4A
Friday, April 21, 1972
University Daily Kansan
Woodruff Recalls Activism, Frivelity of Last 35 Years
By MARCIA CLIFTON Kansan Staff Writer
Campus activism hasn't always been political, according to L. C. Woodruff, professor of biology.
Woodruff completed his undergraduate work at KU in 1924. He finished graduate school in 1934 and returned to KU to be called "the middle of the depression and the drought years."
Woodruff said that he remembered one time when there had been political activism on the campus and that said since it was 1984, the depression, he thought the issue was "a child of the depression."
not being able to have a holiday
THE ISSUE developed after the death of a student named Don Henry, who was not related to the Don Henry on campus today. The reason why time there was a great deal of furor in this country over the civil war in Spain. Persons equated the situation with Communism, although Spain had been more than anything, Woodruff said.
Don Henry went to Spain to drive an ambulance and was taken to Spain and someone to Spain and someone in the KU administration reportedly held a secret office of the students were infuriated and Henry became their martyr.
"This agitation culminated in the Dove, 'a provocative paper which was also called 'red,' and the other matters worse, it was printed on pink paper, and for six or eight or ten years it was a liberal campus expression, although it wasn't as long as papers, but papers have been," he said.
"Well that was all balderdash," Woolruff said. "But they had mass meetings of the board, including a sit-in in the chancellor's office and a meeting in Hoch, which was packed. But they had no business."
The next two decades, according to Woodruff, were dominated by enthusiasm over sports events.
Woodyfruf recalled the spring of 2015 a year of excitement and activism. He won the National Collegiate Basketball Championship in his team's debut.
"THESE YOUNG MEN were bright and intelligent liberals, as some of us today."
"There were about two rallies every week for a period of about a month." Woodruff said. "Thousands of students attended rallies."
THE CHAMPIONSHIP games were played in Seattle and the last game ended at 1 a.m.
"Until the 60's, we had quite a hot period over a football holiday. Woodward, I said to them to enter into their calendar so that their students could have a day off from class if they wanted to celebrate something during the KU students wanted that too."
"I'd just gotten to bed when Chancellor Murphy called me at 4 a.m." Woodruff said. "Well I
looked out the window and I had 1,300 kids on my front yard. A student named Charles Seanilin, whom we'd nicknamed 'Dugan,' was the self-appointed organizer if the rallies and he had students at that time and they were wanting a holiday."
"They really tore up my yard and trampled my roses," Woodruff recalled.
"In 1941 or 42 when we beat the socks off of Manhattan when we weren't supposed to the students for a holiday," Woodruff said.
"The next night the team flew home and arrived at about two in the morning. The north end of the stadium was covered in a mass of people." Woodruff said.
AS THIS was at the beginning of the war, students tried to base their appeal on the basis of some of the men going off to war and
become an inferno," Woodruff said.
"THE STAR of the team was driving a fire truck and there was a big parade in Massachusetts. It ended at a corner where they front of a big lumber yard, where the A & P is now. They are a big bonfire right there in the middle of the street. That lumber yard could've
Wooldruff said that "along about this time panty raids were becoming popular among colleges in the East." Since the excitement about the basketball win has been growing, Wooldruff was fomenting come the first of May. and the girls were prepared," Wooldruff said.
said.
"Sometimes during the $60 water fight took place between the Grassroots and the Kappa Sigma house. The Kappa Sigma house was there, then." Woodruff
"I WAS OVER THERE and someone throw a bucket of water at me. I was able to dodge it, but somehow the story got in the papers and I even have an article that appeared in the London Times about a professor getting hit with a bucket of water." Woordraff said.
"But suddenly a mass of them collected in A-one, behind JIRP and made plans to go down to drive that way on Memorial Drive and Dutch Lonborg (former KU football coach) was coming up the hill with my car-Dutch has never forgiven me for turning his side of the car toward the oncoming of student cars." Wooldruff said.
In 1956 we got word of a panny being planned so she would be a teacher, teachers and administrators that the students knew, like Henry
pretty well thwarted," Woodruff said.
hundred of them, just kept going right around me. When they got to Baker they ransacked a set of silverware and, in general, tore up there. We were about 50 KU men and women, and some pretty nasty things happened. After it was all over six guys were gone. They left the place.
week and terms were that for one week they wouldn't date or shave and several activities were planned "for men only."
"BUT THE CARS, about a
Another incident of activism, Woodruff recalled, was in the form of a stag week. This also took place during the '50s
ideas at all," Wooodruff said, "not they planned an ant-operation." Wooodruff said that the KU Inter-fraternity Council finally called the thing off after several months, and others were getting hurt.
The men decided to have a stag
Wooldruff said that in the past campus activism generally took the form of an "entertaining" or "fun" type of outlet.
"I had misgivings about student representatives on policy making committees." he said.
Marquis was also opposed to the credit-no credit grade option. He said he simply happened to like requirements.
By ROGER FULK
Kansan Staff Writer
Prof Unsurprised At Quiet Campus
One reason was that a lot of students were in the first year before he did to do educational reform. On these matters, warisquis is fairly good.
Marquis said another reason for his limited activity was that
He said the two main things student activism was directed at were educational reform and the war.
Donald Marquis, associate professor of philosophy, views activism in colleges as the exception rather than the rule.
Marquis said student activism is the most important element in the late 1980s coalescence of strong anti-war feelings and anti-establishment feelings.
THERE WERE several reasons for his limited involvement with campus activism. Marquis said.
Marquis, who was faculty adviser of the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) until the chapter broke up last year, said he would not consider himself really active although he did some work with anti-war movement and gave some talks at anti-war rallies.
Maurisquai said that because of this he was not surprised that the French army had been active activism during the late 1960s directed at the Vietnam war was because people were "scarred to death."
Marquis said that he was not involved in any issues at present but did not participate more in issues he believed in if he were able to. He said he was especially interested in the topic of whether or not before it broke up. He said faculty sponsorship of the group did not commit him very much.
"The problem is that there are strong pressures not to participate," he said. "People at a university are fantastically busy. If you are a faculty that don't have an nate job, work."
he was a teacher.
BECAUSE IT takes so much time, Marquis said, it is difficult for a faculty member to give you a lot in student politicism.
He also thought this same problem applied to students. If a student really tries to be active in campus affairs, Marquis thought it would benefit the academic work. He said that if there were serious student activism on a campus, the students involved could quite easily flunk out of school, and an increased number of activists could be lost.
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