Earlier today, students protested for the removal of O’Connor plaza
“O’Connor step down!”
Today, a protest was held to remove O'Connor Plaza by the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, Young Democratic Socialists of America, and Socialist Students of Temple.
The organizations protested to remove Patrick O’Connor from the Board of Trustees, remove his name from O’Connor Plaza, and providing more resources to survivors of sexual assault at Temple.
They also asked for a centralized location for all sexual assault resources, make the Board of Trustees more transparent, accountable, and democratic while also protesting to stop all plans for a new stadium.
Protesters in front of the controversial plaza with their #OConnorStepDown signs
The O’Connor Plaza was revealed to the public back in September to celebrate Patrick J. O’Connor, a member of Temple’s Board of Trustees.
However, since the opening of the plaza, there has been many controversies due to O’Connor’s past and current actions.
“This is so disrespectful to survivors,” said Grace Whittemmore, an e-board member of FMLA. “It conflicts with his spot on the Board of Trustees that he would take Cosby’s case against another Temple faculty member."
O’Connor was one of the lawyers who helped settle Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case back in 2006, and several Temple students have voiced their concerns over honoring an individual who helped Cosby in his trial.
“It should definitely be renamed,” said Hector Belarmino, a current freshman majoring in philosophy.
"What does it say as a campus when we have an entire square named after someone who defended a person [Bill Cosby] that harmed people?”
Besides supporting Cosby, O’Connor is also known to be in support of the new stadium on campus and for the creation of a new library. These two actions involve school funding that students have criticized can go elsewhere.
“This plaza cost 3.5 million dollars to build, yet adjunct professors still aren’t paid a decent wage,” Mandy Graff, a member of Socialist Students.
Martha Sherman, a member of FMLA, expressed that the funding should go towards student resources.
Martha Sherman, a member of FMLA giving her speech to the audience.
“We can’t trust him to allocate enough funds for a centralized sexual assault center,” said Sherman. “Clearly a fancy library, a huge owl statue and a fountain the middle of campus are more important to them.”
The protest went on for about two hours, having as many as 50 students and faculty show up to show their support and solidarity at one point.
“O’Connor Step Down!” the crowd would shout.
Other minority organizations such as Temple Socialists and Asociacion de Estudiantes Latinos were amongst the crowd to show their support for the removal of the plaza.
The three organizations plan on having another protest when the Board of Trustees arrive on campus next Tuesday Oct. 12 to have a meeting.