Thursday, February 27, 1975

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Seven

Thursday, February 27, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven


ABOUT 60 of the demonstrators spent two nights camped on t he Ad. Bldg. second floor. They caught sleep where they could
-on the floor, in chairs, or in a quiet corner. When negotiating sessions and caucuses were not in progress, they whiled
away the hours playing cards, watching t.v. or just talking.

Photography
by
Steve
Kagan
and
Karen
Kasmauski

AS ONE OF the sit-in leaders, Bill Hunter, motions for quiet, President Robben Fleming prepares to make a state-
ment to the band of nearly 300 students and eager members of the press. The protest, the first of its kind here
in nearly three years, drew attention from all over the state. Many p e o p 1 e thought it marked a return to the
"radical" sixties.

Sit-in
By DAVID WEINBERG
JUST OVER a week ago at this tim
it was packed with nearly 300 pe
ple-most of them members of t
Third World Coalition Council - a
the r o o m's rattled hot with ang
voices in a drama that lasted f
three days.
Today the Third World Coaliti
Council and its supporters are go
from the second floor of the Admin
tration Building. Thanks to a few Ur
versity maintenance people and r

'75: Ain't the old days

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BUT ALL THOSE who had experi-
enced the confrontations of the
late 60's and the Black Action Move-
ment of 1970 agreed that this sit-in
was very different from those of
five years ago. Most strikingly, it was
non-violent-with neither the venom
nor the durability of the past.
Dorothy Parker, Dr. Levi Cash's
personal secretary, whose desk sat
right in the middle of the fray, com-
ments, "In 1970, it was much more
threatening. Any of us who were here
in that time could tell the difference.

A'Y ,.)....r.:: :: J,{ a}:47.. . . .r " ,. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. '%-? ,
'I've been here seven years and this is just another
routine event. You do the work you can . . . We have
a whole two or three years of this behind us. You get
to learn when you're at a university to expect any-
thing'
-Levi Cash, assistant to Fleming
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Kennedy, whose office was largely~un-
molested by the occupation, echos
that sentiment: "We have to under-
stand that they have day-to-day frus-
trations that we cannot even concep-
tualize, not having had the feeling.
Clearly, it was natural for us to feel
some impatience. For one thing the
phone traffic was increased, and it
was difficult to keep in touch with the
Regents, to i n f o r m them of the
situation."
COMPARING THIS occupation with
the BAM strike Kennedy says,
"The mood was entirely different-
the hostility, the vehemence, I can't
describe it. The tenor of this was
totally different." Kennedy acknowl-
edges that the demands of the group
might have some legitimacy, adding
"the very fact that they are having
formal talks presently, means some-
thing."
Dr. Levi Cash, assistant to the
President of the University, termed
the whole action "routine." "I've been
here seven years," says Cash, "and
this is just another routine event. You
do the work you can, but it does take
up time. We have a whole two or
three years of this behind us. You get
to learn when you're at a university
to expect anything.
"Part of my job is to stay cool.
People come in with a grievance or
complaint and I tell them to relax
and talk about it." Asked if he felt
any anxiety on the part of his staff,
Cash replies, "I guess the ladies get
a bit disturbed when there's a mob

around. They don't deal with it direct-
ly, but they do the best they can."
CASH ALSO maintained that his be-
ing black did not affect him in his
role as an administrator: "It happens
that I'm black but I'm also academic
and interested in people . . . We're
reminded too often that we're black.
This is just young people behaving
the way young people do."
Wanda, the receptionist for Presi-
dent Fleming and Dr. Cash, says,
"On Thursday we kept having to run
up tothe' third floor. There were a
few people that were frightened. The
students had tons of foodeand we won-
dered how long they'd be here . .. ti
was all together with them. It was
surprising that they left as abruptly
as they did."

A COUPLE OF the sit-in participants serve up breakfast for their fellow demon-
strators. The students carted in a good deal of food in preparation for the selge-
most of it the cold cut variety. Each morning and before leaving, they also helped
clean the area as University employes arrived for work.

cleaners, the place is in order again.
Back to its q u i e t and methodical
rountine.
Most of the everyday occupants of
the Administration Building will admit
that business did not go on as usual
last week, but after that, the reac-
tions vary considerably.
Few clericals or administrators said
they felt intimidated by the goings-
on. Some expressed concern. Others
just wanted to get back to work. Many
simply did not feel comfortable talk-
ing about it.

They let you know that they were
going to be violent right from the
start and they were. This group was
careful not to tread on people."
She admits that the disruptions and
the loss of long-distance telephone
service to the second floor "kept the
.office from accomplishing much," but
she tried not to let this make her
resentful.
"Who knows," Parker asks, 'what
I would do if I were a minority per-
son?"
University Vice - President Richard

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