Broward Community College - Silver Sands Yearbook (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

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The first of many violent protests began in early April at New Yorkis Columbia University. There. a hand- ful of student radicals headed by a new left group called the Students for Democratic Society seized and held numerous classroom and ad- ministration buildings, holding them for more than a week. It was only after, according to Nercszccek. A thousand police officers charged into the barricaded building and brutally made over seven hundred and fifty arrests of students and faculty mem- bers that the campus was restored to some semblance of order. Although their means may be questioned, and rightly so, many of the student de- mands were met and to a great num- ber of demonstrators the end justified the means. Although public opinion has been decidedly against the Columbia dem- onstrators. University president Cray- son lvirk has said that the change had to come since the charter of the University had not been revised since lSlll. After granting the students many of their requests Kirk let it be known that although student views would be sought they would not pre- dominate. Such a situation, said Kirk, would be fatal. Columbia was only the first link in a chain of student violence. ln each instance the grievance varied, but there was always one constant - in each case the students wanted more control of their school. According to the Associated Press and United Press International there were sit-ins and demonstrations at a score of Univer- sities. Students sat in the halls of Stanford. Northwestern. and Temple Universities. Violence broke out at Xlarmluette. Roosevelt. and Southern Illinois Universities. Administration offices were ransacked and Py.O.T.C, buildings burned at Stanford and Southern lllinois with damage esti- mated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Psychologists feel that these recent outbreaks are a mere prelude to the 14 1. 2 , . 4 6 V j. T4 ii Lui NQ E- 'f 5l:i nl o HOME .. ,gwn-r I-MMF v0 , , ,Nr 2 UU 0 .K A . , if 4, 7 , s Vg? I 4 '7 P i M4 I 'S ,g g . cn. I Q I may fl: 71? 6. teal 5 T te s t A555-. , ..,.?,- 'FIU Q , QI don? care what happens This summer, Pm no? wearing i'l',, ' violence in store for U. S. college campuses. Early April also marked the attempted assassination of Rudi Dutschke, a popular leftist student from YVest Berlin and the advent of European protest movement. Thou- sands of Czechoslovakian students marched in support of a strike against the war in Vietnam being held at the same time in New York. In France the violence was so fierce that gov- ernment officials were forced to close down the famous Sorbonne University. The intellectual sources of this new swing to civil disobediance in the United States and abroad are, not surprisingly, the same revolutionaries severed by members of the intellec- tual new left. Carl Davidson. writing in the ultra- liberal Nut' Left has said that the ideas of Nlao. Ernesto Che Guevara, and Regis Dcbray are the very cor- nerstones of the shift from protest to resistance. An Associate Press editorial has said that student revolutionaries through- out the world are drawing from the experiences of Chinese and Vietnam- ese guerilla movements. They are being particularly influenced by the writings of Guevara and Debray. Whereas ten years ago students would quote jean Paul Sarte, today's rebels quote the thoughts of Mao. NVhat hazards the college campuses face cannot be given even an edu- cated guess, but, if the events of the past three months are any indication then colleges had better gird for more outbreaks of protest and violence. Mark Rudd of the S. D. S. and leader of Columbia's demonstrations put it this way: Resistance should not be defined as merely a series of sporadic militant demonstrations, but rather it should be a total rebellion involving continuous revolution and resistance to the institutions and poli- cies of this corrupt societyf,

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Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to Cod. So read the motto on the seal of Thomas Iefferson. Throughout the country, thousands of college stu- dents have taken Jefferson's words to heart and perhaps too literally. What has started out as mere student protest has in many cases erupted into open rebellion. Subjects ranging from poor food in the cafe- teria to academic reform have been the cause for violent demonstrations on campuses from Columbia to Berkeley. Student revolt is not a problem unique to the United States. In the past decade it has become a social phenomenon on the intemational scene. Students from Paris to Prague and from Tokyo to Peking have openly displayed their dissatisfaction with the mores of contemporary society. Many foreign leaders see this as a sort of conspiracy among students, however, a noted sociologist writing for Newsweek termed the revolt Close cultural fertilization. There has been a noted similarity in the techniques of protestors throughout the world. This has been explained as the desire of students to demonstrate their solidarity with the protestors of other nations. It has become particularly notice- able in protests on American college campuses that a change is occuring. VVhat was once non-violent and peace- ful has now become a nightmare for the followers of such men as Chandi or Martin Luther King. VVhile many of the earlier campus protestors base their actions on the examples of these men, today's activist follows the pat- tem of angry leaders in the vein of H. Rap Brown QChairman of Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee, a misnomerj or Stokely Carmichael fpast Chairmanj. Cuerrilla tactics have become the order of the day and if a little blood is spilled in the cause it is no matter for the cause is more important than the life of one human being or a dozen. Non-Violent Protestmg . ls there such a thing? 'Ana that we have 8+ folk5,, 'Hn 'final Score from jf' Columbiaug 5-ludenfs 3, J f faculty 7- Stay 'lvncd in -if-',,,7,f? 4 HL YN-XT week for 'l-lm, Easier Bowl Q ifijfgfi . from For? Lauolzfclalt. . are L.Q1fggrv p lflggz WI!qff:i4f ,T. A fi i gd' Tiff' 'if--ff :'4i M -. , ' f ff. iifam -1 ' T ff i . kj, - V 1 ,,,, Dr 'gxll'l, N L 'n1l2 5 1 xo C x im, F I -. C' 'X I '-,. :fi if A ' . fl' ali Wt X .I I ZZ if ' Q Wi? ,, 4 ,. ., 7 1 U I H, Q, .ll t

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He speaks from a black body, in a world of color con- flict. Ben Clark, one of the 1968 national champions in Forensics, says, I enjoy living but a lot of times I don't enjoy life. Clark attends full time at Broward junior College and works a demanding forty-five hours per week in addition to his studies. There are six brothers and sisters in his family. Clark says, I just help out. ONE MAN S VIEW Clark is the kind of person who will get an operation to insure he is available for the draft. He is nineteen, and has won the Miami Dade, District, State and National forensics championships. He finds little social problem on the BjC campus. However, at a recent competition trip to Palatka, Florida, someone commented in a cafe where the forensics team visited, I ain't gonna eat with no nigger. Clark felt that the gentleman was only kidding. How does Clark know there is a difference felt? He says, you can see it in their faces, you just feel it. Clark feels the people outside show the difference, it seems to pass on from generation to generation. Clark lives in an integrated neighborhood and related, one day when his younger brothers were playing with some white neighbors, it felt good to see thisf' he said. An argument came up and Clark called his brothers in the house. A little later, someone knocked at the door and cut around the corner of the house. There was a note pinned to the door that read, I hate you, you black nigger. Clark feels that people just don't knowf, VVhat about the negro soldier? Clark feels that he left with the problem and he'll come back lo the same proh- lem. He added that the negro soldier reenlists in Vietnam, because there is no problem, but he has to come home some day. How about the riots? Clark feels they are organized. He says, the boys come down and suddenly there are riots. Clark says, a friend of his, he's a junky, says there will be riots in Fort Lauderdale. Clark feels the safest place if the riots occur is under the bed. Clark gave credit to Maria Marci, Lauderdale speech instructor and Don Nichols, BJC instructor as the most influential people in his life. Maria Marci helped him eliminate a southern dialect in his speech while perform- ing, Clark said. Don Nichols at first was not impressed by his enrollment in the forensics team. But as Clark's work improved Nichols noticed Clark didn't wait to be asked. He's an instructor's dream, he goes ahead and does the job by himself, Nichols said. Clark won the four principal competitions against greater odds. It is felt his easy going nature and philo- sophy that just getting along with people is attributed to his success, as expressed by Nichols and other instructors on the BIC campus. Clark works hard and gives no advice to members of his race. Instructor Nichols feels that his accomplishments are example enough. Ben Clark doesn't know where he is going from here, I've got a lot going for me now. That's Ben Clark, what more can he said? l a i l -J BEN CLARK 15