Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

Page 15 text:

You couldnt even get near the doorway, no less hear Chancellor Tillinghast explain that Corporation members were too busy to spend time on campus speaking to students. So they got up and walked out. Then the Vice-President had to interpret what the President had said. There wasn't much to it. After all, it's pretty clear who governs the university. Ask anyone in UH and they'll tell you to ask someone else. Ask anyone in Cam Club and they'll refer you to their 27 committees. Ask faculty or Corporation members and they'll point to themselves. Ask most students and they'll simply shrug or deliver a torrent of complaints about their living conditions or courses. Along with the nationwide campus politici- zation of Spring '69 came the cry for partici- pation in governance. Students and faculty felt they couldn't do much worse than the James Bond intrigues of secret telegrams and building contracts in which administrators were engaged. They wanted a piece of the action.

Page 14 text:

As the opening game ap- proached, the cynics of the Sixties became less visible. The alumni stopped dreaming about the Ironmen and took notice. The band re-learned the yellowed sheet music of the alma mater. In a season or two we would grab the lvy crown. No one was making any predictions, but the campus felt the time had come at last. Football would be an impetus for a re-birth of all Brown sports, symbolic of the entire change coming over Brown. People began to take pride. We were ready to touch the stars. Nothing less would do. 2

Page 16 text:

The anti-ROTC movement crystallized a much deeper call for restructuring the decision-making on campus, symbolized by the Corporation Room sit-in before the trustees. Committees were established and Professor Kuhn promised a totally new process by the fall. Standing on the threshold of revamping a 20-year old administrative set-up seemed exhilerating, especially in its recognition of students as young adults helping to fashion their own environment. Autumn brought a reshuffling of faculty committees and the inclusion of students on a multitude of advisory university commit- tees. The structure was beginning to loosen, even if it had not yet clarified the decision-making process nor faced the basic question of who should run Brown University.