Staff cleaners were responsible for clearing out the Occupy McMaster area last week.

An investigation conducted by McMaster Security Services, prompted by a theft report, found that cleaners had thrown away furniture, blankets, promotional materials and other items from the couch space in the corner of the student centre.

According to Security Services Staff Sergeant Cathy O'Donnell, the area was cleaned as a result of a miscommunication.

Lori Diamond, director of the Student Centre's administration, confirmed that the directive did not come from her office. A supervisor of the night shift, she explained, had told employees to clean the area, but not to clear it out completely, when they asked about whether students were still using it. The employees mistakenly proceeded to throw away everything except the bookshelf and its contents.

Diamond explained that, although MUSC staff have the authority to throw away items left in MUSC, it is not in the philosophy of her administration to do so. Cleaning staff have mainly left the Occupy McMaster area untouched since it began residing there last November.

Members of Occupy have been rebuilding their presence in the space since they found it empty on the morning of Sept. 18, which was the day after the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street.

Dr. Karl Andersson, a Swedish scholar who was visiting to look through the Bertrand Russell archives in Mills Library, was a regular presence at Occupy McMaster.

When members of Occupy McMaster arrived at their space in the corner of the Student Centre on Tuesday, Sept. 18, they didn’t know what had happened.

Lori Diamond, administrative director of the Student Centre, didn’t know either.

Siobhan Stewart, president of the McMaster Students Union, said she saw that Occupy was still set up in the corner of the student centre when she left late on Monday night.

But Tuesday morning – the day after the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street – the area was cleared out. The books, the furniture, the blankets, the pamphlets, the posters and all of the other items that has collected since Occupy began spending time on the MUSC couches last November was gone.

Representatives of Occupy met with McMaster Security Services Tuesday morning in hopes of getting to the bottom of the matter. Security Services said they would check security tapes.

“We do have a theft report, and it is with our investigator right now,” said Cathy O’Donnell, Staff Sergeant of Security Services, on Wednesday.

“It’s a temporary setback for the student movement,” said Alvand Mohtashami, who was one of the founders of the group last November.  “But we are organizing to build a culture of revolution.”

The MUSC space was relatively empty over the summer months, but now that September has come, students are coming together again to get Occupy McMaster back up and running.

They’ve added a couple of tables and some pamphlets, and they are trying to be more vigilant.

“I’ll be back as soon as possible and support the occupiers, whose existence and presence is necessary to the survival of the idea of the university as a place of unhampered pursuit of the truth, wrote Dr. Karl Andersson, who is currently back in Sweden, in a comment on TheSil.ca.

Andersson, a grey-haired scholar who was studying the Bertrand Russell archives in Mills Library, was a regular presence at Occupy last school year, and he helped to maintain a 24-hour watch.

I don’t know who took Occupy McMaster’s stuff. Student Centre administration says they’re not responsible, and Security Services is still looking into the matter.

But whoever effectively evicted Occupy McMaster from the student centre did it in a planned and deliberate manner.

The one-year anniversary of Occupy’s parent movement, Occupy Wall Street, was the day before. An article had just been published in the Hamilton Spectator that pointed to dwindling membership of the campus group.

And the place wasn’t just robbed; it was cleared out completely. With the exception of a bookcase (which, presumably, was too heavy to carry away), everything was taken and the area was cleaned very late Monday night during a rare lapse of vigilance. By Tuesday morning, it was as if Occupy McMaster had never existed.

People will joke about this – and maybe with good reason. The irony was painful this summer, during which the “Apathy 2 Action” sign hung next to a mostly empty seating area. And for months, the Swedish scholar who practically made Occupy his home looked out of place.

Even the name, “Occupy McMaster,” invited criticism. The small and subdued group of students who weren’t bothering anyone did not at all resemble the larger global protests of similar names.

But whether it was a student prankster or a frustrated maintenance worker or someone higher up that caused this, it was wrong.

There are good, honest and self-aware people down at Occupy. Like engaged members of faculty societies or of clubs or of MSU services, they’re just looking for something and somewhere to be here at Mac. They are always friendly, always welcoming, and they’re there because they enjoy being around each other. They just wanted to share that.

And that includes Dr. Karl, who was a kind, progressive and interesting presence in the student centre.

If the culprits are a group of students who simply had it in for Occupy, I hope they understand that what they did wasn’t necessary or political. It was mean-spirited.

Whether or not it was Occupy’s time to vacate, this wasn’t the way to do it. I hope that, as the students rebuild in MUSC, everyone else will show a little more understanding this time around.