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Student protests, May-December 1971
1971-05-18 Des Moines Register Article: ""'We're Not Sheep'""""
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Des Moines Register Wed., May 19, 1971 Page 22 Over the Coffee [registered] 'We're Not Sheep' Sunday's column on Iowa City's "sheep" has drawn response from a number of students and facuty at the University of Iowa—some of it favorable, some of it un-. Here are excerpts from a few of them, expressive of points of view that seem worth expressing: ". . . Don't try to put all the blame on the student body. "Firstly, many of the rioters weren't students of the university, so you can hardly expect students to be aware of them. Why should the students be any more aware of them than the general population of Iowa City? "Secondly, he [Kaul] asks where we were Tuesday night. Twenty thousand of us stayed away as we were ordered and warned. Perhaps 200 were on-lookers (and not all of these were students). If hte entire student body had been there attemping to subdue the minority, control would have been impossible. . . "Thirdly, given a gair chance after the 'mess' expanded by Johnson County 'control,' the Highway Patrol and students were able to calm the situation. Tuesday night was reactionary to Johnson County. . . . "We wish to make it clear that calm was restored not only by patrolmen but also by the co-operation of the student body, thus discrediting Mr. Kaul's accusation that the majority of the student population just stood by and watched."—Patty Dierenfeld, Judy Hahn, Cheri Goddard, University of Iowa. "You will note that last week's disturbance took place at the ungodly hours of 2-3 a.m., a time calculated to draw the maximum amount of student support! Obviously the overwhelming majority of students hadn't the slightest idea that a disturbance was even taking place at that time . . . "One fact that you have chosen to ignore is that this year at the University of Iowa, in spite of an abundance of efforts by a variety of radical groups (distributing leaflets all over campus, time and time again), no large-scale assemblages of students of any sort have been held to protest anything! I actually believe they have been intimidated into inaction of any sort. And in this respect they might indeed resemble the sheep you mention. Thus, with no sizable student sentiment whatsoever in favor of protests this year at Iowa, and with no support from the student body as a whole or in part, last week's trouble was forced into isolation and into the wee hours of the night."—Stephen T. and Judith L. Hedetniemi. "Unquestionably, we do have our 'sheep' here—those students who will smash a window because someone else is doing it, who will taunt policemen because it is the 1971 equivalent of the panty raid, who will play with deadly violence because they don't want to take final exams. We may have many of them. "But most of the 20,000 of us are not 'sheep.' Neither are we 'Good Germans' . . . "You claimed we have joined the Great Silent Majority, but the Silent Majority to which I belong is not the same as the one you refer to. I belong to that Great Silent Majority of University of iowa students who deplore police overreaction. At the same time, we realize that endless taunts and harassment lead to overreaction. We are the majority that hates to see Iowa Highway Patrolmen in Iowa City—not because we hate Highway Patrolmen, but because we hate the fact they are necessary . . . ." –Kirk Winkler. Good arguments, reasonable arguments; but none of them speaks to the real question raised by the iowa City disturbances: What now? Is the tear-gassing, the rock-throwing, the mindless vandalism to become an annual feature of spring in Iowa City? Are the students of the university satisfied with the part they played (or didn't play) in the disturbances? Are they prepared to react in the same way when a similar situation arises next year, or perhaps sooner? What now? —Donald Kaul
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Des Moines Register Wed., May 19, 1971 Page 22 Over the Coffee [registered] 'We're Not Sheep' Sunday's column on Iowa City's "sheep" has drawn response from a number of students and facuty at the University of Iowa—some of it favorable, some of it un-. Here are excerpts from a few of them, expressive of points of view that seem worth expressing: ". . . Don't try to put all the blame on the student body. "Firstly, many of the rioters weren't students of the university, so you can hardly expect students to be aware of them. Why should the students be any more aware of them than the general population of Iowa City? "Secondly, he [Kaul] asks where we were Tuesday night. Twenty thousand of us stayed away as we were ordered and warned. Perhaps 200 were on-lookers (and not all of these were students). If hte entire student body had been there attemping to subdue the minority, control would have been impossible. . . "Thirdly, given a gair chance after the 'mess' expanded by Johnson County 'control,' the Highway Patrol and students were able to calm the situation. Tuesday night was reactionary to Johnson County. . . . "We wish to make it clear that calm was restored not only by patrolmen but also by the co-operation of the student body, thus discrediting Mr. Kaul's accusation that the majority of the student population just stood by and watched."—Patty Dierenfeld, Judy Hahn, Cheri Goddard, University of Iowa. "You will note that last week's disturbance took place at the ungodly hours of 2-3 a.m., a time calculated to draw the maximum amount of student support! Obviously the overwhelming majority of students hadn't the slightest idea that a disturbance was even taking place at that time . . . "One fact that you have chosen to ignore is that this year at the University of Iowa, in spite of an abundance of efforts by a variety of radical groups (distributing leaflets all over campus, time and time again), no large-scale assemblages of students of any sort have been held to protest anything! I actually believe they have been intimidated into inaction of any sort. And in this respect they might indeed resemble the sheep you mention. Thus, with no sizable student sentiment whatsoever in favor of protests this year at Iowa, and with no support from the student body as a whole or in part, last week's trouble was forced into isolation and into the wee hours of the night."—Stephen T. and Judith L. Hedetniemi. "Unquestionably, we do have our 'sheep' here—those students who will smash a window because someone else is doing it, who will taunt policemen because it is the 1971 equivalent of the panty raid, who will play with deadly violence because they don't want to take final exams. We may have many of them. "But most of the 20,000 of us are not 'sheep.' Neither are we 'Good Germans' . . . "You claimed we have joined the Great Silent Majority, but the Silent Majority to which I belong is not the same as the one you refer to. I belong to that Great Silent Majority of University of iowa students who deplore police overreaction. At the same time, we realize that endless taunts and harassment lead to overreaction. We are the majority that hates to see Iowa Highway Patrolmen in Iowa City—not because we hate Highway Patrolmen, but because we hate the fact they are necessary . . . ." –Kirk Winkler. Good arguments, reasonable arguments; but none of them speaks to the real question raised by the iowa City disturbances: What now? Is the tear-gassing, the rock-throwing, the mindless vandalism to become an annual feature of spring in Iowa City? Are the students of the university satisfied with the part they played (or didn't play) in the disturbances? Are they prepared to react in the same way when a similar situation arises next year, or perhaps sooner? What now? —Donald Kaul
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