In the village, there was dancing and singing and free-styling and laughing. Students of different races prayed, exchanged hugs, studied the Bible and even tried to study their textbooks.
Eddie Elizondo (senior-management and international business) characterized it as "an environment of hope."
Early yesterday morning, a ritual emerged.
At the turn of each hour, students linked hands in the air and chanted a community prayer: "Now, more than ever, all the brothers and sisters must come together -- all the brothers and sisters everywhere -- must see that the time is in the air. Common blood flows through common veins and common eyes all see the same. . . . Now, now, now! . . . Ashé, Ashé, Ashé!"
Richards, like many, tried to fit in some naps between the hourly prayers throughout the night.
Missy Mazzaferro, co-director of Womyn's Concerns, said she had been keeping up with the recent Black Caucus events, and decided to have her organization join more than 20 others in co-sponsoring Tuesday's planned unity march.
After black student leaders took control of the event, Mazzaferro stayed on.
"I knew from the start that I wasn't leaving," she said.
Brian Jara, a lecturer in women's studies, brought pillows and blankets for Mazzaferro and others early yesterday, but decided not to spend the whole night.
"It's really amazing that everyone could come together like this," Mazzaferro said.
Camped out by the HUB information desk, Mazzaferro noticed how representatives from campus groups seemed to occupy different corners of the student union building.
During the night, NOMMO Performing Arts Company entertained the supporters at least twice.
Students taped up protest posters on the railings and walls around the atrium: "We will be heard!" "Stayin' strong no matter how long." "We're not happy in Happy Valley." "Unite in love."
At the foot of the main staircase, someone had strategically attached new words to the HUB-Robeson Center dedication plaque in the floor. One April ago the renovated structure was "dedicated" to students. Yesterday the tablet read: "Occupied by Students -- April 24th, 2001."
Undergraduate Student Government President Justin Zartman said he and others tried to find quiet places to sleep like the first-floor enclosed study lounges. However, many people stayed up through most of the occupation and were still there when classes began yesterday morning.
University officials arrived around noon to reawaken dialogue with black student leaders and elected student representatives such as Zartman.
To take advantage of the gathered crowd, organizers of the Classroom Without Walls moved their lessons to a HUB balcony above the "No Hate at Penn State" banner. Martin Austermuhle, co-founder of Students for Accountability and Reform, took a break from his critique of the "corporate university" to talk about his experiences spending the night.
"I was amazed that at five o'clock in the morning there was a dance party going on," Austermuhle said to cheers from the crowd.
Some students passing through encountered heavy midday crowds and complained about the protest supporters getting in the way. By last night, evidence of many hours spent waiting was scattered throughout the building.
However, most people seemed sympathetic to the occupation, and HUB-Robeson Center staff made few if any moves to encourage the supporters to leave.
With no final agreement by 10:30 p.m. yesterday and administrators gone for the evening, some students appeared prepared to spend another night in the union building.
"It's a testament to their character to say — as tired as we are, as important as our classes and exams are — that this issue takes precedence over all else," Elizondo said.
