West Virginia University - Monticola Yearbook (Morgantown, WV)

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In a single ye ar Change, evolutionary or revolutionary, is difficult to meter, but it can be captured partially on a calendar. We can say this happened then, and this afterwards, and perhaps years later we can look back and see why. Demonstrations gave the most evidence of change at WVU in 1969-1970. War and war-makers are seemingly perennial objects of demonstration anathema, at least to us whose lives span only the Vietnam War. But other issues also brought people into committees and into the streets. Black awareness, the environment, women ' s liberation, campus safety and security — every approach to a problem has its supporters and detractors, and it seems one could not name a campus concern that would not have someone, somewhere at WVU, working on it. -SEPTEMBER- Several things were new and changed when classes started in the fall. Sophomore and upperclass women found them- selves with privileges their male counterparts had long en- joyed, thanks to the no-hours policy initiated in dorms. But the matter of where those women lived was still determined by the in loco parentis character of the University; Like it or not, women under 21 lived in the dormitories. Also over the summer, the cheering squad, so prominent a part of the football tradition, was intearated. -NOVEMBER- -DECEMBER- The November Moratorium called some of the October par- ticipants to D.C. for the mass demonstration, but the enthu- siasm of the large October group had waned in the inter- vening month and participation dwindled. Mining disasters and an increasing awareness of the Univer- sity ' s West Virginia setting made students more sympathetic with coal miners ' complaints. Nevertheless, a DA-sponsored conference on mining health and safety, the last issue- oriented event of first semester, drew only meagre student attendance. A small group of students registered their sympathies by joining in the coal miners ' struggles for im- proved legislation, a battle partially won in 1969-1970. -OCTOBER- With the school year well underway, anti-war plan- ning began at WVU. Faculty, students, and towns- people met a month early to organize Morgantown participation in the nationwide October Moratorium. No more business as usual while the war goes on was the motivating philosophy of the Moratorium. One early headline foreshadowed an issue that would climax University demonstrations in May: Mora- torium requests denied as Harlow refuses ' U ' stand. The 24-hour observance included a Freedom School, rallies, memorial service, peace walk, public meeting at the Court house square, a Mind Garage peace con- cert, the vigil and fasting, and films. All we are say- ing is ' Give peace a chance, ' candlelight, the break- ing of bread, Woodburn striking midnight of October 15 — the conclusion of the peace demonstration was it- self as peaceful as a youthful church camp service. Polarization, mild as it was then, followed the articles and explanations of Vietnam positions of two faculty members. Dr. Wesley Bagby, professor of history, enunciated his liberal understanding of U.S. involve- ment in Vietnam and his opposition to that continuing involvement. James Whisker, assistant professor of political science, clearly delineated his conservative stance on America ' s Southeast Asian endeavors. Stu- dents who knew what they thought but didn ' t know why were likely to find out from one or the other of the two men. Another issue, one not ever clearly re- solved, surfaced during the October Moratorium. Either the University does or does not engage in chemical and biological warfare research. With journ- alists and public relations men arguing about contracts only a corporation lawyer could fully understand, most of the University public was left wondering.

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many changing times JANUARY The Student Activist League accom- plished at least one goal in January, that of arousing student interest in student causes. That interest ran pro and con, sometimes heatedly. The precipitant was SAL ' s list of 13 demands upon the ad- ministration. Items 1 and 2 called for student investigation of Mountainlair and Bookstore operations. Library hours. Black studies, and student housing com- prised the next three. SAL demanded a student committee to review curricula and faculty, a pass-fail core curriculum, a University-hired lawyer for free legal aid to students, a University commitment to Board of Regents reorganization, an immediate end to academic credit for ROTC. an open admissions policy, the right of WVU employees to unioniza- tion, and an end to restrictions on grad- uate school admissions. -FEBRUARY- February put two more issues into the headlines. The day after the Citizen ' s League for En- vironmental Action Now (CLEAN) organized to take on pollution, a journalism faculty proposal to sever the DA from the J School sparked Save the DA fever in many media- minded students. -MARCH- Campus elections breathed life into windy March, with allega- tions ranging from Communist influence to smear tactics. Party platforms reflected the issue- oriented nature of the campus mood with the Mountaineer freedom Party (in its second year) including SAL ' s 13 de- mands in its program. Student Party and All-Campus Party once again divided the top offices. -APRIL- Earth Day, too. was observed here April 22, with a conference and various pro- grams for educating the student and the public about the insidious destruction of earth, air, and water. In fact April was the month of most numerous issues on campus — women ' s lib- eration took over an issue of the DA in April. Morgantown City Council at- tempted to prevent the appearance of Chicago Seven lawyer William Kunstler at WVU in April, campus Blacks planned an April week of programs to foster Black awareness, and the discovery of the bodies of two tragically murdered Uni- versity freshmen in April triggered the organization of students to demand safety improvements on campus and in Morgantown. Once again the students held a public rally, and the safety — and security-minded group marched to City Hall with their proposals. -MAY- Finally came May. No one familiar with the annual campus schedule of events would expect a university to erupt over a national issue during finals week. But at WVU and many other schools, it happened. With the Vietnam War officially expanding into Cambodia, no matter how temporarily, and with the deaths of four Kent State students in an anti-war demonstration there, West Virginia University students — some of them — literally took to the streets. At times the issues seemed drowned in alternating floods of emotion and numerical curiosity. A peak estimate of demonstrators was 500, while some 2000 watched silently or with heckling. A couple hundred demonstrators faced 38 riot-helmeted state police in the streets at Grumbein ' s Island. One man, President Harlow, was the object of much of the disturbance, for the streets had been taken as an ultimatum for a public statement from him on Cambodian involvement. Those on the outside called it The Riot, those on the inside called it The Revolution, while both knew it was really neither. The leftists and liberals were defending a street not all of them had wanted to seize, but if that was where the line was drawn, then that was the place to take a stand. Most of the spectators simply spectated, but a sizeable fac- tion urged on the police, yelling for them to crack the heads of demonstrators. They could have been in the stands at a football game. The demonstrators chanted Peace Now and anti-facist slogans and We want Harlow. The administration maintained a taut silence. Then there was tear gas. The breeze divided it between the leftists in the streets and the rightists on the ' Lair steps. But still the streets were occupied. The eventual settlement is a credit to the cool of the cops, who promised to leave — and did, and the persuasive power of some prominent demonstrators, who promised to clear the streets — and did. A Victory Celebration the next day ended the three-day event on two notes: 1) relaxation from the double tension of confrontation and finals and 2) an undercurrent of promised activism in the months to follow. And in spite of the issue-crammed nature of 1969-1970, much grist was left for activist mills — still and always the war, until its end and the end of all such wars; housing discrimination against stu- dents and especially against Blacks; poverty, rural and urban; pollution, women ' s lib, and other problems yet to be faced.