The idea for the protest arose after two students, Emilie Boone '02 and Sheika Luc '02, said that the restaurant's manager racially insulted them when they failed to leave a tip.
Though Boone did not oppose a protest, she favored telling her story to others and speaking with local newspapers. "I just wanted people to know," she said.
Cush, who is the president of the Black Student Union (BSU), emphasized that the BSU had nothing to do with the protest. Cush became involved after learning that BSU members, acting outside of the organization, proposed a protest.
"The issues involved in the Paradise of India incident were not as clear cut as many people would like to believe," Cush said. "Furthermore, many of the students on both sides of the protest didn't know or understand all the issues at hand."
On Oct. 28 concerned students met to discuss possible actions against Paradise of India. At the meeting, Cush said, "the protest was postponed and not canceled because people felt some action needed to be taken."
On Nov. 5 Cush organized a meeting between the owners of Paradise of India and members of the Five College community, during which he called off the protest.
"In the meeting we spoke about what sort of behavior the community would not stand for," Cush said. He added that Paradise of India's owners expressed remorse and said they would work to prevent similar situations in the future.
"A well-researched and organized protest can be a very effective tool in making a statement and provoking action," said Cush. "The protest I canceled would have provoked action. However, I suspect it would have been more damaging to us as students and community members."
The debate over the Paradise of India protest spread quickly to The Daily Jolt. While many posts criticized Paradise of India and supported the idea of a protest, Tal Liron '03 used the Daily Jolt's forum area to express his opposition to the protest. "I turned to the Daily Jolt in desperation and urgency," said Liron. "It was a lynching of Paradise of India. While not all would-be protesters were out for blood, the premise was that the restaurant and its employees would, regrettably or not, have to pay the price. It was guided by either naive irresponsibility or stoic cynicism, both unacceptable."
Cush said he did not believe that Liron was aware of both sides of the story. Cush said that Paradise of India claimed it was often mistreated by community members, who would make fun of waiters' Indian accents.
"Even now that the protest is canceled, I find both the one-sided Student article and the posters calling for the protest to have been irresponsible," said Liron.
After Boone and Luc filed a complaint with the Amherst Police Department, they were told that similar incidents had occurred at Paradise of India. "In a conversation with an officer, he said there had been a number of other complaints," Boone said.
At the Nov. 5 meeting, Paradise of India owners Amrik Singh and Ashok Kumar presented two letters of apology: one to Boone and Luc and one to the Amherst community.
The letter published last week in The Student stated, "sometimes when people talk they do not understand each other. I hope we can learn to understand each other better... Please give us a new chance to do better so this will never happen again."
The owners met with students on campus, saying that they were bothered by what happened and would work to prevent similar incidents form happening in the future.
Boone was told that Singh and Kumar were trying to contact her, but she had no interest in speaking with them.
"I think that after the owner resolves the issues within his own business, and the community feels comfortable again, then students of all colors and backgrounds will then begin to frequent Paradise of India," said Cush.