A 4:30 deadline came and went Tuesday with student protesters continuing to occupy the office of the president of Providence College. Shanley spoke briefly with the students, offering to meet with them Wednesday, and refusing to sign an agreement aimed at addressing racism on campus.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A 4:30 deadline came and went Tuesday with student protesters continuing to occupy the office of the president of Providence College.

The Rev. Brian J. Shanley spoke briefly with the students, offering to meet with them Wednesday, and refusing to sign an agreement they demand he sign aimed at addressing racism on campus.

In a statement, a protester and hunger striker said the police "wouldn't come [to remove them] as long as the protest remains peaceful."

The Rev. Brian J. Shanley told students occupying his office that he is willing to meet with them Wednesday and talk.

According to two student protesters who spoke with The Journal, Shanley told the students he didn't agree with the time frame they were giving him to sign their agreement, and wanted to put it into his own words.

The students responded that he should do so.

"I can't right now," Shanley is said to have responded.

Shanley then left his office area.

Mary-Murphy Walsh, a senior at PC and one of the student protesters occupying Shanley's office, emailed The Journal a statement:

"Shanley came in at 4:26 and refused to sign the agreement. It was the first time he read the agreement with his own eyes. He refused despite the fact that over 40 students have waited in his office for eight hours now and three students, including myself, continue to hunger strike. He said there is nothing he can do in terms of making all of our demands happen.

"He said, as he always does, that action is being taken to combat racism on campus yet will not show exactly what that action is. Students refuse to accept that answer and will stay in his office all night and however long it takes for him to agree to all the demands and agree to produce a comprehensive plan within the next 20 days. The secretary was nice enough to order us extra toilet paper.

"The police were called but they said that they wouldn't come as long as the protest remains peaceful. "

Earlier Tuesday afternoon, students occupying the college president's office were told they would have to leave Shanley's office by 4:30 p.m.

Associate Vice President Steven J. Maurano said Tuesday afternoon that officials would not "strong-arm" the students to get them to leave, but that they would have to go at that time.

The students, through a spokesperson, say they have no plans to leave.

PC is not allowing the media on campus.

PC students are occupying Shanley's office until, they say, there are improvements to what they call “anti-blackness and racism on campus.”

A statement from a coalition of students reads: “Three semesters of unproductive dialogue filled with political rhetoric and complacency from administration has led to an increase in racial tension and protest.”

It continues, “A comprehensive list of demands has been presented to administration, premised on evidence-based practices, in order to rid the school of systematic and cultural racism. Despite the consistent effort from student organizers, Father Shanley continues to disagree with the demands and does not have answers as how to solve the problem of racism.”

Maurano said the school is dealing with about 45 to 50 students of color who have occupied the reception area of Shanley's office since Tuesday morning.

Maurano said Shanley cannot sign the group's agreement because some of the students' demands, such as curriculum changes, cannot be made without a discussion with faculty.

"Every time we try to explain that, they accuse us of political rhetoric and stalling. We don't believe that is the case," Maurano said Tuesday.

At the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, PC hired 12 new faculty, 7 of whom are people of color, Maurano said.

This year, Providence College has a student body of 4,774 undergraduate, graduate and continuing education students. Some 721 are students of color; that's 15 percent, up from 5 percent when Shanley became president in 2005, according to Maurano.

Nonetheless, Maurano said, "We definitely think there is an issue. We are making an honest attempt to understand [and fix it]."

Maurano said there is an external review of campus security occurring now, and they are working out a plan for cultural sensitivity training for faculty and staff -- another demand the students made. He emphasized, however, that the school cannot mandate that faculty participate in the training.

Tweets with the hashtag #PCBreakTheSilence have been spreading the word for more students to come to Shanley's office. Tweets to that hashtag, many from people identifying themselves as alumni, appear to be mostly supportive of the students' actions. The student protesters plan to stay in Shanley's office until he signs an agreement of commitment.

For their part, the students have taken a vow of silence and will not make any further statements. Three student protesters have vowed not to eat until Shanley signs their list of demands.

Pilar McCloud, Providence NAACP chairwoman of youth, high school and college chapters in Rhode Island, has been communicating with students at PC today, and informing the media at the students' request.

“I think that when the incident occurred with the five young ladies, the president should have returned from Florida and spoken with the students. By staying away and coming back at his scheduled time, to me it's is an open handed slap in the face and the students already had a list of demands for the president prior to that. This incident is just the icing on the cake," McCloud said Tuesday.

"Nothing gets resolved, nothing gets done and people feel like they are not being respected or heard. So what did you expect them to do? It is their God given right to express themselves. PC, as much as they would like to, can’t take that away from them," McCloud said.

About 75 to 100 Providence College students staged a “break the silence” demonstration in November. The protesters – some wearing tape over their mouths – called for the Shanley to address racism on campus – including racial epithets a protest leader says were hurled at students at PC during a demonstration in solidarity with University of Missouri students.

-apina@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7465

On Twitter: @alishapina

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