On November 23, members of The Food Insecurity Resistance Movement’s (FIRM) Executive Board (EBoard) entered their club space in the Dana Commons kitchen to find that all of their materials had been removed. 

Hundreds of textbooks intended for semesterly book swaps, posters that were handmade by FIRM members, inventory purchased with club members’ money and a couch; all gone from the room and seemingly from Dana Commons entirely. 

FIRM is a student-led Registered Student Organization (RSO) at Clark that has been working to address food insecurity among Clark students since 2020. FIRM had previously occupied the Dana Commons kitchen with the University’s knowledge and consent. 

“The sweep of our historical space inside of Dana Commons was extremely disappointing from a University that prides itself on community, but we are not shocked,” FIRM said in response to a request for comment. “Our institution continues to prove that it fails to support students, and when students decide to instead support each other, our institution succeeds in suppressing or limiting us.” 

“This is admittedly terrifying from a so-called liberal arts school soon to enter a far-right governance,” FIRM said. “There is no justifying the metaphorical burning of books. Now, more than ever, we need to care for one another.”

FIRM says that this is not their first time being challenged by Clark University’s Administration, and that they have been moved multiple times throughout the last few years.  

“I have seen it go from Rosenblatt conference room, to Dana Common’s kitchen, to now Jeremiah’s Inn,” said FIRM President Angel Rojas in an interview with The Scarlet. “I hold an immense amount of joy for having [the Dana Commons kitchen] space, because it was the dream of the founders of FIRM: a sustainable food pantry for the entire campus.” 

The Rosenblatt conference room is located in the Higgins University Center and Jeremiah’s Inn is located half a mile from campus. 

During the Spring 2024 semester, former Clark Director of Community Engagement and Volunteering Domenica Perrone worked with FIRM to officially establish that the Dana Commons kitchen belonged to FIRM. FIRM’s founders had planned for Dana Commons to serve the Main South community primarily, including a cafe and self-sustaining food pantry to be maintained by Clark students, a dream that “had to be paused because of how much need there was within the Clark community”, says FIRM. The food pantry itself has always been run by FIRM, by student workers.

On May 30 of this year, Associate Director of Student Engagement and Equity Maria-Elise Gallant, staffer for Clark’s Student Leadership and Programming (SLP), reached out to the former president of FIRM, who had graduated weeks prior, as well as a member of the See You Collective (SYC), explaining they would need to clear out the space in Dana Commons as soon as possible. The next day, FIRM explained their agreement with Perrone, and Gallant responded with a notice saying that they had until June 4 to clean out the space. 

According to FIRM, they asked for more time but SLP assured them that if they moved then, they could reassess the club space in the fall semester together. With no other option, FIRM moved all items out of the space, with the exception of the couch and some flyers indicating that the space belonged to FIRM. 

In September, all RSOs were asked to submit their inventory forms to Clark Engage, a platform used by SLP. According to FIRM, they did as requested and moved all of their items, along with SYC’s textbook collection, back into Dana Commons. They also continued to hold club meetings in the space. They received no communication from SLP at the time.

During Clark University Student Council’s (CUSC) open meeting on November 14, FIRM representatives gave public comment, mentioning their occupation and usage of the space in Dana Commons. In attendance were SLP Assistant Director Meghan Harrington and Dean Danielle Morgan Acosta, Student Council’s advisor. According to FIRM, neither staff member commented on their usage of the space at that time.

On November 23, five days after a weekly club meeting when FIRM members had decorated and organized the space, the EBoard had entered the Dana Commons kitchen to find it empty of their materials. 

According to FIRM, all that remained were post-it notes on the walls. FIRM then took inventory again, and made a conservative estimate that $6,000 worth of items were missing. A source at FIRM confirmed that their space has been locked since November 25. 

FIRM received a communication from SLP on November 25, saying that the department was “confused” about FIRM’s usage of the space. 

“This could have been a conversation, instead of just taking our stuff with no further warning,” Rojas said. “Given how our space was left, though, I am a bit concerned about the conditions of the materials, including the textbooks.” 

FIRM has turned to the Clark community for support. In a post made on the club’s Instagram page, FIRM asked Clark students to reach out to administration and make their position on the incident known. 

“Our swift response and amount of support from the community has led to SLP taking this very seriously,” Rojas said. “It always surprises me how Clark students respond to calls to action that FIRM is involved in, but I think it’s a reminder that we all recognize, not to the same extent, but we all recognize what it is like to be hungry. This removal of the Club’s items is ensuring that there will never even be the possibility of an on-campus food pantry or distribution ever again.

“Losing Dana Commons is a great loss and it has clearly been seen as such on campus,” Rojas added.

Morgan Acosta; Harrington and Director of Identity, Student Engagement, and Access Peyton Wu have not responded to The Scarlet for comment at the time this article is published.

This is a developing story.