Nine student protesters at Duke University in North Carolina began occupiying the Allen Building on Duke’s campus and demanded the firing of Executive Vice President Tallman Trask III, as well as of two other administrators. The student protesters also asked that Duke raise the minimum wage for campus workers from $12 to $15, according to an April 4 Washington Times article.

The protest follows a lawsuit filed last month by contract traffic control officer Shelvia Underwood, who accused Trask of using a racial slur against her, the article says.

According to a Feb. 29 article in the Chronicle, Duke University’s independent student newspaper, the racial slur was allegedly uttered after Trask hit Underwood with his car. While Trask has acknowledged that he did unintentionally hit Underwood, he denied having made any racial comments and claims that Underwood stepped in front of his car, refusing to let him park in his usual spot.

In response to the incident, the student protesters read various statements from Duke employees, according to a later Chronicle article published on Friday.

One of the statements read, “You have executives running over people, vehicles catching on fire and a system that blames the employee for what management and executives are doing wrong. ... I hope the truth comes out about who and what Duke is as an institution.”

At 4:10 p.m. on Monday afternoon, Duke administrators said in a statement that they would not continue negotiations with students until “after the nine students leave the Allen Building.”

—Carmi Rothberg