the
sunday
daily
Number 9
Night Editor: David Spurr
September 21, 1969
-Erdo PerLvemLx
The panorama
of protest:
A glimpse of things to come?
LAST WEEK the pulse of University history seem-
ed to quicken. While President Nixon made a
dramatic, if disappointing and frustrating, plea
for peace in Vietnam, backing it up with troop
cutbacks and proposals for draft reform, this cam-
pus became embroiled in internal conflict. Events
of national significance were obscured as faculty,
students and administrators directed their atten-
tions toward local issues with larger implications.
The issues merged, however, into a panorama
of protests. En masse, members of the community
gathered to protest the war, the ROTC program
and the Regents' failure to subsidize a University
bookstore. Inevitably the movements became more
distinct than the issues.
IT HAS NEVER been enough for an individual to
act alone, out of personal conviction. There are
not many Christs who believe that by their holy
cross they can redeem the world. And there are
not many who are willing to risk crucifixion for a
cause; too many martyrs die in vain.
The prospect of mass action is much more ap-
pealing and generally more rewarding. It was be-
cause they massed for action last week that the
anti-ROTC protesters suspected they might "make
Melvin Laird quake in his military boots." It was
because, 400 students overflowed the sanctum of
the Regents' meeting room Friday that they felt
they made a dramatic plea for the establishment
of a University discount bookstore. It was because
at least 4,000 people flooded Hill Aud. Friday night
that a stirring plea for peace was made - a plea
which President Fleming may take to other uni-
versity presidents and to Washington.
'THE PROCESS of swaying the masses takes its
toll. The strain of immanent disruption h a s
etched itself onto the face of President Fleming.
It is no secret that Robben Fleming has been dis-
traught the past two weeks as he waited for the
University to explode. He is an unhappy man be-
ing repudiated from several sides while trying to
act in good faith. He deserves respect.
Meanwhile, student protesters have been un-
able to find anonymity in the cause. Becoming
involved in the anti-ROTC movement has threat-
ened criminal penalties for honest conscientious
objection.
r j1HE ACTIVITIES of last week, however, can only
leave the observer with a sense of anticipation.
There is f e a r and the menace of turmoil. For
nothing has really been resolved despite all the
brouhaha. The ROTC program still occupies North
Hall, the discount bookstore has not been estab-
lished to anyone's wholehearted satisfaction. And
the war goes on.
-TE1 ED 'ITORIAL DIRECTORS
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-Daily"-Larry Robbins
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