Page 2-The Michigan Daily, Thursday, September 10, 1987
'Up
By PETER MOONEY
In light of the many protests
against racism and other occurrences
of campus activism last year, a
question has arisen in the minds of
University community members -
the times, are they achangin' again?
Faculty members, who remem -
ber the protests of the late '60s and
the early '70s, don't feel they are.
"If I compare what is going on
now on the issue of racism at the
University to what was going on in
1958 and 1959, there's no just no
comparison," said University his -
tory and sociology professor Bill
rofs: '
Sewell. In the late '50s and early
'60s many students took part in
demonstrations to protest civil
rights abuses in the South.
THE protests last semester were
sparked by racist incidents which
included a racist flier found at
Couzens dormitory and racist jokes
aired on WJJX, one of the
University student-run radio sta -
tions.
The protests, led by the United
Coalition Against Racism (UCAR)
and the Black Action Movement
(BAM) III, included a takeover of
the Fleming administration
building, a hearing on racism
conducted by state Rep. Morris
Hood (D-Detroit), and a visit from
the Reverend Jesse Jackson who
met with University President
Harold Shapiro and announced the
University's reaffirmed commit -
ment to higher minority enrollment
and the creation of a vice provost
for minority affairs position.
The protests by UCAR and
BAM III against racism on campus
were the most prominent of the
several student demonstrations last
semester, receiving coverage in
national media including CBS
News and The New York Times.
The success of the racism protests
as well as University graduate
60s, '
student and campus activist Dean
Baker's impressive bid for a
Congressional seat last fall led
many to believe that liberalism had
gained a foothold among the
conservative students of the '80s.
Although Sewell, who was
active in the free speech movement
at the University of California at
Os
protests differ
American Political Parties con -
ducted a 1985 survey of student
attitudes, agrees with Sewell. Ac-
cording to Eldersveld, successful
student activism can only take place
when students see an "immediacy of
need," have a sense of moral
outrage, and receive good
leadership.
'A lot of the issues confronting students they're
indifferent to because they don't see any immediacy
of need.'
- Samuel Eldersveld,
University professor of political science
success. There was a belief that
change could happen because
"Blacks realized that they had the
support of people like Morris
Hood," He said.
Sewell agrees with Eldersveld's
sentiment, "Hood may have been
more important than Jackson, the
Black electorate is very important
in this state."
One issue which Eldersveld's
survey indicated would provoke
widespread student protest is the
passing of a code of non-academic
conduct, which has been proposed
by the University administration as
a way to regulate student behavior
outside the classroom.
The survey showed that 58
percent of students polled would
definitely protest if a code was
adopted without the participation of
students.
ON APRIL 8, the two stu -
dents who had been involved in
broadcasting racist jokes over WJJX
were sent a letter informing them
that a hearing had been set to
determine whether sanctions would
be used to penalize their behavior.
The Michigan Student Assembly
(MSA) condemned the hearing
because they felt it could be used
against students for any other
incident and therefore constituted a
At a rally on April 17 to protest
the hearing, student turnout was far
less than had been hoped for.
Eldersveld said the disappointing
showing does not necessarily
indicate that the survey's results are
unreflective of student attitudes.
Though unfamiliar with the
specifics of the hearing, Eldersveld
believes many students may not
have considered it a code.
MSA president Ken Weine
See PROFS, Page 8
code.
Berkeley in the early '60s,
dismisses comparisons between
protests then to those now, he
doesn't, however, dismiss the
achievements of racism protesters.
He believes that protests in the '60s
responded to injustices in society
not just on campus.
PROTESTS then reflected
"larger social movements in society
at large," Sewell said. He identified
the existence of societal movements
as a crucial factor in creating
successful student movements.
Political Science Samuel
Eldersveld, whose class in
Along with Sewell, Eldersveld
does not believe that the conditions
necessary for a return to large scale
student activism exist. "A lot of the
issues confronting students they're
indifferent to because they don't see
any immediacy of need."
"They don't have the sense of
moral outrage they had in the '60s.
They need good leaders to
crystallize student support," Elders -
veld said.
ACCORDING to Eldersveld,
strong leadership and the backing of
state political leaders were two of
the reasons for UCAR and BAM III
Sewell
.. can't compare past protests to now.
Eldersveld
... '66s-type protests require 'moral
outrage.'
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