History of protests: CSUF in 1970
http://www.dailytitan.com/2009/12/history-of-protests-csuf-in-1970/
December 09, 2009
By Maureen Fox
The trouble began on Feb. 9, 1970, when Gov. Ronald Reagan visited
California State College, Fullerton to address the campus about the
need to charge tuition.
Two students, David MacKowiak, 25, and Bruce Church, 31, made several
gestures of contempt and shouted obscenities at Reagan during his
speech. Their resulting arrests threw the campus into an uproar.
Because many students saw the arrests as an infringement on their
freedom of speech, they began holding demonstrations in support of
MacKowiak and Church. As the demonstrations progressed, the number of
participants grew.
On Feb. 25, 1970, a tactical squad of 20 Fullerton police members
came to campus to break up a crowd of over 300 protesters. The
resulting scuffles and arrests sparked 12 weeks of turbulence.
The Vietnam War protests of 1970 are the largest scale demonstrations
in Cal State Fullerton's history. CSUF was reflecting the chaos of a
nation in the midst of war.
58 people consisting of 42 students, two professors and eight
others were arrested during that spring semester and following summer.
Students defaced and vandalized buildings, held a sit-in of the
president's office, blocked hallways to prevent students from
attending class and led a march from CSUF to Fullerton Junior College
to protest Reagan's governance and the Vietnam War. Students set fire
to bungalow T1100, which caused $30,000 in damage and destroyed
student records. Several students were expelled and many more were
arrested. And one professor was fired for failing to hold class
because he was protesting.
One of the largest demonstrations sparked by MacKowiak and Church's
arrests began on Mar. 3, 1970.
As the Student Faculty Board held a hearing for the two men inside
the Humanities Building, protesters gathered outside in the Quad.
Former professor of communications and Daily Titan adviser Wayne
Overbeck stood on the second floor balcony of the Humanities Building
with several student photographers. They captured the scene as the
local SWAT team attempted to control the crowd.
Sophomore Paul Gerritz stood in the Quad and watched the Fullerton
police officers and SWAT repeatedly push back protesting students who
became too rowdy.
"They would run forward and arrest people and hit them with clubs and
everything else, and then drag them back to be arrested," Gerritz said.
Professor Sandra Sutphen, who participated in the protests, faced the
police as they advanced toward her and other faculty members.
"(What I remember most is) how absolutely terrified I felt," Sutphen
said. "There were people who were quite capable of hitting me on the
head and knocking me unconscious."
Up to that point, the protests had been completely peaceful; they
were simply standing up for their rights as students and as
individuals. They were trying to make their opposition toward the war
known, Sutphen said.
"It added to a sense of solidarity on the campus," Sutphen said. "It
was the campus versus the external community."
But on that day, police arrested 19 demonstrators. That number could
have been higher, however, if one professor had not found a way to
end the chaos peacefully.
Hans Leder, a professor of humanities, stood up in front of the
library and called everyone to attention. He announced that this was
now Anthropology 069 and asked the protesters to sit down and have a
discussion.
By sitting down, the protesters in the Quad were then attending
class. Since it was illegal to forcibly obstruct anyone from
attending school, the protesters could not be moved.
Gerritz remembers that the Anthropology 069 class lasted for many
days. "Twenty-four hours a day there would be people sitting in the
Quad," Gerritz said. "The police just had to stand around and watch".
Rather than participate in the protests, Gerritz, a biology major,
volunteered with several local doctors and USC medical students at a
first aid station set up in the Quad to respond to injuries as they happened.
Gerritz attributes the protest's peaceful ending to Leder's actions.
"He had the forethought to end the entire demonstration," Gerritz said.
However, Leder's effort only ended one demonstration. The protests continued.
On April 15, students held an anti-Vietnam rally in the Quad. They
burned draft cards, two dolls and one flower in napalm. In the April
16, 1970 issue of the Daily Titan, ex-Vietnam serviceman Dave Mallard
was quoted as having said, "This is nothing compared to the smoke and
smell from real human bodies."
On May 4, members of the National Guard opened fire on students at
Kent State University in Ohio who were protesting the Vietnam War.
Four students were killed and nine more were injured.
In an attempt to prevent violence in California, Reagan closed down
all the public universities from May 4 11. He said he hoped the
closure would "allow time for rational reflection away from the
emotional turmoil and encourage all to disavow violence and mob action."
Students returned to class on May 12, the beginning of finals week.
Although some unrest was still evident, the most intense
demonstrations had passed. They, however, left a lineage.
"The protests really defined a generation," Overbeck said. "They made
real changes in the system eventually. Obama's election is a
long-term result of the social changes that began in the 1960s."
The Vietnam War finally ended in the spring of 1975. But the memories
of the protest era have not been forgotten.
Overbeck once wrote that "perhaps the most decisive and enduring
victory won by the students of that era was greater First Amendment
freedom for college and university students. Even now, in a time when
the courts are narrowing the scope of student freedom rather than
expanding it further, students enjoy far greater freedom on campus
than they did before the late 1960s."
When the protests ended in the fall of 1970, the nation was still at
war, both sides were exhausted and demonstrations across the country
had brought violence to universities. But the protesters had made
their sentiments heard and expanded their rights to protest for
future CSUF students.
[See URL for mp3 interview links.]
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