University of Hawaii-­Manoa students opposed to the Thirty Meter Telescope have launched a sit-in at the Bachman Hall administration building, demanding that the university drop its support for the controversial $1.4 billion astronomy project.

The students, who took up residence in the building’s lobby on the first day of classes Monday, have vowed to remain there until the UH Board of Regents discontinues its support for the TMT.

“We’ll leave when the TMT does,” said one of the group’s signs set up inside Bachman Hall on Tuesday.

“Our kuleana is clear,” said Kahili Liu-Hanohano, a junior Hawaiian studies student. “We understand that we, as students, are here to further ourselves but, at the same time, stand for what we believe in. We’re making that all work right now.”

Liu-Hanohano was among a handful of students who are part of Hui Aloha ‘Aina Tuahine, a Hawaiian student club that organized the sit-in. Also there at different times Tuesday were faculty members, university graduates and community members.

The sit-in is part of a splashy first-week display of displeasure with the university staged by Hawaiian students and faculty angry about the TMT.

On Monday a couple hundred students and faculty waved anti-TMT signs along Dole Street and University Avenue and joined in protocol ceremonies on the lawn near Bachman Hall. The protocol is expected to continue at 8 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. each day to match what the kiai, or “protectors,” on Mauna Kea are doing.

Today some classes are expected to be held outside Bachman Hall and taught by instructors who support the Mauna Kea cause.

The university oversees management of the astronomy reserve at the Mauna Kea summit, and UH Hilo holds the lease that will allow the cutting-edge telescope to be built. But a largely Native Hawaiian group of TMT opponents has been blocking construction for the last month and a half.

In Bachman Hall, meanwhile, students say they will continue to hold the space, juggling the protest with classes and work schedules.

“I’m supposed to be writing my thesis, but lately I’ve been writing a lot of statements to the Board of Regents,” said Beau Shishido, a second-year graduate student in Hawaiian language from Papakolea.

Lakela Duque of Pearl City, who graduated from UH in 2014 and majored in Hawaiian language and Hawaiian studies, said he was happy to join the sit-in.

“Mauna Kea and the Ku Kiai Mauna movement, I believe, is the Kahoolawe of today’s generation of Hawaiians. It’s good to see UH students, the younger generation of Hawaiians, here,” he said.

Piper H., a postdoctoral math instructor, was on her computer in a corner. She said she was there to support the UH kiai after spending three days on the mountain at the beginning of the protest.

“When I left it was like, How do I get back?” she said. “Having this here is, OK, I don’t have to go back there. I can support here, and I can figure out what’s needed here. It’s a similar spirit, a place where everyone’s nice and happy. It’s just a different atmosphere than normal.”

No one is going hungry. There was a table packed with food and several coolers loaded with drinks, most of it donated by protest supporters.

“The community support is beautiful,” Shishido said. “What’s happening on Mauna Kea is unique, but the aloha is here as well and it’s alive.”

Around 4:40 p.m. Rosina Ho of Waimanalo walked in with several large trays of hot food from Panda Express.

Ho, who spent a week with her family at the Mauna Kea protest last month, said the gift was her way of doing her part for the cause.

“I’m a Maori, and I understand about having things taken away,” she said.

There is a long history of student sit-ins at Bachman Hall, and university officials have pledged to keep the bathrooms and the doors to the lobby open.

“As long as there are no issues, they will be accommodated,” said Dan Meisenzahl, university spokesman.

Earlier, UH put out this statement: “The University of Hawaii is committed to the open exchange of ideas and affirms the rights of all individuals to engage in free speech. UH is proud to be a vibrant hub of disparate opinions, including those that oppose specific actions of the university.”