.
Damon Simmons, 22, of Wright Place said that he believes the plan has the potential to be beneficial. "I think it might be good for some people if they can find a place for everyone," he said. The city needs to make sure that all the residents are assisted and moved into new homes where they will find similar services, he said.
But one woman who has worked in New Brunswick for 12 years said she believes the plan will only be a repeat of the past. The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she was forced out of New Brunswick several years ago in a similar redevelopment project with Johnson & Johnson.
"It's only going to benefit the city," she said. She said that the average resident will feel the pain.
Senior Christian McFarland, co-secretary of the Student Action Union and a member of the Livingston College Governing Association, said students should stand up to the establishment.
"If students don't get together, nothing is going to change," he said. McFarland said students should stop the University and the city.
Rutgers College junior James Lucene said the plan is a disgrace. "They are spending $100 million to construct a hotel but $10 million on a school. People should be outraged," he said.
Lawrence and Norman were all unavailable for comment yesterday. William Walker, executive director of University Relations, said he did not wish to comment.
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