Student Group Holds 'Die-In' On OSU Campus

As protests continued across the nation in the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, students at Oklahoma State University spoke out on those events and others on their own campus.

More than 35 students of all races gathered to march right with the same message heard from coast to coast: All lives matter.

Peacefully planned and peacefully performed, students marched, wanting their voices heard.

"It's time for us to stand up and I feel like we really made a statement today," said OSU junior Stanzza Patterson.

First Stanzza Patterson and her peers blocked the intersection of Monroe Street and Hall of Fame Avenue for nearly five minutes.

Then students met honks with more chants as they made their way down Monroe Street to the front of the university library where for several minutes there was only silence. The students called it a 'die-in,' in light of the events in Ferguson and New York.

"The most important thing for us is that we refuse to wait until something like that happens to our community and our state," said Evan Woodson.

Evan Woodson is with Oklahoma Students in Solidarity, which planned this protest to voice concerns for police militarization and police brutality.

"It's putting fire under us,” said Patterson.

Stanzza also said she has concerns for racism on campus.

Earlier this week she was part of a 'die-in' where she and others wrote 'OSU Wants Justice' in side walk chalk, which was later marked out for 'Brown Got Justice.'

"Showing the those chalk marks, those chalk marks show what we deal with on a day to basis," said Patterson.

But on Friday, Stanzza felt she made her point heard along with others.

"The solidarity and unity we had today they just couldn't break that today and it was just beautiful," said Patterson.

The Students in Solidarity are also calling on the university to open a full investigation into what it considers cyber bullying where racial slurs were made toward a black sorority on social media.

In a statement, OSU said, in part, it "hopes expressions like this will be part of the solution to issues in our society.”

12/6/2014 Related Story: OSU Students Stage 'Die-In' On Campus