Shortly after 7:25 p.m., the issue came to head as students linked arms in the conference room and began shouting. Officers immediately entered the room, and tried to unsuccessfully close the windows. The protesters reopened the windows as fast as officers could close them.

After a standoff lasting less than five minutes, with officers standing stoically inside while students chanted, other officers held the windows closed from the outside.

Eventually, officers backed off, allowing the windows to stay open and air to circulate inside. Moods improved as the cool fresh air spread.

As the evening wore on, a battle of wills began in a rear corner office. Riley attempted to remove protesters from the office and when that failed he stationed two officers to guard the office.

Any student who left was not allowed back in. Over the course of the evening, the number of students inside the office dwindled from five to two hard-core supporters.

Maddy and Allegra, protesters who only gave their first names for security reasons, held out late into the evening, eating food handed to them by students outside the office.

Finally, the two could hold out no longer as nature called. Over a late dinner, students decided to demand bathroom breaks for their peers.