University of Massachusetts police arrested 35 union activists yesterday, ending a multiple hour standoff in and around the Whitmore Administration building.

Protesters were demonstrating what they termed a “show of solidarity” with Resident Assistants and Community Development Assistants, who claim that the University is violating Massachusetts law by refusing to bargain with the fledgling RA union. The University says that the law does not allow undergraduates to organize.

The scheduled 12:30 p.m. support rally on the Student Union steps served as a staging point for activists to gather and march on to Whitmore, where 15 people from several organizations occupied the Student Affairs offices. Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Javier Cevallos read the University’s picketing code to the protesters inside his offices. The policy states that while students have a right to demonstrate, protests should not interfere with the daily routine of others.

James Shaw, president of United Auto Workers local 2322, told supporters at the Student Union that the picketing code had been read and that the UMass Police Department would arrest the protesters inside Cevallos’ office.

Alexis Rosenblatt, a senior Mathematics major and Ariana Sicairos, a sophomore Legal Studies student, addressed the small crowd huddling under the Student Union roof. Both women reminded the crowd that the RAs had voted to form a union in a March 5 election supervised by the Massachusetts Labor Relations Board.

“The University has refused to respect that decision,” Sicairos said. “Apparently the University is above the law. We’ll fight them in the courts.”

The supporters then marched to Whitmore, where they found the third floor Student Affairs office locked, and a police officer outside. A police sergeant was inside, and more officers with helmets were in a side room. The 15 activists inside the office sat with their arms linked, stretching from the reception area, through a rear hallway and into Cevallos’s office. The crowd outside the office fluctuated between 30 and 40. The group chanted and sang to show support for the activists locked inside the offices.

Leslie Edwards, president of the Graduate Student Organization, was one of the protesters sitting on the floor of Cevallos’s office.

“If we let [the University] to break the law here, where will it end?” Edwards said. “[The University] has done this to every union that has been formed on this campus.”

The group inside the office consisted of Hampshire College students, GEO members, and at least two UMass RAs. Linking arms and joining in the various chants of the supporters in the hallway, the protesters responded to every action taken by Cevallos.

Joshua Jackson, a Hampshire College student, directed his statements at Cevallos.

“The citizens of Massachusetts are going to be awfully ashamed of this place,” Jackson, a native of Maine, said. “You’re bucking progress, sir.”

The administration ordered the building closed at 1 p.m.

Union organizer Tim Scott arranged phone calls with press members, he instructed protesters not to resist when the police entered.

“When the police come in, do not resist,” Scott said.

Meanwhile, on a stairwell away from the office, Labor Studies graduate student Robert Caldwell was asking police officers if he could supply the sit-in participants with food.

“The officer said no, that it wasn’t his call,” Caldwell said. “I was in the stairwell, and I saw a number of people, police officers and what looked like administration people coming toward me, and one of the people that looked like administration said ‘get him.’ I was told that the building was closed, and I would have to leave. I started going up the stairs to get my belongings and I was arrested.”

The protesters were informed by police Chief Barbara O’Connor that metal studs and other potentially harmful items would result in felony charges, prompting one Hampshire student to remove the spikes from her leather jacket. Many of the protesters took time to place nametags on their backpacks and other belongings.

Cevallos’ remarks were limited to the repetition of the administration’s refusal to negotiate, as well as his own sentiments on the protesters intruding into his personal office. “You are welcome to congregate out there,” referring to the waiting area, “but this is a private office.”

At approximately 2:30 p.m., an impartial observer was called into the office, and the protesters were given a final opportunity to leave before arrests took place. Police officers removed members of the media from Cevallos’ office and then began arresting sit-in participants.

“We went limp, and the whole time we were saying, ‘we are not resisting’,” Edwards said. Edwards was dragged through the room and placed on a stretcher. She was carried out of the building and placed on a waiting bus. The bus and the Whitmore loading dock was cordoned off by police, and a crowd of supporters formed at the police line.

An officer instructed the activists that if they crossed the line, they would be subject to arrest.

As the “Whitmore 15” were carried and led out onto the bus, the assembly yelled the detainee’s name and the word “power.” Four women linked arms and strode through the police barricade. They walked five yards before several officers placed them under arrest. An officer with a video camera recorded each arrest.

Fifteen activists linked arms and blocked the bus in. Chief O’Connor informed them that if they did not move they would be subject to arrest. Protesters were given one chance to move, and then arrested and placed on the bus. The bus then went to a makeshift booking area at the Mullins Center, where the suspects were processed.

All 35 persons are being charged with disorderly conduct in a roadway and resisting arrest. Some are being charged with trespass. A few of the suspects posted their own $25 bail, and the UAW provided funds to cover this expense. Shaw stated that UAW lawyers would represent the 35 at their arraignments, which will be held today, Wednesday and Thursday in Hampshire County Court in Northampton.