University of Missouri - Savitar Yearbook (Columbia, MO)

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I t was Thursday night, Feb. 12. 'l'he last directly-re1atedinter- visitation demonstration had ended when several demonstra- tors were beaten by fellow students. In a house on College Avenue, some of the Committee of Con- cerned Students leaders fsome of them victims of the violence earlier in the eveningj met to discuss the future of intervisita- tion and campus activism in general. Present at the meeting were former SDSers and long- time student activists Paul Showalter and Steve Fuchs. It was there, through the night and into the morning, that the take-over of Read Hall was planned. Read Hall was chosen because, as the home of Dean of Students Jack Matthews, it was a symbol of the University's power to coerce students into behaving themselves. These CCSers planned a liberation which was later to be termed abortive. The next night, the great majority unaware of the plans concerning Read Hall, rallied in front of the Brady Commons while Fuchs, using a bullhorn, ex- horted them to be unafraid in the face of University repression? While Fuchs harangued, the silhouette of Barbara Papish, also a long-time activist, could be seen approaching the rally at what might be termed a run. She burst into the crowd, grabbed the bullhorn and screamed Read Hall is liberated. The students need your aid. Unfortunately for Barbara, she was so out of breath and screaming so loudly she could not be understood. Fuchs had to relay her message to the crowd. Meanwhile, Matthews and the ubiquitous campus police had arrived. With Fuchs fwho later received a one year probated sentence for unlawful assemblyj in the lead, the crowd began moving toward Read Hall. The dean was left at the rally site reading the Chancellor's state- ment to a rapidly diminishing group. The rest is common knowledge. Five demonstrators were re- moved from school for being inside Read Hall at the wrong time. Many others reportedly escaped by posing as staff mem- bers of this book and the Man- eater. And, there was that beautiful scene with Matthews and Fuchs, up against the wall, as it were, one exhorting the crowd to enter the building, and the other begging them to leave while the crowd stood in the middle of a blizzard, freezing. Few students were willing to enter the building, but almost all were willing to enter the warmth and comfort of the Statler Unionf' It was then, in that tense first Friday night, that the issue changed dramatically. It was no longer simply intervisitation. It was self determination. The support of the wide-majority of dormitory residents had dissi- pated, and only the more activist element of the University campus remained to push on. That Fri- day it was tense, educational and dramatic. Bread, peanut butter, jelly and other food was brought into the Student Union's Bengal Lair as students prepared to spend the night. University Legal Counsel Jackson Wright, Matthews, Cam- pus Police Chief Harvey Cottle, Union Director A. C. Stotler and even Chancellor John Schwada -5- .... prepared to enforce the mid--night closing hour. CCS leaders Stan Kreis, Mike Evers flater suspended for the Read Hall incidentj MSA Leg- . islative Vice President Rick Goodman and others moved around campus trying to gather support. They met with Wright and Cottle to try and determine what the police would do if the students stayed past midnight. Assistant Forestry Professor Glen Goff, accompanied by Jean Coleman, also a CCSer, and Goodman, met with the Chancel- lor in an attempt to get his permission to keep the union open later than midnight. Schwada told the three it was not within his jurisdiction and he would take no action. About 11 p.m. the crowd began to swell, numbering from 300-400. Some were determined to stay, others were undecided and some merely looked on. The leader- ship was determined to stay, but worried about discriminations against students in the Lair. Stu- dents were repeatedly warned by their own members that they probably would be suspended if caught inside the Union after midnight. As midnight approached ten- sion mounted, and Goff, after speaking with some student leaders, decided to appeal to the students to leave at 11:55. Wou1dn't it be something if we all left at five minutes to midnight and the cops walked into an empty building? Galen Chadwick, one of the prime student speakers for the group, responded that people who left would be moral cowards. Onto the scene came William - Murphy, professor of law, who

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also urged students to leave. A debate then raged among stu- dents and faculty members as to the relative merits of staying past the deadline At 11:55 Matthews reappeared flanked by campus police, and read from a 3x5 index card Students, most of whom ha decided to leave, sarcastically cheered the dean's statement and started to move towards the exits 'As they passed the TV cameras, fists and peace signs shot into the air, and people bowed to the unwinking mechanical eye. Outside under the arch stu- dents sang the ' Star Spangle Banner America the Beautiful and then formed a reception line for the dean who had left by a back door Other students got together to push a. van the ad mimstration had planned to use as a paddy wagon After being turned sideways in the snowy street, the van drove off, one of its t1res mysteriously void of air While most demonstrators stood to the side the hlm crew set up to mterview Goodman Goodman, thinking of nothing else to say at the time vowed We ll be back time with a different attitude In - ,,7...T,,....,..,.-,.........,.....,.....,,.......,v.. stead of the old c1v1l rights line we ll get busted to prove our point demonstrators returned with Abbie Hoffman in their heads The point was to hassle the admimstration Force them to call up their troops make Matthews stay up until midnight and then leave without getting busted The Union crowd num bered more than 500, swelled by the aftermath of a University concert in pigeon infested Brewer Fieldhouse Y -,. - qz'nvr-ffp--:p,..4--,........-..............,....-. . W V The mood of the crowd was joyous. People sang danced rapped smoked and painted. They laughed and had a good time. There was minimum rhetoric and maximum together- ness. As midnight approached however the mood changed to one of expectation and a little fear Lewis Stoerker, associate professor of speech and a fairly well known conservative ap- peared and told demonstrators V they were doing a fool-hardy thing. He was visibly grossed out by a wild-haired female who told him bluntly We Want to f .... Students left the Union, but not until 12:10 the time verified by Harvey Cottle after Matthews had looked at his watch and apparently was unable to tell what time it was Matthews his voice nearly cracking read from his usual 3x5 index card while students laughed, cheered shouted obscemties and shuffled slowly out of the Union A pattern had developed Interv1s1tat1on was no longer mentioned The rhetoric con cerned itself with self determma tion Student control over studenl lives including pohcy at the Union was now the issue Tac tics also had changed In future wluch included a pushing match between demonstrators and M U police the tone was different somewhat more subtle One sit in included a write in against the ABM the administration and other common new left foes Despite the pushing at the Feb 27 sit in, students were no longer confronting the University They it-' f an Q U . A ' F' - , , ,N uv 1 2 - ' . I U ' P' ' ' 5 .U - . L Sl . A o 3 - , i N' ' , . E EU' u ' ' A 'J' a cn z '4 w - H E3 - - ' ' ' ff E . H, ., ' I , g, g EI I lm : I , I , 3 P ' ' . i . E n Q . ? I ' ' n I I E. . . ' ' . . ,I - .. u . n I w - sq. M . w n . l ff' 1. . rn - . ' . Ill' qf ' . . . -I H- - . 5 . . - fn - , W ' O' ' I I na ' -, .25 - . ., Q . Q .. . H' 0 . ' I u V 0 ' '. - I . I . 5 U