“The name will get changed,” said Meron Wondwosen, a prominent leader of the September 29th Movement, about the renaming of Carrie Chapman Catt Hall. “It will get changed before I leave.”

The Movement met Tuesday night for the first time this year in an informational forum about the push to rename Catt Hall. The members of the Movement renewed their fight to change the name and pledged to increase their membership.

“We see the building as a symbol for excluded people,” Milton McGriff, a graduate student in English and a leader of the Movement, said in his speech to the audience.

Wondwosen, a senior in political science, and McGriff both spoke to the crowd of about 45 people in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union. They discussed the Movement’s goals and strategies for the upcoming year.

Wondwosen said while the fight to rename Catt Hall is not the only problem facing black students, “Catt Hall symbolizes all the issues at this university.” She read the movement’s mission statement from a banner hanging on the wall.

It stated:

“The September 29th Movement will strive to eliminate racism, classism, xenophobia, sexism and homophobia on the campus of Iowa State University, recognizing that changing the name of Carrie Chapman Catt Hall must be the first step in that direction.”

McGriff said “people will fight hard to protect traditions,” and this is one reason why it is so difficult for people to support the renaming of Catt Hall.

McGriff responded to comments about the Catt Hall issue not being important to the student body.

“People say Catt Hall isn’t important because it’s just a symbol. If it’s not that important, why is the administration fighting so hard to keep it up there?” McGriff asked.

McGriff also re-enacted selected comments made by Catt. He had a young woman from the audience read Catt’s remarks while he responded acting as a white supremacist in a Ku Klux Klan mask.

“Just consider that Catt Hall might be a symbol of white supremacy,” he said. “[It] reminds people of the good old days, when Carrie Chapman Catt was alive; when people like me would’ve known their place.”

An important goal of the Movement this year is to meet with ISU President Martin Jischke with a mediator present. McGriff said it is an event they’ve been pushing for since last August.

“Jischke has said he doesn’t see us as equals,” McGriff said. “He said he doesn’t want a mediator because it would change our relationship with him.”

McGriff said Jischke wants a facilitator present at the meeting. But if one is used, he said Jischke will end up making the final decision.

Brian Johnson, a senior in English, said Jischke only wants ISU to look like the best land-grant university, but doesn’t want to confront internal issues to make it the “best.”

McGriff also said Jischke won’t change the name because it would mean he was admitting defeat to the Movement.

If Jischke does not agree to mediations, McGriff said he is looking to comprise a group of 200 students, faculty and staff, who would confront Jischke.

Another goal of Tuesday’s meeting was to inform the public of the Movement’s purpose and to involve potential members.

“We’re trying to build membership because people finally realize that it’s an issue that affects all of us,” Wondwosen said.

“If you don’t stand up for your rights, you won’t have those rights,” Johnson said.

Chad McCaw, a junior in mechanical engineering, came to the meeting because he wants to see change.

“I want the [administration] to address problems rather than make-shift solutions,” he said. “It’s one thing to put a Band-aid on a sore; it’s another thing to prevent the sore.”

McCaw said he feels the university doesn’t want to deal with the problem. “It’s clearly a case of exclusion, of a convenient end to a problem,” he said.

McGriff emphasized that everyone needs to get involved.

There will be weekly meetings every Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Union.