security agencies could do it. that's aan important conversation. jacob ward from san francisco. the news continues on al jazeera america. brp >> on "america tonight": hard lessons. a rising voice of protest on campus. ithaca college scene of the latest faceoff as students say the school isn't all it seems. >> there were so many stories, so many tears in that room of black and brown students who said, i don't feel welcomed here. >> "america tonight's" adam may visits a campus torn by anger. thanks for joining us, i'm joie

chen. at the intersection of speech and studies, arising tide of protest on a number of american college campuses against what demonstrators charge is systemic racism in higher education. the high profile crisis at the university of missouri led to the departure of the school's top two leaders. now protests at other campuses are echoing with the same demands. one is ithaca college in upstate new york where "america tonight's" adam may met with a college president under fire from angry students. >> silence for 20 minutes. is. >> reporter: this protest wasn't staged on the stage of ferguson or baltimore nor washington, d.c. this die out, played out on hallowed grounds of higher learning at ithaca college. the demonstrators, 1,000 strong

are protesting the administration response to several race related incidents. as well as what they say is systemic racism at universities across america. they're also demanding the removal of school president tom rochan. >> all over the nation both on and off college campuses we have seen those young and old fighting against injustice. >> the coalition of students is led by an organization of people of color at ithaca college or poc @ic. human dignity that have existed on the campus. one incident happened at a training session for new resident hall advisors. >> it started a little bit with the ra public safety issue where public safety officers said they'd shoot any student on campus with a bee bee gun and

that racial profiling does not exist. >> according to the student body president two campus police officers while talking about racial profiling, allegedly said if they saw someone with a bee bee gun, they would shoot them. many saw that as a reference to tamir rice, the black 12-year-old from cleveland who was shot and killed by police last year when carrying a bee bee gun. it's incidents like that which have awakened student cavism on this once quiet campus nestled in upstate new york. >> our college students come from big cities, small towns and for most of them it's the most diverse they've been in all their time. >> president tom rochan agreed to sit down with "america tonight."

it's his first interview since the situation reached a boiling point. >> why are the officers involved in the ra controversy still employed? >> to be sensitive in words or not answering a question correctly, that's not a question of whether you should be employed or not. we are taking questions with regard to you're public safety group as of january have created a community review board which is an independent site for complaints to be lodged against officer behavior. >> tom let's put it bluntly, you're really in the hot seat right now. what's going on here? >> the issue is inclusion, there's a great deal of focus on me and whether i've been the leader who has created a sufficiently inclusive environment and that we don't have a sufficiently inclusive environment and whether i can be the leader to do that going forward. >> students come here find out they are degraded by materials that have been taught to them. they find they are degraded with the way the campus police view

them. they view them as a threat. they view them as people who are suspicious. >> reporter: it's not just students who say they're viewed that way. professor the first black woman to receive tenureship at ithaca college had a frightening encounter. >> i got into my vehicle, the police pull up with sirens blaring at night so i got confused, i tried to jump out of the car. and there were guns pointed at my head. >> but many on campus like the professor question if it's enough to just change the attitude of some police officers. they point to other incidents which they say reflect a culture of racism. one fraternity, not officially affiliated with ithaca college but made up of its students, planned a party called preps and crooks. this racially charged posting on

social media created such an uproar the party had to be cancelled. the third strike in the view of protesters, the remarks made by a prom news alumnus at a round table discussion, at which point he called an african american woman a savage. >> it was only because i had this savage hunger to make it happen. >> one we have to continue a university and bring in savage hunger. caring deeply for other people's personal pain. so as the savage sits here even now, it's a compliment. i'm merely complimenting you. >> would you do anything different after the blue skies event in hindsight? >> in hindsight i would have found a way to stand up and, first of all, tell chris birch, i know you don't intend it this way but here's what you've said

and here's how it's coming across. >> the allegation has been made that you didn't stand up because you were worried about donor money. >> no, that would not be true. again hindsight is so much easier here, it would have been a kindness to chris birch to get him stopped, there's no question about that. i think oh i hope someone will do something and suddenly the moment has passed. >> how would you describe ithaca? >> before i came here i would describe it as a progressive liberal radical place that loved its diversity. but after coming here i would describe it as so conservative it's paralyzing. >> the student body president says his view of i.t. cal ca itd after stepping on campus. >> i was the vice president of communications and our student body president he instituted a student task force on diversity

and inclusion because he's had to deal with so many issues in classrooms that have to do with cultural bias, racism and there were so many stories so many tears in that room of black and brown students who said i don't feel welcomed here. >> the poc@ic, many students on campus share its views. the majority of students of color we spoke with said they feel unwelcomed and marginalized. >> there have been implicit incidents of racism and these past ones are more explicit and directed at a certain group and i think that's prompted a lot of people to take action now. >> how has the administration reacted? >> i say poorly. all of the events asked for action. one of those actions they asked for is that those public safety officers be held accountable.

>> the administration didn't do that. a more -- a better cultural and a more inclusive culture. >> what is the criticism that you delayed to act. >> i would say, i'll own that criticism, i'll accept that criticism. i don't think we have found the way to make a difference until quite recently. >> making a difference will be a huge challenge for roch rarvetionn. for change many say there musting discourse between the disgruntled marginalized students and the president. but talks have come to a grinding stop. >> have the student protestors sat down and had an in depth conversation with you one on one? >> well, there have been a few one on one conversations but officially in terms of the student protest group they want to have no dialogue whatsoever. >> have you asked for that? >> oh i have and i have been turned down. >> in late october, in direct

response to the racial climate and protests on campus, the student government association passed a bill to institute a student vote of no confidence regarding president roshan. the faculty also plans to follow suit. although the vote is symbolic it will force the board of trustees which has the power to remove the pet to act. >> the buck stops with the trustees and that is completely fair. >> what do you think the president should do? >> i think president's best decision is to step down. if he steps down, the student body and the faculty as well will have a sense of healing. >> i don't think a loud voice should ever lead to a resignation. i don't see how that could possibly be good for a campus. >> what do you do to right this ship? >> i'm not sure that things are ever going to go back to where they were. i don't think we need them to.

i think diversity and education should be an important part of the campus life going forward. i do believe that there will an increasing number of students who want to be part of that conversation and change on campus and that's going to move us forward. >> next a divided heart. "america tonight's" adam may continues his look at rationism at ithaca college and the student newspaper's editor and her choices. and activist harry bell faw bel. more at aljazeera.com/americatonight. com/americatonight.

>> so many students are headed out for the holiday, the crisis at ithaca college continues. "america tonight's" adam may heard the response from the school's top administrator. he also met a young woman challenged by her role to give voice to student leaders while listening to the conflict in her own heart. >> when you first got the call what question did you want to ask?

>> my first question was, yes, i didn't hear the time or how long, i was like yes, i will do this. >> as cara did was interview tom rochan the embattled president at ithaca college. it would be his first interview since the calls for his resignation began reverberating across campus. it was a pretty big deal. a big get in journalist speak. president rochan wanted to break his silence and not to a local or media outlet but to the ithacan, a college newspaper. >> this is about ithaca college and i don't want you to deflect that or seem to minimize that but it is also about what's going on in this country right now. >> reporter: the movement to oust president rochan is the

biggest thing in the school's 128 year history. chronically an event that has made national headlines is a journalist's dream. but for kira who began working for the ithacan as a copy editor her freshman year the responsibility has been birth sweet. >> i'm not really glad about it really. it's kind of a two way feeling. >> why is that ? >> because the reason why i think people are talking about it is usuallily because it stems from tragedies, and people getting shot when they were unarmed or feeling racially profiled or feeling like they were otherwise discriminated against. >> kira has been aware of issues surrounding race since she was a child. >> when did you become conscious of your race? >> i think it was when i was very young. i'd say probably on in elementary school so i was

probably six years old i think. i just kind of noticed that there were colors of clothing cg that i couldn't wear because other girls in my school were paler than i was and -- >> were you one of the first black student in your school? >> there were most everybody, that were whiter than i am. >> kira who is black and white, made mixed race made blending in difficult at times. >> they'd call my leek caramel or like milk chocolate. i didn't understand, when i was younger, why can't i be like everyone else? >> her father who passed away when she was 12 and the events of 9/11 inspired kira to be a

journalist. >> it was right after 9/11 and it was around the time when a lot of news outlets in the south were talking about weapons of mass destruction and we started to go to wars in the middle east and everything. and my dad was i guess you could call him a bit of a news junky. he would sit in the news loom anliving roomand watch news bro. he was on the opposite side of things. he would remember what people said on the news, and if the story changed, he would bring that out. >> reporter: getting to the truth and covering the protests hasn't been easy. >> we saw how journalists were shut out. has that happened here? >> as what happened at the university of missouri that's been true both sides of the coin, both with the students that were leading the protest and somewhat with the administration as well. >> reporter: the student led

protests in many ways is about inclusion and being accepted. feeling like you belong. instead of feeling like you're out of place. feelings and emotions kiira adds all too well. >> i think i started straightening my hair whether i was nine years old. >> straightening your hair? >> uh-huh. >> why was that? >> because i wanted to look like other people at my school. i wanted to look not like me basically. i couldn't understand why everyone else looked a certain way and i looked so different. >> was there a sense of being an outcast? >> yes, a little bit. it just always felt like -- there wasn't really anyone to talk to. >> as one who empathizes with the student protesters of color, for kira getting it right is especially important. >> in the office we talk about wording all the time. how we're going to pour

different stories when we use certain words when we use racially charged versus racist, when we use alleged, somewhat rather than just saying it, we are make shush we're not being judge jury and executioner. >> we want tom rochan to resign or be removed from his position. >> i think everyone has a right to feel rchted an rmented and r. so if people aren't in a scale of a small thing to a large issue, i think that's something that should be looked into and addressed in any capacity. >> next he lent his voice to entertainment and activism. now harry belafonte speaks to a new generation of young revolutionaries. and shot to the heart land. tuesday on "america tonight,"

correspondent sarah hoye's in depth look at gun violence in the midwest. its ravages on communities and the desperate effort to save lives on the street, that's tuesday on "america tonight." america tonight."

>> so where we are standing... this will be the panama canal? >> this will be flooded. >> technology, it's a vital part of who we are... >> they had some dynamic fire behavior. >> and what we do. >> trans-cranial direct stimulation... don't try this at home. >> techknow's team of experts show you how the miracles of science... >> this is what innovation looks like. >> can affect and surprise us. >> i feel like we're making an impact. >> awesome! >> techknow - where technology meets humanity. ♪ ♪ >> the fight for racial justice

is so often led by the young, maybe it takes that energy but it's also a very long fight. a battle begun generations ago, once a young man singing out for justice, harry belafonte became an extraordinary figure of the modern civil rights movement. he brings his insight to a new generation of young revolutionaries. >> you're looking younger and younger. how you doing? >> good to see you. >> you too, you too. >> i'm delighted to be with you phillip. for a loc long time many peoplee been asking what has happened to our youth, and where is the next generation going. for a lot of people, that has been answered by suggesting that young people are indifferent. nothing seems to motivate them.

and of course with the murder of young trayvon martin and your response to that experience, developing dream defenders, i think you instantly filled a space. have you found that my generation has been responsive to you, that you're getting what you need? >> um -- yes and no. yes and no. i think you're an example of someone from a previous generation reaching out and reaching back to young people. but i think actually the ball dropped in between. during the civil rights movement, the dominant aim and desire eventually moved towards integration. so the generation that followed you all's i believe began to

reap the rewards of the fight of the civil rights movement. and so to really answer your question, i think the generations before us, and the folks that we still have around, yourself, bob moses, angela davis, have been very helpful but the goals of the civil rights movement have yet to be fully met. >> i'm struck by your observation that integration was the target for the movement. but integration, i think that's a little misunderstood. >> okay. >> we aren't looking to integrate into america. whether it was racial integration, economic integration, it was that we knew if we were not part of the fabric of what this nation professed to be about, that we would never really truly touch

the heartbeat of what america was about. >> so all the groups come together, all the young people that want to come, they knew they were talking a lot about within dream defenders and i think this is part of a larger conversation about who our target is. our target is not the koch brothers, our president obama, but the public opinion, the masses of people we need to shift from their places of comfort to see the world in the way we see it. >> what we set out to achieve in the civil rights movement is qualitatively extended by the mission that young people today find themselves on. of all the things i think we could do as a people in this country, the most important tool at our disposal is the vote. the reason that we seem to be fighting the same fight all the time is because we are fighting

the same fight all the time. this generation is not going back and pay attention to the things that we had won are now being lost because of this power play. so i think this thing that we feel redundant over, fighting the same thing is because the enemy has always kept us in the same place. they're tenacious. >> i think we all know at some point what our purpose is. and the murder of traif trayvont seemed that people want to do something about it. so really i followed that, i was able to duet back into activism, rediscover who i am and maybe who what -- who i'm supposed to be. >> it is to be expected that all of us who are participating in this struggle for civil rights or civil liberties to be smeared and to be called names. but it requires much more than

that to deter me. my mission is near its end. that's just a fact of life, not maudlin. everybody dies. but in this space i found that in philip agnew i have my dna, my political dna, and that he wants to do it the way he's doing it tells me that the future doesn't look so bleak. >> hmm, hmm. thank you. >> thank you man. >> face to face, in conversation with harry belafonte. that's "america tonight." please tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight. talk to us on twitter or facebook and come back, we'll have more of "america tonight," tomorrow.

>> i felt like i was in a washing machine. >> we're kind of stuck with more than a century of bad choices. [ sirens ] >> brussels on edge. >> translator: we want to do everything we can to return as quickly as possible to normal life. >> the threat of an attack paralyzes belgium's capital and keeps security at its highest level. travel alert. the state department warns americans about increased threats overseas. a new direction. >> we need to start acting and not complaining soe