By Erasmus Baxter
As 1968’s spring quarter came to a close, events at Western showed no sign of becoming less tumultuous. Sources of excitement included:
The Black Student Union
Western’s Black Student Union submitted a list of demands to the administration. They asked for greater representation among students, faculty and administration. They also asked for the development of a Black Studies curriculum and a mandatory GUR “to eradicate the misconceptions and ignorance people have about nonwhites.”
In a move that might shock people who have dealt with university bureaucracy, university president Jerry Flora showed great receptivity to their requests, responding within 2 days instead of the 5 they had given him. After his initial statement of support for the BSU’s demands fell short of what they wanted, he met with them for three hours to come to a greater understanding. He then issued a personal and institutional commitment to making their demands and requests a reality.
The AS President and the Academic Dean both gave their support, pledging to work with the BSU on creating a Black Studies curriculum. The AS President also promised to work to investigate housing discrimination.
The faculty council also endorsed the requests unanimously, and in an amazing example of putting their money where their mouth is, 22 members of the faculty and administration pledged one percent of their salaries toward creating a scholarship for disadvantaged people of color.
The BSU’s press conference saw people complaining, as always, with comments that wouldn’t be far from a modern Facebook comment section.
They were reportedly asked if they were trying to institute a new type of segregation, and:
“Why just blacks? Why not grey or purple — why can’t we all work together? What would you do if you were in the majority and the whites were oppressed?”
In a letter to the editor of the Western Front, another person tried to use the Webster’s dictionary definition of racism as a way to disprove its existence at Western.
For the record, if you’re bringing up imaginary colors of people to try and prove you’re not racist, you’re trying too hard. And if you’re trying to quote the dictionary definition of racism to prove your point, that’s as valid an argument now as it was in the 1960s.
The editor of the Western Front responded to these complaints in the form of an editorial.
“Racism does exist here at Western,” the editor said. “It shows in the lack of involvement by most students in Black affairs. It shows in the absence of Black faculty and in the lack of courses in Black culture in the Western curricula. This irrelevant System is preserved not by a band of conniving conservatives but by this noninvolvement.”
Vietnam
Over 60 students made a public announcement that they would be defying the draft. Calling participation in the Vietnam War immoral, and unconscionable they planned to mail their draft cards back to their draft boards. In a letter to the Front one stated that he was willing to go jail for his beliefs even though he could easily flee to Canada. In an ad running on the back page of the paper, over 100 students and faculty pledged to support the students through all means, including financial support as necessary.
The Western Front
The head of the Geology department wrote a letter to the Front commending its news coverage. He claimed the previous year’s Front was “squalid coverage restricted to drugs, sex, and Vietnam.”
Speaking of the squalid days of the news business, a story about how the Front was produced mentions how the newsroom filled with cigarette smoke as typewriters clicked away. In addition, the editors had to go all the way to Mt. Vernon every Monday to paste the paper together by hand in the back room of the printers. How far we’ve come!
The Front also ran an ad for NoDoz caffeine pills. For when energy drinks aren’t enough to introduce the heart palpitations you want!
The Associated Students
The AS increased its budget by $33,510 from 1968 to 1969. Oh, to go to school in the days before budget cuts!
They also voted to dedicate $250 to the Alabama Poor People’s project to help establish a poor people’s school in Alabama. Several Western students planned to travel to Alabama over the summer to help organize a co-op with the organization. There was also a fundraiser for the Citizens for Equal Education Project in Alabama held at Lakewood.
In less sunny news, the AS leadership lost their first baseball game with the Administration by an embarrassing margin.