Turbulent '60s Rocked by Race, War Demonstrations
By STUART BOYCE
Kansan Staff Writer
The decade of the 1960s may be referred to by future historians as the era of protest. During this period there were more restrictions than in any previous decade.
The protest at the University of Kansas reflected the national trend. The following summary of protest at KU is taken from a report that was published during that period.
The decade started innocently and quietly. The major protest of the year 1960 happened when 20 freshman girls from Gertrude Sollardars Pearson residence hall were arrested by the police while whistled at the bypassers. The law students were surprised to see their traditional perch occupied but solved the problem by typing one of the women to the statue of Jimmy Green. This tactic discouraged them on the steps and ended protest for 1960.
IN 1961, THE Civil Rights Council was
in fighting to integrate KU and Lawrence.
They sponsored a petition that stated that those who signed it would support boycots of businesses that refused service to anyone because of race, religion or national origin. In two months they had 800 signatures.
The Council sponsored a sit-in at Louise's bar. Ten white and nine black students walked into the bar and asked to be served. Louise refused to serve them and called the police. The police removed the protesters to the police station, where they were kept for a while but not booked or charged with any crime.
The Council also tried to get barbers to integrate their shops. They were successful, for within a year nearly all the barber shops were integrated.
IN 1982 THE first war protest of the decade was heard.
Students formed a Student Peace Union whose aim was to find alternatives to war. They said "nothing freedom or the human nature" in nature in a world committed to rallition.
When the United States resumed nuclear
testing, with its atmospheric nuclear explosions on Christmas Island in the Pacific. 19 persons formed a sign-carrying team and participated in a St., up 14th St., and across the campus.
Other peace efforts were carried out by eight members of a KU Methodist study group. They marched in Topeka in a "Witness the Peace" march for disarmament.
In 1963, the Civil Rights Council renewed its efforts for integration. They announced that blacks were still not being served in Louise's or the Huddle bars. They threatened to take the case to the county attorney if no action was taken to integrate them.
THE COUNCIL also picketed the major KU political parties for not taking a definite stand on KU racial issues, especially in the fraternities and sororities.
During this year the Student Peace Union picketed members of the Arnold Air Society (an honorary branch of Air Force ROTC) who were meeting in the Student Union. The picketers carried signs with slogans such as "This is a University, Not
The year 1964 hosted only one major demonstration. About 100 persons picked the Sigma Nu fraternity house for two hours because it had a discriminatory national constitution. They hoped to force the national chapter to remove this clause.
a Military Installation."
Also the Civil Rights Council petitioned the Inter-Fraternity Council to make a public statement clarifying its stand on the inter-fraternity group members into the KU Interfriam Council.
BY 1963, the war in Vietnam was well under way. This motivated 30 members of the Student Peace Union to picket the Lawrence Selective Service office. They protested the drafting of men to fight in Vietnam.
During that year one of the largest arrests at a KU demonstration took place. The Civil Rights Council sponsored a protest demonstration in Chancellor W. Hearn's office, holding the 'tact approval of discrimination in campus, fraternity, and sororities."
The police arrested 110 persons and charged them with disturbing the peace. When the University learned their names they were locked up three days later. Wesco, removed the suspicion.
The calm before the storm was 1966, when very little noticed took place.
A PEACE VIGIL took place in South Park every Sunday from noon until 12:30 p.m. Participants protested the war in Vietnam.
During 1966, an experimental legal counseling program for inmates of Leavenworth penitentiary was established by the KU School of Law.
In the fall, the SDS made its presence known. They protested military recruitment by sending letters to Congress.
was set up by the U.S. Marine Corps in the Kansas Union.
OTHER PEACE efforts were carried out by students who collected signatures on a petition they took to Congress. The signers were expressing "indignation at the senseless destruction of Vietnam and its people."
Students also took out a two page advertisement in the Kanan protest the week prior.
A petition was passed around that protested CIA recruitment on campus.
The war was not the only subject of protest at this time.
KU African Club members hold a small demonstration in front of the student union protesting alleged racism and white supremacy in Rhodesia.
Three students circulated a petition which 'demanded that Watson Library remain open with full book services until midnight Sunday through Friday.'
See TURBULENT '60s on Page 7
Special Section
The University of Kansas—Lawrence Kansas
Friday, April 21, 1972
Student Activism
Dandelion Pickers Beautify Strong Hall Area
KU students are shown at a wartime organized student project—picking dandelions in the front yard of Stron Hall. The year was 1945, so these students were on duty.
Student Involvement An Age-Old Reality
of the vicinity of Strong Hall. Malot himself reportedly joined the students in their endeavor. (See site on Page 6A.)
By LESLIE RISS
Kansan Staff Writer
Riots and rebellions in the academic world have been in evidence since at least the 4th century, A.D., according to Professor James Stanford University's school of education.
"American students have been involved in public issues since the Revolution. Alexander Hamilton began his career as a student agitator. For 40 years prior to the War, students from the North and the South were the issue of slavery." Cowley reported.
In 1823 half of Harvard's senior class was expelled for activity in anticoronics.
Outside agitators appeared on campuses in 1906. Upton Sinclair, Clarence Darrow, Jack London and others founded the Intercollegiate Socialist Society which, during the Great Depression, created turmil on campus.
On April 12, 1934, 500,000 students across the country rebelled in a peace strike. The
Student Shouts Turned to Murmurs
Kansan Staff Writer
Today, two years after the campus upheavals at Kent State and Jackson State, the loud voice of student activism has died down to just a quiet murmur.
"Activism," Peggy Scott, Prairie Village sophomore and a member of the Women's Coalition, said recently, "has declined. There haven't any real issues yet to student. The people are still radical and they have no real issues to act upon."
By MONA DUNN
"Student activism is dead ... apathy new rules," said the president of the Gay Law Center.
The president of Gay Liberation, who wishes to be identified only as Joe,
"Before, it was strong on the Black Students Union and getting rid of the war. It was not."
that before his group came to the University, he said the student knew nothing at all about burglaries.
The Gay Liberation group, which was started in the summer of 1970, was aimed at decreasing the hostilities surrounding homosexuality, he said.
Joe said the organization had up to 100 members. The present membership is 30. The number of members fluctuate from semester to semester, he said.
The Gay Liberation Front, which is open to anyone who is gay, has meetings about a once week. Joe said the front advertised the fact that it is on campus in order that other homosexuals who do not have friends or "understanding" can join the group.
The Gay Liberation Front has been seeking recognition from the University.
They have brought their case to court
and have lost. They are now preparing to appear before the Supreme Court,
Joe believes that the U.S. laws are for them.
The Gay Liberation Front, Joe said, does many educational things. He said they had a lot to do about what homosexuality is. During the past year Gay Lib has gone to Kansas State College at Pittsburgh and has presented a Gay Caucus in Kansas State's Gay Caucus at Manhattan.
"If we go to the Supreme Court we will win," he said.
issues of civil rights and war were primary concerns.
Another outlet for student activism is the Women's Coalition, which was started nearly three and a half years ago by a group of women who were dissatisfied with their roles as women, a spokesman for the Coalition said recently.
The members of the Coalition formed a
Political repression, scare tactics of McCarthy and general apathy continued until late in the '50s, when the civil rights movement aroused the sympathies of students.
Student movements usually followed political trends. It was not until the 1960s, that national attention was focused on campuses. The New Left became widely recognized and organizations such as the Democratic Society (DJS) were created.
IN THE 1930s, the first mass student movements began with the antitwar question. But World War II shifted concerns from the student movement.
group called the February Sisters and gained public attention when they occupied the East Asian Students building in February. They protested the lack of a day-cure center, a women's health center or a扮 of a woman in an administrative post.
Since that time plans for a day care center and a women's health service have been established. There is presently a search committee which was appointed by the Chancellor. The committee is interviewing candidates for the position of director of the Office of Affirmative Action for Women.
Peggy Scott said the day-care center which was approved by the University failed to meet the needs of the participation center in the day-care center will start operation in the fail.
The history of student activism at KU has been moderate.
In 1882 the yearbook of the University of Kansas, Kikkabe, contained an introduction which stated that student interests had been attracted to society affairs, athletics, and "these other pursuits that form no portion of our regular college work."
THE INTEGRATION also states that, "Our University, while sadly lacking in the elements that go to make up the frock-lose some barricades of some of the Eastern institutions, and while hazing, shower baths, cane fights and other pernicious pleasanties are to us unknown, we still have our spirit . . ."
This was the time when the faculty picture was contained in a one page photograph. Student activism was not obsolete, but it became more powerful. Arbor Day, for two-weeks of Christmas vacation instead of one, for a vacation the day after Washington's birthday, for excuse from "chapel rhetoric," and the facetious lower the price of diplomas from $5 to $7.75.
Most of KU's student movement until 1914 consisted of football rallies, organizing male and female student councils, practical joking, raising the enrollment and debating. Few students worried about keenin race with "dead old Havlad."
THE 1914 Jayhawker editor said, "The University of Kansas has a reputation for being a tough school."
est and most moral of any of its sister schools."
KU had 2,700 students in 1914, and it was realized that good behavior was not always possible. To criticism that the "castle walk" and other dances were "immoral," students replied that any dance, or dances, were thinking immoral, thoughts.
Also in 1914 it was suggested by students that the Men's Student Council would be less criticized for inefficiency if it had been allowed to act as the real student government of KU.
Julian Street of Collier's visited the Lawrence campus in 1915.
"The University of Kansas is anything but backward," he said. "Directness, sincerity, strength, thoughtfulness and practicality are Kansas qualities."
ALTOUGH NO one thought that girl dancing together at the 1915 Girls' Prom was an act of Women's Lib, "feminine unrest." The quiet demands for equal rights between men and women were heard on many campuses. But with the extreme patriotism brought on by World War I, the individual concerns of college were side-by-side.
"Our Bays are Coming" was the theme of the foreword in the 1918 Jayhawker. Student activities centered on the war. Enrollment dropped from 3,457 to 2,846. A War Council was created to raise funds for Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps.
The 1919 Jayhawker, "The Peace Book," shows a year of reorganization and renewed academic interest. Students in 1920 rallied to the "Put KU First" spirit in hopes of raising $1 million to build a Service building and a Victory Stadium.
THE 1930 yearbook was dedicated to the "Spirit of Youth." Many students saw no need for involvement in war efforts. However, the usually passive mind on campus gradually changed. In 1941 a student said, "I went to school and studied at torchlight demonstrations, but are pleading for students to rise to their rights and freedoms."
See STUDENT on Page 6
Administrators Reminisce About 'Old Days' at KU
Kansan Staff Writer
Rv.IUDVHENRY
Student concern and involvement in events on campus is nothing new at the University of Kansas, according to three administrators who studied at KU in the past.
Raymond Nichols, executive secretary of the University, studied at KU in the 1920s and then at the University of 1924 to 1928, has been a professor of physical education at KU for 31 years, and this is his 56th year as chairman of the department. He was also the person who began his career as a KU student in 1941.
The three reminisced about student activism and involvement at KU during their student days as well as during the time they have been on the faculty.
SHENK SAID, "I can remember several cases of student concern. The usual things they were concerned about were a little bit different from now."
Nichols said none of the students were on campus because of vacation, but many of them were interested in his gymnast support of Lindley. Shenk he got a job with the Alumni Association to help with the correspondence as a result of his visit. The students' around to the various houses on campus.
Shenk and Nichols both remembered the Christmas vacation of 1924 when Gov.
Johnathan M. Davis fired Chancellor Johnnath K. Lindley. Shenk said the governor controlled the universities at that time instead of a Board of Regents, and Davis had fired the chancellor in a political move.
TWO DAYS AFTER the students returned to campus, W. L. Burdick, vice president of the University and professor of law, presided over an all-student conference at Yale Law School. Nichols said there was a tremendous student turnout in support of Lindley.
Within two days after classes had
started, Shei Shuang and Indah had
restored his shirley.
"Burdick said that he could say one
Alderson said that a few years ago at the reunions that take place during commencement, one old alumna commented on the student reaction to Lindley's being fired. The alumna said many of the students went to Topeka in defense of Lindley, even though it was much harder for the students to get there in 1924.
thing in his time as chancellor, "Shenk never and anyone flunk a final exam."
AS A RESULT of the Lindley incident, the Board of Regents was created, and control of the universities passed from the governor to the regents.
While discussing dissension at KU, Nichols there was a publication called the Dove when he was in school. The Dove, printed on pink paper, was a liberal journal<sup>1</sup> of opinion which championed unpopular causes, according to Nichols.
One of the principal writers for the publication was Paul Porter, a liberal who was disliked on campus because of his views, Nichols said. He many of the
rightest students challenged Porter's right to freedom of expression, and the chancellor had to defend Forter and the Dove against those who wanted to censure them.
NICHOLS SAID one of Porter's articles deal with the abolition of the traditional freshman caps. All freshmen were supremely important, and many didn't like them. The upperclassmen formed paddle sides and paddled the freshmen who weren't wearing caps. After Porter's article on abolishing the caps appearance rights threw Porter into Potter Lake.
Alderson said the freshman caps were still in use when he was a student.
"Porter asked me to hold his watch so it wouldn't get wet." Nichols said.
ONE TRADITION that Shenk and Nichols remember from their university days was the tradition of taking a photo.
"We had to freshman caps," he said. "They were blue on top with red bills. They really didn't fit—they just sat on top of your head."
The Monday morning following the victory, Shenk said, the students had a rally in memory of the victims.
After the game upset of the year, Shenk said, the students asked Chancellor Deane Malot to declare the following Monday a holiday, but he refused.
day before the Missouri-KU football game in the fall. Everyone dressed like hobos or tramps, in torn clothes, and the men wore beards. There were also prizes.
Nichols said classes were disrupted by people parading up and down Jayhawk Boulevard and through the class buildings. Some professors dismissed classes and joined in, he said, while others invited the students into the classroom to perform stunts.
THE FIRST STUDENT revolt on campus that Shenk remembered was in 1941. He said KU had a bad football team that year and hadn't won any games. The day KU played Kansas State University, which he played that year, KU won by several points.
"We want a holiday," two or three thousand and students paraded down Jayhawk Boulevard, 11th Street and Massachusetts Street, carrying a coffin that was labeled Maui.
SHENK SAID the activities quickly subsided and students went back to classes. KU pried itself on staying in class after a victory, Shenk said, because K-State students were accustomed to taking holidays after almost every victory.
Nichols said he remembered mary demonstrations in front of the chancellor's home. He said Lindley and Malot were chancellor. He said students often asked for a holiday after a football or basketball victory, although they usually didn't get it.
Another event of the '40's that Alderson remembered was Dandelion Day. It always took place in the spring, he said, but he didn't know who sponsored it.
"IT WAS A contest to see which organization could dig the most dandelions
See ADMINISTRATORS on Page 7