The YDN reports on Monday's action at the Provost's Office:

More than 80 graduate students and union members convened in the lobby of Provost Andrew Hamilton's office Monday, demanding an open forum with Yale administrators to protest alleged discrimination in University employment practices. Most of the assembled protestors from the Graduate Employees and Students Organization as well as Locals 34 and 35 gathered outside the Hillhouse Avenue office while their leaders attempted to personally deliver the letter to the provost, but the group subsequently entered the building when the attempt proved unsuccessful. The protestors complained that Yale's number of minority tenures, Ph.D. recipients and graduate students are all below the national average, while University officials maintained they are committed to encouraging diversity. "We've been fighting for issues of equal access for a long time, addressing issues that have not been resolved," GESO Co-Chair Melissa Mason GRD '08 said. "There's only one black woman with tenure among the graduate faculty, and it doesn't seem like Yale has a plan for fixing that."

This followed Yale's first responding to the grievance with the claim that it had been lost, and then - once it was resubmitted - responding with a letter insisting that Yale had the diversity situation under control. Monday was a key step in demanding a real dialogue about what Yale is and could be doing to foster real change and real diversity on campus.