Transcribe
Translate
University of Iowa anti-war protests, 1965-1967
31858064848116_023
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
THE DAILY IOWAN- Iowa City, Ia - Thurs., Nov. 2, 1967 - Page 11 - Letters to the Editor- Prof Blasts Trouble-Makers, UI Police To the Editor: There will be acute and perceptive reports of the events of Wednesday afternoon. I am sure reports both sensitive and angry which record the impassioned response of both sides in the unhappy fray. Nor am I above such partisan interest myself since I feel strongly that to deny another human being his rightful access to a public building or a job interview is the grossest violation of his human and constitutional rights. But I am not concerned here with the ultimately political and legal question of the efficacy of such demonstrations; rather I am deeply troubled by the excesses of human depravity which I witnessed on the steps of the Union. I had heard f course, that certain athletes, frustrated by their lack of success on the playing field, were venting their enraged manhood on the defenseless women gathered beneath the Union canopy. But I had not expected such a thing to happen. Nor was I particularly disturbed by the report that several of my more active colleagues has has their noses bloodied - after all, that is the price we must expect to pay when we week to violate the sanctions of our society. Even the deplorable conduct of State Sen. Tom Riley ( R-Cedar Rapids) making political hay by means of a "citizen's arrest" before half the cameras in eastern Iowa was to be expected. But I was deeply troubled by reliable reports that campus security officials had stood by quietly while students were hauled from the Union steps to be beaten in the street. What angered me most, however, was a group of six or seven curiously dressed youths who wandered to and fro in tight fitting T-shirts, suede caps and boxing gloves - by this I mean the kind of glove you wear when punching a bag in a gym, glove which protect your hands but not the bag. They were all fairly short and thin and maintained the bulging biceps of the amateur weight-lifter. Some even had tattos on their forearms . . . I was told by a colleague that these young men had been the leaders in the periodic outbursts of violence which had marked the afternoon activities. I followed them over to the parking ramp where they gathered under an overhand - obviously on University property - then turned to a nearby captain of the campus "security" force to ask whether he had the authority to ask for student IDs. The captain replied that he did, indeed have the authority but when I suggested that he ask the aggressive young men for proof of student status, he refused. Unhampered they wandered back into the crowd to agitate and to beat some more. As I have already indicated I do not approve of the action taken by the protesters. Ten years ago surely would have been among them, but now I can see that they pose as obvious a threat to all I believe in as do the young men with the boxing gloves. I came away secure in the knowledge that they had their " goodness now" but also angered and sickened by the other extreme, perhaps because all my life it seems i have been pursued by the little young brutes in boxing gloves - men who would spit at 7-year-old Negro children in Alabama, who beat up shy young men behind school buildings for wearing glasses, or who drive you off the public highway for kicks. Even as I mourn the University policy that allows a 250 pound animal to pounce unhindered on a pregnant student. I breathe somewhat more freely in the knowledge that the T-shirted boxers must be outside recruits in the war against dissent. But I can not accept without the bitterest sort of anger the reports of a University security official who turned his back on the violence he tacitly condoned, or the meek little captain who so conveniently ignored the gloves on the "students" he would not investigate. After all, we of the University community impowered them to keep the jungle from our door and they responded by encouraging the animals in our midst to even greater violence. Robert A. Corrigan Assistant Professor American Civilization Program ( Corrigan is Secretary-Treasurer of the Iowa Chapter of the American Association of University Professors and a member of the Faculty Senate - Ed.) To the Editor: Overheard at a local bar: Hey, Al what's wrong with those guys? Who? You know those clowns down at the Union protesting the Marines. Hell, I don't know. What do you mean? Well, what were they doing that for? There must be a dozen ways they could protest their disagreements with the war in Vietnam: you know, like passing out handbills and having marches and things, so why did they block the door against people? Yeah, I see what you mean. They were sort of intimidating the people who had the right to see the recruiter and at the same time they were hurting their own cause by creating resentment against themselves. It does not make sense does it? No, It would seem that if those guys were sincere they would want to convince other people. But hell, they can't convince anybody when they look like Salvation Army rejects. They could sure use some public relations. They wouldn't accept it. Why? I guess all they want is to get their pictures in the paper Jeez, they sure picked a lousy day for it. W. Rick Garr, G 122 Templin Pk.
Saving...
prev
next
THE DAILY IOWAN- Iowa City, Ia - Thurs., Nov. 2, 1967 - Page 11 - Letters to the Editor- Prof Blasts Trouble-Makers, UI Police To the Editor: There will be acute and perceptive reports of the events of Wednesday afternoon. I am sure reports both sensitive and angry which record the impassioned response of both sides in the unhappy fray. Nor am I above such partisan interest myself since I feel strongly that to deny another human being his rightful access to a public building or a job interview is the grossest violation of his human and constitutional rights. But I am not concerned here with the ultimately political and legal question of the efficacy of such demonstrations; rather I am deeply troubled by the excesses of human depravity which I witnessed on the steps of the Union. I had heard f course, that certain athletes, frustrated by their lack of success on the playing field, were venting their enraged manhood on the defenseless women gathered beneath the Union canopy. But I had not expected such a thing to happen. Nor was I particularly disturbed by the report that several of my more active colleagues has has their noses bloodied - after all, that is the price we must expect to pay when we week to violate the sanctions of our society. Even the deplorable conduct of State Sen. Tom Riley ( R-Cedar Rapids) making political hay by means of a "citizen's arrest" before half the cameras in eastern Iowa was to be expected. But I was deeply troubled by reliable reports that campus security officials had stood by quietly while students were hauled from the Union steps to be beaten in the street. What angered me most, however, was a group of six or seven curiously dressed youths who wandered to and fro in tight fitting T-shirts, suede caps and boxing gloves - by this I mean the kind of glove you wear when punching a bag in a gym, glove which protect your hands but not the bag. They were all fairly short and thin and maintained the bulging biceps of the amateur weight-lifter. Some even had tattos on their forearms . . . I was told by a colleague that these young men had been the leaders in the periodic outbursts of violence which had marked the afternoon activities. I followed them over to the parking ramp where they gathered under an overhand - obviously on University property - then turned to a nearby captain of the campus "security" force to ask whether he had the authority to ask for student IDs. The captain replied that he did, indeed have the authority but when I suggested that he ask the aggressive young men for proof of student status, he refused. Unhampered they wandered back into the crowd to agitate and to beat some more. As I have already indicated I do not approve of the action taken by the protesters. Ten years ago surely would have been among them, but now I can see that they pose as obvious a threat to all I believe in as do the young men with the boxing gloves. I came away secure in the knowledge that they had their " goodness now" but also angered and sickened by the other extreme, perhaps because all my life it seems i have been pursued by the little young brutes in boxing gloves - men who would spit at 7-year-old Negro children in Alabama, who beat up shy young men behind school buildings for wearing glasses, or who drive you off the public highway for kicks. Even as I mourn the University policy that allows a 250 pound animal to pounce unhindered on a pregnant student. I breathe somewhat more freely in the knowledge that the T-shirted boxers must be outside recruits in the war against dissent. But I can not accept without the bitterest sort of anger the reports of a University security official who turned his back on the violence he tacitly condoned, or the meek little captain who so conveniently ignored the gloves on the "students" he would not investigate. After all, we of the University community impowered them to keep the jungle from our door and they responded by encouraging the animals in our midst to even greater violence. Robert A. Corrigan Assistant Professor American Civilization Program ( Corrigan is Secretary-Treasurer of the Iowa Chapter of the American Association of University Professors and a member of the Faculty Senate - Ed.) To the Editor: Overheard at a local bar: Hey, Al what's wrong with those guys? Who? You know those clowns down at the Union protesting the Marines. Hell, I don't know. What do you mean? Well, what were they doing that for? There must be a dozen ways they could protest their disagreements with the war in Vietnam: you know, like passing out handbills and having marches and things, so why did they block the door against people? Yeah, I see what you mean. They were sort of intimidating the people who had the right to see the recruiter and at the same time they were hurting their own cause by creating resentment against themselves. It does not make sense does it? No, It would seem that if those guys were sincere they would want to convince other people. But hell, they can't convince anybody when they look like Salvation Army rejects. They could sure use some public relations. They wouldn't accept it. Why? I guess all they want is to get their pictures in the paper Jeez, they sure picked a lousy day for it. W. Rick Garr, G 122 Templin Pk.
Campus Culture
sidebar
