Marquette University - Hilltop Yearbook (Milwaukee, WI)

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WASHINGTON, D.C.,-April 30,1970 President Nixon announced today over nationwide television his decision to send thousands of combat troops into Cambodia. This is not an invasion of Cambodia. The areas in which these attacks will be launched are completely occupied by North Vietnamese forces, Nixon said. KENT, OHIO—May 4. 1970-Four students at Kent State University were shot and killed by Ohio National Guardsmen about noon today. The guardsmen fired into a crowd protesting the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. • Remember the strike? Remember Off the Pigs? Remember On Strike Shut It Down? Remember Right On? How about Left Off? The day after the Kent State incident about 800 MU students voted to strike on Wednesday, May 6, to protest Kent, Cambodia and the racist structure of the United States. Attitudes of the other 11,200 students on campus were mixed. For their cautiousness, they were branded apathetic. Unfortunately apathy is a convenient label slapped on the foreheads of many students much like the proverbial condemning of Cain. Often apathy is synonymous with unconcern. But many students are concerned about the problems of this wretched earth. Some feel helpless when confronted with the giant bureaucracy we call government. Others are repulsed by the violence used to precipitate change. What, then, allows a student to actively show his concern? The strike began as a statement of moral outrage at the Kent State shootings. It left fear, violence, disgust and destruction in its wake. It never completed itself, but died in utter confusion. The day after Kent, university president John Raynor, SJ, told a Washington subcommittee that universities themselves must remain responsible for keeping order and free speech on campus. He said the federal government should not legislate specific law-and order regulations. WEDNESDAY, May 6. The striking students demanded that the university publicly condemn Kent, Cambodia and racism. At the same time, the newly-olected ASMU administration faced its first crisis by affirming the students’ right to strike voluntarily and non-violently, and began to organize workshops. Keep it rational, keep it intellectual, the handbills said. ASMU president John Dunn told his senators, This is a chance for ASMU to take the initiative. But the initiative was not with the ASMU. The Student Strike Committee flooded the campus with leaflets early Wednesday morning and distributed armbands to supporters. However, few turned out to picket and block doors to campus buildings as planned. The infant Campus Ministry began its three-day fast to end violence and held a Peace Mass. There President Raynor urged students to express their concern in charity and not in violence. Demonstrators queried Raynor a jout ROTC on campus, black scholarships, minimum wages for university employees and the guns rumored to be carried by cafmpus security guards. These questions continued to muddle the three basic strike issues for the duration of the kaleidoscopic week to come. Rumors flew and facts lagged behind. The mad days ran together. THURSDAY. ASMU president John Dunn requests a public statement from MU president John Raynor, SJ. The Committee on Faculty passes a resolution deploring violence and the Kent State shootings. Many faculty sign a petition condemning Kent, Cambodia and racism. Debate rages on merits of confrontation tactics and beer drinking in union grill. Most Steering Committee members resign in pro anti-violence dispute. Mayor Maier calls for UWM-MU referendum to carry to White House. 7

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POLICE DEPAiTMEKT