12 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 22, 1999
FRIDAY FOCUS
Teach-ins, strikes form decade's lasting legacy*
By Callie Scott
Daily Staff'Reporter
The 1960s was a decade that began
more quietly than it ended. A nation
that had become accustomed to pros-
perity and endorsed the status quo
saw the emergence of a youth-based
social movement and collective
questioning of social institutions.
The University was no exception to
this shift.
"They were the days of excite-
ment, the days of madness, the days
of rage," said SNRE Prof. Bunyan
Bryant, recalling his days as a stu-
dent at the University during the
1960s. It was a time when "you
could go through a whole gamut of
feelings in one day," he said.
The expanding Civil Rights
Movement and the war in Vietnam
provided the impetus for student
activism at the. University and across
the nation - social movements that
made the late '60s in "an era of
4nequaled protest," said Margaret
Steneck, a history lecturer with an
appointment in the Residential
College who teaches a history course
titled "The History of the University
of Michigan" with her husband, his-
tory Prof. Nicholas Steneck.
Increased student involvement for
civil rights on northern college cam-
puses like the University and the end
of student deferments to the draft in
1967 were a source of external pres-
sure for internal change. Steneck
said students challenged the pater-
nalistic structure of the University
that no longer seemed appropriate in
a time of increasing emphasis on the
world outside of campus.
This desire for change manifest
itself in protest against University
policies and in protest against
national policies.
"There was the beginning of a
sense that there could be grass roots
activity," said a 1970 University
graduate who wished to remain
anonymous.
Bryant described student protest to
warfare in Vietnam as a culmination
of two strong sentiments: belief in
the immorality of the war as well as
resistance to the draft.
"One day people were on campus.
and the next day they were gone,"
Bryant said, describing the draft and
the outrage that students felt toward
the policy.
"We felt we had the moral high
ground" and this, "juxtaposed with
self-interest, became a powerful kind
of tool," Bryant said,
Protest to the war in Vietnam on a
grass roots level came in the spring
of 1965 when the nation's first
teach-in occurred at the University.
Attended by about 2,500 students,
the teach-in was an all-night series
of speakers and workshops in Angell
Hall, according to "The Making of
the University of Michigan 1817-
1992" by Howard Peckham.
"People were thirsty for informa-
tion and knowledge." said Bryant,
who attended the teach-in. It was a
"very powerful experience. We felt
we could do something."
This same feeling that non-violent
protest could spur change was the
motivation behind many civil rights
initiatives on campus, including the
Black Action Movement strike of
1970, known as BAM 1. BAM, an
organization comprised of many
campus groups. was determined to
increase the number of minority stu-
dents on campus.
"The movement for black civil
rights here was also a movement to
simply get black students into the
University." Steneck said.
Bryant, who picketed and passed
out fliers trying to convince students
not to go to class during the strike,
said many students honored the pick-
et lines. The Residential College and
the School of Social Work shut
down, and LSA class attendance fell
to a low of 25 percent, according to
the Peckham's book.
The BAM strike "was a very diffi-
cult time" for the University, then
University President Robben
Fleming said during a speech last
month about student unrest during
the '60s. Fleming served as head of
the University from 1968 to 1979.
BAM occurred at a time when vio-
lence was raging on college campus-
es across the nation, and the strike
increased the potential for conflict at
the University, Fleming said.
The strike, which lasted eight
days, came to an end when negotia-
tions between BAM and the admin-
istration resulted in a commitment
made by the University to work
toward 10 percent black student
enrollment by 1973. BAM and the
administration also agreed to addi-
tional BAM demands, all designed to
create a better atmosphere for minor-
ity students.
As 1970s began, student activism
shifted its center away from the
Vietnam War and took a new focus
with movements for environmental
rights and women's rights, in an
attempt to "make the world a better
place," Steneck said.
But ultimately the period of protest
dwindled and the onset of economic
0
ht courtesyof M -8anensian
A police officer holds down a protester outside the Fleming Administration Building
during the Black Action Movement's 1970 strike against racist admissions policies.
WA The fifth i n a seven-part series chroniling the
F ila9niversity of Michigan In the 20th Century.
:416
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Pl~oto ~ourtes~ of M cfr gar rs an
Bo beats Buckeyes, sparks program
By Arun Gopal
Daily Sports Writer
The year was 1969. One of the
most turbulent decades in U.S.
history, marked by assassina-
tions, moon landings, riots and
the Vietnam war was drawing to
close.
Like everything else that
decade, the Michigan athletic
department had to handle some
turbulence, specifically a new'
football coach. To replace Bump
Elliot, Michigan selected the
Miami (Ohio) coach who had
also played and coached under
legendary Ohio State coach
Woody Hayes.
His name: Bo Schembechler.
"Having a new coach was
somewhat of a surprise for us,
because we had a good final sea-
son under Bump Elliot, even
though our last' game was a
blowout," tight end and team
captain Jim Mandich said. "The
first time I met Bo was in his
office, and he seemed like a
refined, civilized gentleman.
Then I saw him on the practice
field, and all I could think was,
'Man, this guy's out of his
mind!"'
Glenn E. Schembechler inher-
ited a slumping Michigan pro-
gram. The Wolverines claimed
just three Big Ten
Championships in the 20 sea-
sons before Schembechler's
arrival, and in Elliot's final
game as coach in 1968,
Michigan was humiliated by
Ohio State, 50-14, in Columbus.
Could Bo turn it around?
The Wolverines quickly
gelled under Schembechler's
direction, trouncing Vanderbilt
and Washington at home. But
the smooth road hit a pothole
when Michigan was pounded by
Missouri, 40-17, in Ann Arbor.
Coupled with a loss in East
Lansing against the hated
Spartans two weeks later, the
Wolverines were just 3-2 after
five games.
But the players didn't panic.
"We felt like we had a good
team and a good coach,"
Mandich said. "We lost to a
good Missouri team, and then
we just weren't ready for the
State game, but at no time was
there any finger-pointing."
Michigan rebounded to reel
off three straight conference vic-
tories, running its overall record
to 6-2, with a 4-1 Big Ten mark.
Then, in the second-to-last game
of the season, Michigan crushed
Iowa, 51-6, in Iowa City. The
victory touched off what some
consider one of the wildest and
most emotional lockerroom cel-
ebrations in Michigan football
history.
"That was a very euphoric
win," Mandich said. "We were
crescending into the Ohio State
game, gaining momentum all the
time. We were coming together
and playing some of our best
football.
"I don't think I've ever expe-
rienced anything like that
postgame celebration, either
before or since. Guys were
humiliation for a year," Mandich
said. "There were a lot of things
on our mind for that game, one
of which was revenge. There
was just a feeling in the air in
that stadium that something spe-
cial was about to happen. We
couldn't wait for that ball to be
kicked off."
Once the ball was kicked off
on Nov. 22, it quickly became
evident that Wolverines were
not going to be pushed around.
A pair of touchdown runs by
fullback Garvie Craw, a one-
yard touchdown by quarterback
Don Moorhead and a 25-yard
field goal pushed the
Wolverines to a shocking 24-12
halftime lead.
The defense did the rest, inter-
cepting Ohio State quarterbacks
six times and holding the
Buckeyes scoreless in the sec-
ond half. With less than a minute
left in the game, the Michigan
fans and players sensed that the
game was finished. The improb-
able upset was complete - the
best team ever had been beaten.
"It was just a tremendous
sense of accomplishment,"
Mandich said. "We finally had
our redemption."
The win was especially sweet
because it gave Michigan a share
of the Big Ten Championship,
and shortly after the game the
Wolverines were selected to rep-
resent the Big Ten in the Rose
Bowl. But Mandich said he felt
Elizabeth
Montgomery, Dick
York and
Erin Murphy
entertained fans of
the "Bewitched"
television series
from 1964 to
1972.
Courtesy of Sony Pictures
Mr. Ed, witch give esap
By Rosemary Metz
For the Daily
Images of napalmed Vietnamese children,
American cities in flames, college campuses
erupting in protest and the assassinations of
Martin Luther King Jr., John and Robert
Kennedy and Malcolm X were emblazoned on
the screens on television sets in the 1960s. These
searing reflections of a nation in the convulsions
of change left indelible marks on the national
conscience. During this agitated period,
Americans sought some relief and respite in
more light-hearted themes of television, theater
and film.
Witchcraft, portrayed by the characters. of
Samantha and Darren in "Bewitched," offered
'60s viewers a chance to witness the magical
powers of the nose twitch. While the war raged
probed meanings of life, gender issues and rela-
tionships.
The state of the theater, then and now, was
examined by prof. Erik Fredricksen, chair of the
University theatre and drama department. Despite
the numerous differences between the two eras,
Fredricksen said there are several similarities in
public attitudes toward the art.
"Perhaps the most apparent parallel to the
experimentation of form (in the '60s) is the cur-
rent investigation in form as determined by an
eradication of heretofore cultural and disciplinary
boundaries," Fredricksen said. "Theater is truly
becoming focused and influenced by a world per-
spective that finds relevance in modes of story-
telling that are non-linear and culturally diverse."
This changing perspective of storytelling,
begun in the '60s, presents new obstacles to the
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