DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | University of Iowa anti-war protests, 1970 | ""Iowa '70: Riot, Rhetoric, Responsibility?"" Page 41

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University of Iowa anti-war protests, 1970

""Iowa '70: Riot, Rhetoric, Responsibility?"" Page 41

37
When contacted about the statement, board chairman Davis said, "The motion means just exactly what it said. There was no thought of closing down The Daily Iowan."
On the following Wednesday, SPI voted to terminate immediately the appointment of Miss Durham and her staff, and to pay them one month's salary as compensation and severance.
Discussion on the motion centered around an alleged violation of trust between the board and Miss Durham and was led by Davis who related a series of conversations taking place between himself and Miss Durham.
Davis said he felt that if Miss Durham were editor, he would not be able to "participate in the kind of mutual trust which I feel necessary between the board and the editor...the kind of trust which is essential for the welfare of the Iowan."
William buss, associate professor of Law, advised and frequently spoke for Miss Durham, who was also at the meeting. He discussed a statement that appeared in the first-run editions of an Iowa City Press Citizen and was taken out later, leaving a blank space in some copies.
The statement regarded an alleged attempt by Miss Durham to take over The Daily Iowan by physical force. Reports of the attempt proved completely untrue.
Much of the controversy seemed to settle on comments Miss Durham made at a meeting of downtown merchants. Several board members said they felt Miss Durham alienated the merchants by her remarks about windows broken May 5 in several downtown stores.
Miss Durham told the board however that she had been very well recieved and invited back most cordially. She said several businessmen told the graduate student who arranged the meeting that they felt she was "brilliant." She also stated that "I felt most intuitively that they (those who broke windows) picked out those places which tended most to exploit the student in Iowa City."
The following evening, at a protest rally at Old Capitol, nearly a thousand copies of The Daily Iowan were burned in protest of the firing of Miss Durham. During the rally, Daily Iowan photographer Rick Greenwalt and television camera man Daryl Woodson were harassed by some persons in the crowd.
The crowd charged that Greenwalt was present to take photographs of the rally for Campus Security as well as the newspaper. It was also reported that several bundles of papers were stolen early Friday morning.
On Thursday, My 21, SPI voted to form a commission to probe the actions involving the firing of Miss Durham.
The board was represented by Johhn McCormally, editor of the Burlington Hawkeye, Miss Durham by Louise Noun. These two selected a third, Ron Carleson.
Following the meeting, board chairman Davis said that the board still stands by its decision to fire Miss Durham. He explained the resolution by saying the board was "bending over backward" to give her the opportunity to have a third party investgate the board's actions.
He said, "Her behavior seems deliberately intended to inject a false issue of political suppression, for which she had no evidence, into a controversy in the hope of coercing the board to change its position."
Buss appeared at the meeting and told the board he was not representing Miss Durham in the probe.
"It is my understanding that Leona has retained Dan Johnston (DesMoines attorney) to represent her."
Buss declared the commission probe "puts an extremely unfair burden" on Miss Durham to show the board did something wrong. But SPI attorney, Democratic state representative Joseph H Joseph Johnston of Iowa City, reponded that the burden "is one Miss Durham raised herself when she said the board acted with prejudice."

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37 When contacted about the statement, board chairman Davis said, "The motion means just exactly what it said. There was no thought of closing down The Daily Iowan." On the following Wednesday, SPI voted to terminate immediately the appointment of Miss Durham and her staff, and to pay them one month's salary as compensation and severance. Discussion on the motion centered around an alleged violation of trust between the board and Miss Durham and was led by Davis who related a series of conversations taking place between himself and Miss Durham. Davis said he felt that if Miss Durham were editor, he would not be able to "participate in the kind of mutual trust which I feel necessary between the board and the editor...the kind of trust which is essential for the welfare of the Iowan." William buss, associate professor of Law, advised and frequently spoke for Miss Durham, who was also at the meeting. He discussed a statement that appeared in the first-run editions of an Iowa City Press Citizen and was taken out later, leaving a blank space in some copies. The statement regarded an alleged attempt by Miss Durham to take over The Daily Iowan by physical force. Reports of the attempt proved completely untrue. Much of the controversy seemed to settle on comments Miss Durham made at a meeting of downtown merchants. Several board members said they felt Miss Durham alienated the merchants by her remarks about windows broken May 5 in several downtown stores. Miss Durham told the board however that she had been very well recieved and invited back most cordially. She said several businessmen told the graduate student who arranged the meeting that they felt she was "brilliant." She also stated that "I felt most intuitively that they (those who broke windows) picked out those places which tended most to exploit the student in Iowa City." The following evening, at a protest rally at Old Capitol, nearly a thousand copies of The Daily Iowan were burned in protest of the firing of Miss Durham. During the rally, Daily Iowan photographer Rick Greenwalt and television camera man Daryl Woodson were harassed by some persons in the crowd. The crowd charged that Greenwalt was present to take photographs of the rally for Campus Security as well as the newspaper. It was also reported that several bundles of papers were stolen early Friday morning. On Thursday, My 21, SPI voted to form a commission to probe the actions involving the firing of Miss Durham. The board was represented by Johhn McCormally, editor of the Burlington Hawkeye, Miss Durham by Louise Noun. These two selected a third, Ron Carleson. Following the meeting, board chairman Davis said that the board still stands by its decision to fire Miss Durham. He explained the resolution by saying the board was "bending over backward" to give her the opportunity to have a third party investgate the board's actions. He said, "Her behavior seems deliberately intended to inject a false issue of political suppression, for which she had no evidence, into a controversy in the hope of coercing the board to change its position." Buss appeared at the meeting and told the board he was not representing Miss Durham in the probe. "It is my understanding that Leona has retained Dan Johnston (DesMoines attorney) to represent her." Buss declared the commission probe "puts an extremely unfair burden" on Miss Durham to show the board did something wrong. But SPI attorney, Democratic state representative Joseph H Joseph Johnston of Iowa City, reponded that the burden "is one Miss Durham raised herself when she said the board acted with prejudice."