WIDB History Chapter 22

All Hell Breaks Loose

   In January, February and April, there were demonstrations protesting ROTC and the Vietnamese Studies Center. Police made arrests. Student Government's annual elections were set for April 29, 1970. Seven candidates were running for president. At least one advocated harsh treatment for students seeking to disrupt the university. Most of the votes supported candidates who were considered "radical," which, at the time, roughly translated into being in favor of changes in institutions, such as the university, government and legal system, and more power to shift to the "have-nots," such as minorities and students. Even though most voters supported radical candidates, a definitely non-radical candidate, Tom Scherschell, won with only 28% of the vote. The radicals had been shut out of student government, mainly because there too many radical candidates and the vote had split. Where student government had been an effective vehicle for radical energies, frustration, and aggression, there was now a bit of desperation.
   On Friday, May 1, 1970, President Richard Nixon announced the escalation of the war and the invasion of Cambodia. A crowd gathered near Spud-Nuts, at Freeman and Illinois, blocked the street, started a fire, began drinking and smoking. State Police waded into the crowd, arrested 16, and broke it up. Nothing exciting happened over the weekend, but on Monday, May 4, at Kent State University in Ohio, a crowd of students congregated. Some were there to protest, some were there just to see what was happening, others were just there by accident. National Guard troops, some of whom were in the reserves to avoid the draft, were issued live ammunition and stationed on campus. Some objects were thrown at the soldiers. When the students failed to obey a poorly amplified order to disburse, the soldiers opened fire on the crowd of unarmed students. Four students were killed. Many others were struck by bullets and seriously injured. Dozens of others were injured in the resulting stampede. News traveled like lightning.

   From today's perspective, it is hard to imagine the voltage of the shock that hit so many of us at once and the tremendous effect. Half the country was against the war, so there was identification (to some extent) with protesting students. But this identification was far from monolithic, active support. At SIU, thousands of students had voted on Wednesday, April 29 for radical candidates, but only 150 came out to protest Nixon's war escalation two days later. Martin Luther King Jr. turned sympathizers into active supporters when he demonstrated for voting rights in Selma, Alabama and the local sheriff attacked with fire hoses and guard dogs. Watching the demonstration and response on national TV news, viewers wondered "what did Dr. King and his group do to deserve such treatment?" The answer was that they marched for the right to vote. It was just not acceptable that people were attacked just because they peacefully marched for the right to vote.

   What happened at Kent State pushed thousands over the edge. It was felt by many that a reasonable protest had led to an excessive and criminal response. Many who had sympathized, but not participated in the antiwar movement were now convinced that the government/establishment had lost the desire and/or ability to restrain and control its policing function, and was behaving more like a fascist state. Soldiers killed students merely because they were near a group that congregated to protest the war. Among the movements, there had always been debates about aggressive and passive resistance. It had been argued that Dr. King's nonviolent tactics led to arrests and some injuries, but avoided the direct use of deadly force by authorities, and gained sympathy and support. Kent State broke this debate because mostly nonviolent protesters were shot and killed. No longer did nonviolence provide any guarantees. There was a major sense of outrage that dissenters had been shot as an official government action. It fanned the flames when conservative figures suggested that if the students had attended their classes and not looked for trouble, they would not have been shot.

   The implied message (whether intended or not) was that students who attempted to participate in the democratic process were looking for trouble and deserved to be shot. All of this unified and galvanized huge numbers of previously fragmented student interests. Five days after the student government election where the winner had only 28% of the vote, on Monday, May 4, 1970, the Student Senate met in emergency session, and unanimously voted to join a national student strike in which every university in the country was to be shut down. Over 400 students attended the meeting.

   In ten days this is what happened (based on DE and Southern Illinoisan reports):

Monday (5/4/70): Students shot at Kent State; SIU Student Senate votes unanamously to join national srike; Class boycott scheduled to start Wednesday (5/6).

Tuesday (5/5): 2,000 students gather at Morris Library, discuss response to Kent State shootings and Cambodian invasion; Peaceful protests and armed violence discussed; Administration announces official three-day "mourning period" (but classes were officially cancelled for only one day, Thursday).

Wednesday (5/6): Over 3,000 rally at noon at Morris Library, seek to extend official class suspension, crowd moves to Lawson, Wham, disrupting classes, pulling fire alarms, trying to get students out of class to join crowd; Crowd (2-3,000) moves to Woody Hall; many break windows, occupy offices, overturn files. Crowd moves to Wheeler Hall (where ROTC was), breaks windows, occupies offices, makes demands to shut down ROTC and Vietnamese Studies Center. Meanwhile, another 1,000 march downtown and back to Woody, still occupied by students. Police clear Woody and Wheeler; dozens are injured, including 28 police officers. State police and National Guard are called in.

Thursday (5/7): 6pm peaceful rally at Morris Library; Open mike discussion of peaceful protests vs. violence; Thousands move downtown; 150 occupy RR tracks; State police and army troops attack entire crowd with tear gas; Crowd breaks store windows, confronts troops; Some dorms tear gassed.

Friday (5/8): Martial law declared; Assembling in groups banned; No one allowed outside from 7:30 pm-6am: violators to be arrested; 700 troops arrive; 400 rally at Morris Library, broken up by police; Soldiers, in combat uniforms with rifles and bayonets, guard dorms, preventing students from joining any protests.

Saturday (5/9): Police, reportedly without warrant, remove badges and attack house at 508 Bridge Street; Occupants were watching TV, were tear gassed and beaten, charges against them dropped; Police trashed house.

Sunday/Monday (5/10-11): Groups of students form, police and troops attack with tear gas, in many dorm, campus, and C'dale areas.

Tuesday (5/12): Troops and state police withdrawn; 6pm, 1,000 gather at Morris Library, in defiance of martial law; 7 pm, crowd swells to 2,500; Marches to east campus; Swells to 5,000; Moves downtown; Moves to President Morris' house; Some enter house.

Tuesday (12): President Morris 10 am: "Under no circumstances would the school be closed;" President Morris 11:30 pm: "The University is closed indefinitely."

Wednesday (5/13): 12 am: Crowd moves downtown to celebrate. Huge street party; More than 5,000 people; Police ineffective; 12:30 am: Mayor closes bars; 4 am: Party over.

Thursday (5/14): Referendum held on whether university should remain closed; Turnout heavy; Closure prevails 2-1.

Friday (5/15): SIU Board of Trustees convenes in Edwardsville; Governor Richard B. Olgilvie attends record five-hour executive session; Decision to keep school closed; Dorms close that day; Classes end for quarter (four weeks early).

The basic summary is, as H. B. Koplowitz observes in his book "Carbondale After Dark:"

"Vietnam, neo-colonialism, the military-industrial complex, and all the rest of the rhetoric had been completely overshadowed by the more immediate issues of police violence and martial law."

end of Chapter 22