The NAACP's magazine, The Crisis, reported that the chapter president, Kelly Alexander Jr., opposed demands for separate facilities for black students, arguing against "any attempt to re-establish institutionalized segregation".
The ensuing year was momentous black students on the campus because it was within this time frame that the Dixon Resolution and the Phipps Committee were established.
On January 24, 1969, six weeks after being presented with the demands and during final exam periods, Sitterson issued a nineteen-page written reply, demonstrating his intent "to be responsive to the educational needs of...all races, colors and creeds" while also asserting that the University cannot, in policy or practice, provide unique treatment for any single race, color or creed", but promised open discussion and the establishment of a faculty-student committee based on minorities and the disadvantaged.
Athletes Charlie Scott, the first black basketball player at the university, and Bill Chamberlain attended this rally and publicly supported the BSM.
The food-workers wanted to address the low wages, lack of holding supervisors accountable, and some sexual harassment claims.
They believed that their “supervisors who worked for the University were engaging in unfair labor practices.”[9] Provoked by Sitterson's response to their demands, BSM met with food-workers to address employee grievances.
With encouragement from BSM core members, Preston Dobbins, Reggie Hawkins, Jack McLean and Eric Clay, the food-workers remained determined to be taken seriously by administration.
During the protest, the BSM, SSOC, and other students ran through Lenoir flipping tables, which forced police with riot gear to intervene.
[11] In a meeting with Governor Robert W. Scott, Chancellor Sitterson and UNC System President William C. Friday argued to keep Lenoir Hall closed until Thursday lunch and downplayed the need to bring in the Highway Patrol to maintain order.
[10] On 13 March, the Governor directed Chapel Hill police to arrest BSM members who refused to leave Manning Hall, which was then otherwise unused.
Those arrested retained Charlotte attorneys Julius Chambers and Adam Stein to represent them.Ultimately, the UNC Non-Academic Employees Union was formed and its requests were prioritized: a minimum wage of $1.80 per hour, the appointment of a black supervisor, and time-and-a-half for overtime work.
[2] In March of 1969 along with the Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC), picketed alongside workers and boycotted the dining halls in solidarity.
The police attacked a group of demonstrators from the Black Student Movement who allegedly refused to disperse from their picket lines.
[14] In January 1965, the BSM protested against guest speaker David Duke, the founder of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
BSM further protested the minimal admittance of qualified African Americans into the university and that there was still not an office specific for minority concerns.
[17] After the passing of Dr. Sonja Stone in 1991, the BSM protested to have a free standing academic building named after her to replace the Black Cultural Center.
[18] On November 14, 1998, to commemorate the BSM's 30th anniversary, students rallied in support of the Housekeeper and Groundskeeper Struggle, and presented Chancellor Michael Hooker with a list of 22 new demands.
The presentation coincided with BSM Awareness Day, remembering those who began the fight for equality thirty years earlier.
After more than a decade of fundraising and rallying, BSM members were able to see the dedication of a freestanding Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History.
In addition to advocating for the minority voice, in recent years, the BSM has made an effort to promote change and voter participation.