KU-style violence absent at K-State
By JIM CZUPOR
Kansan Staff Writer
MANHATTAN-Every noon on the front lawn of Anderson Hall at Kansas State University, nearly 50 "radicals" meet to openly discuss their feelings about national policy and how their lives are affected by the changing tide of national dissent.
The so-called "radicals" at K-State seem more like the Wednesday Afternoon Ladies' Auxillary in comparison to the University of Kansas "radicals." Although different in method, the sentiments of the two factions are nearly the same.
Nestled in the middle of the gently-rolling Flint Hills of Kansas, only 80 miles west of K.U., K-State has yet to really feel the wrath of violence that has marred the final two months of K.U.'s spring semester.
Except for last year's burning of Nichols Gymnasium, the violent, active dissent typical of many universities across the nation, has been absent from K-State.
John Chalmers, vice-president of administrative affairs at K-State, predicted trouble last year and accurately predicted that nothing would come to a head at K.U.
"It was quite predictable to me that K.U. wouldn't have any problems last spring," Chalmers said, "because your administration was moving out. Wescoe was a "lame duck." So the problems settled on us.
"Our students had vigorous, meaty exchanges in the Union about the 'nature of society,' 'academics,' 'the role of blacks on campus,' anything you want, and then the gym burned and we were uptight for two months." Three attempts were later made on the Arts and Sciences building.
Chalmers said the university had become "trapped in" by the fire and no one knew who the arsonists were. "Every group was blaming every other group on campus," he said.
The once-complacent campus of K-State had suddenly become polarized "eight different ways," according to Chalmers, but the confrontations turned out to be one of K-State's finest hours.
The revolutionaries at K-State have since mellowed but still occasionally vocally let their opinion be known.
At a recent ROTC review, nearly 2,500 students congregated on the Anderson Hall lawn and marched around the campus bearing a coffin in commemoration of the students killed at Kent State. The crowd ended
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Pat Bosco, student body president, explained the non-violent activities as a case of "respect for individual rights."
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their march in front of the ROTC building, which coincidently happened to be the day ROTC members wore their uniforms. The gathering crowd then burned the coffin in front of the ROTC building and the incident ended without any acts of aggression.
While attitudes seem similar at both universities, an important difference in background and numbers of students seems to separate the two.
Chalmers attributed part of the difference to the smaller "hippie-element" at K-State. "We've had a much smaller number of students to work with," he said, "and K.U.'s problem is larger in
Bosco has flooded the campus with outlets for communication by continually calling administrative heads and radical leaders, together with the student senate to hash out their difficulties.
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can't sit down and talk then it's all over."
magnitude, I think, because of the student and faculty mix. Also K.U. has more graduate students and more graduates teaching undergraduate courses. Here all our courses are taught either by assistant or full professors. So even our influences are different."
K-State's dubiously entitled "hard-core radicals" continue to meet nonetheless on Anderson Lawn, and according to Pat Bosco, they continue to meet in a constructive manner.
Out of the meetings has emerged a program called "The University of Free Men," which is similar to K.U.'s "Free University."
Although it was never directly stated, part of the answer to the difference seems to be in the kinds of students that attend K-
"Students who attend K-State," Ernie Murphy, news editor of the Collegiate said, "seem to come predominantly from Kansas towns. They also seem to come from farther west in the state, than do the students who attend K.U."
State and the type of free-flowing channels of communication.
At K.U., numerous attempts have been made to talk things over between dissenting groups, between faculty and students and even between the University and city; however the channels do not always appear to be open.
"When the student leaders wanted to demonstrate," Bosco said, "they went through channels. They let it be publicly known that they would participate in a demonstration and the student senate supported it."
At K-State, the channels of communication seem phenomenal in comparison.
Bosco, the hard-working, student body president, seems to exist on the theory that "if you
K-State, long-noted for its midwestern conservatism, has since emerged from its once-complacent cocoon and has tried open-mindedly, not to oppress dissent, but to work hand-in-hand with it."