The command came quickly.

"3-2-1, GO, GO, GO!!!" Alex Horowitz yelled as students ran from Matthews to Mass. Hall.

At 1:23 p.m. yesterday, the protesters stormed the building in a carefully crafted plan to seize control of the building. Three teams, each with different objectives, seized the bathroom, the conference room and administrators' offices as they entered the building, carrying with them backpacks filled with granola, peanut butter, jam and bread.

As police arrived, protestors began filling portable tanks with water from the bathroom in case water was shut off to the building. The rest lined the main hallway and linked arms in solidarity.

After weeks of planning, PSLM began a major action yesterday afternoon in a cramped office in the basement of Matthews Hall. More than 60 supporters, mostly undergraduates, gathered after lunch yesterday before storming Mass. Hall.

The protesters followed strict rules-not speaking to police or staff and instead handing them statements explaining why they were demonstrating.

The number one rule, explained leaders of the protest, was don't touch anyone. If police tried to remove them, they planned to resist until they were put under arrest. Lawyers from the National Lawyer Guild were standing by if police made arrests, and protestors carried lists of professors ready to post bail if necessary.

Police officers who arrived on the scene of the protest escorted an National Public Radio reporter out and threatened to arrest Maple J. Razsa, a graduate student who was videotaping the takeover.