On another part of campus that same night, John Anderson '71 was confronted by a similar situation while on duty as a night watchman in the Science Center. Anderson was taken, under escort by students, to the building's entrance and promptly ejected.
The "black student occupation of four college buildings" came about as a way to protest the College's unwillingness to hear or address the Five College Black United Front's demands for a series of measures that would ensure that "black students are prepared to psychologically and intellectually to undertake the formidable tasks awaiting for them in the black community." Among the group's requests were the establishment of a Five College black studies department, a summer program to benefit black high school graduates enrolled in the five colleges, scholarships for African-American applicants and further development of the Black Cultural Center.
The students occupied the campus buildings, "chaining doors from the inside to prevent authorities from entering." They withdrew voluntarily some time later.
In response to the protests, a meeting open to the entire college community was held during which Dean of the Faculty Prosser Gifford and President Calvin Hastings Plimpton announced a faculty resolution, the text of which called for future negotiations in recognition the faculty's responsibility to "address seriously the issues presented to it by the Black Community of the Five College Area." Despite these concessions, the resolution officially condemned the takeover of buildings and rejected the use of force by members of Amherst College.
Though the condemnation was supposedly unanimous, according to an editorial published in The Student, "[many] more of the faculty than the President expected thought the demands justified."