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Emil L. Rinderspacher newspaper clippings, 1972

SDS New Left Notes Page 1

BAN RACISM NOT SDS see p. 2
{Box at top left of page: sds new left notes with fist} 
FIGHT RACISM - - ALLY WITH WORKERS!

{Box at top right of page: SDS NAT'L CONVENTION AGAINST RACISM MAR. 30-APR.2 HARVARD for plans see p. 4-5

RACIST PROFESSOR CHASED OUT OF IOWA

HARVARD PROFESSOR RICHARD HERRNSTEIN was so scared he slipped out the back door rather than have to face 650 students at the U. of Iowa. He had reason to worry. For weeks SDS at Iowa had publicized Herrnstein's racist attacks on blacks - his claims that black people are genetically inferior to whites and that "unemployment may run in the genes(!)" Many were familiar with his article "I.Q." in the September [underline]Atlantic Monthly[/underline]. They'd come to attack his racist views.

HERRNSTEIN WAS SUPPOSED to talk about pigeons. But SDS won many to demand he discuss his article. Half an hour before he was to talk, the hall was packed. People brought signs and banners - like "Smash Racist Lies," and "Fight Herrnstein - Come to the SDS Nat'l Convention."

INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR HERRNSTEIN students began debating the issues. Some questionned calling Herrnstein a racist. Others quoted from his article: Herrnstein calls this social system a "meritocracy" and very clearly blames black people for the rotten conditions they live under. "...there will be precipitated out of the mass of humanity a low capacity intellectual and otherwise residue that may be unable to master the common occupations...[underline]The troubles...have alreadyy caught the attention[/underline] of alert social scientists like Edward Banfield, whose book, [underline]The Unheavenly City[/underline], describes the increasingly chronic lower class in America's central cities." ([underline]Atlantic[/underline], 9/71.) (our emphasis.) He's clearly saying that blacks (in the "central cities") are ALREADY an inferior group.

SPEAKERS TALKED ABOUT SOME OF THE programs Herrnstein's Nazi theories lead to. Like the bill that's passed the Indiana Senate. It forces women on welfare with 2 kids or more to be sterilized, or lose their welfare checks! (SDS'ers in the midwest are preparing a resolution calling for a midwest demonstration in April against this facist law. The resolution will be discussed and voted on at the SDS National Convention Against Racism.)

WHILE DEBATE WAS STORMY INSIDE, COPS were holding back 100-150 students outside who were trying to get in. The Dean of Students, a former ROTC commander, tried to "cool off" the crowd outside. Herrnstein has a right to talk about what he wants, the dean claimed. "LET US IN!" & "COPS OFF CAMPUS!" the crowd roared back.

"WE WANT HERRNSTEIN!" CHANTED THE students inside - as the 4:30 deadline came & went. Finally the psychology department chariman got on the stage and said Herrnstein wouldn't talk. His voice was barely audible above the boos and hisses.

AWHILE LATER, SOMEBODY FOUND OUT Herrnstein was hiding in the faculty club. Cops were called again to keep people from forcing their way in to confront this racist. 

THIS KIND OF MASS ACTION IS A BIG victory for the nation-wide anti-racist fight. Herrnstein, Shockley, Urie Bronfenbrenner (from Cornell), and the rest of the racist scholars are no longer free to spread racism WITHOUT OPPOSITION. Herrnstein is under attack wherever he goes. The day before Iowa, at Harvard, where SDS started a campaign against Herrnstein last fall, 400 attended a forum on Herrnstein & racism sponsored by 9 groups including SDS. A few days ago, Herrnstein walked out of a discussion group at Harvard rather than facing angry students. Because of opposition at Princeton, he cancelled a scheduled speaking engagement there. 

{Photo of students}
This picture & one to right from U. of Iowa...

{Boxed in text: Students Shelve Racist Text (Salt Lake City) 
THE AD HOC COMMITTEE Against Racist Education (including SDS) won their demand to ban the racist text, [underline]Educational Psychology in the Classroom[/underline], by Henry Clay Lindgrin. This book, taught to perspective teachers, is full of vicious anti-black, anti-working class slanders. It tries to portray class understanding and a rebellious attitude as the result of stupidity. Take this quote:
    Culturally disadvantaged children are less able to learn from being told than are middle class children...[here is his "proof":] A policeman visited the school and talked to the children about the need to be careful in crossing the street. The next day when the teacher showed the children a picture of a policeman helping a child across the street, they insisted he was taking the child to jail. Although the teacher persisted in questioning the children, they were unable [sic! [underline]unwilling[/underline]! !] to tell her that he was helping the child across the street.
The committee is now planning to fight Edward Banfield's [underline]Unheavenly City[/underline] and Ardrey's book, [underline]Social Contract[/underline], Ardrey says blacks are physically superior genetically ("they can hit a basketball (!) from L.A. to San Francisco" he claims) but are slow learners. One down, 2 more to go. SMASH RACISM!}

THE U. OF I. ADMINISTRATION WAS SO shaken by the action against Herrnstein that they immediately banned SDS from campus. (SDS was already using the name Worker Student Alliance at U of I because of a previous ban!) The deans are willing to go a long way to make sure racist theories are taught and heard on campus. We have to go further to stop this! Students at U. of I. are now circulating a petition to BAN RACISM NOT SDS. And they will follow-up the victory against Herrnstein with even bigger anti-racist struggles!

{Photo of student gathering}

A DAY IN THE LIFE...
or how Prof. Herrnstein uses his "freedom of speech"
(Reprinted from a Harvard-Radcliffe SDS leaflet.)
[underline] Monday, March 6. 10 am.[/underline]
Prof. Herrnstein enters Burr B to teach. 3 posters are tacked up. One reads: "Afraid of an audience that knows you for what you are...raci$t?" He announces: "I will not lecture while those remain on the wall; neither will I take them down." Nobody moves. Finally, when Herrnstein is putting on his coat to leave, 2 guys rip them down. 

Is he still rattled from Iowa? Or the confrontation in Elliot House? On his way across the Yard a group of black students putting up crosses to protest Harvard's investments in Gulf Oil cussed him out. "GET OUT OF HERE, YOU RACIST DOG!"

[underline]11 am.[/underline]  Concerned students crowd around after class. "Why do you propose collecting census data on I.Q.?" He clams up. "What do you think of the Indiana bill that would force mothers on welfare to accept sterilization or lose their checks?" Herrnstein slips out the back, through a broom closet, heads for William James Hall. 40 or so follow him. More questions. Herrnstein says NOT ONE WORD. 

The professor steps into an elevator along with his new, 6'6", 270 lb. bodyguard. "The elevator is full," says the guard. (Of what?) Students push past him, ride to the 6th floor. For 1/2 hour Herrnstein wanders, silent. Increasing numbers beg for enlightenment. he picks up a [underline]Harvard Crimson[/underline]. Headline: "HERRNSTEIN CANCELS PRINCETON VISIT!" He drops the [underline]Crimson[/underline] like a hot potato. Finding

CONTINUED...on back page

{Handwritten on bottom right corner: [1972]}

Saving...

BAN RACISM NOT SDS see p. 2 {Box at top left of page: sds new left notes with fist} FIGHT RACISM - - ALLY WITH WORKERS! {Box at top right of page: SDS NAT'L CONVENTION AGAINST RACISM MAR. 30-APR.2 HARVARD for plans see p. 4-5 RACIST PROFESSOR CHASED OUT OF IOWA HARVARD PROFESSOR RICHARD HERRNSTEIN was so scared he slipped out the back door rather than have to face 650 students at the U. of Iowa. He had reason to worry. For weeks SDS at Iowa had publicized Herrnstein's racist attacks on blacks - his claims that black people are genetically inferior to whites and that "unemployment may run in the genes(!)" Many were familiar with his article "I.Q." in the September [underline]Atlantic Monthly[/underline]. They'd come to attack his racist views. HERRNSTEIN WAS SUPPOSED to talk about pigeons. But SDS won many to demand he discuss his article. Half an hour before he was to talk, the hall was packed. People brought signs and banners - like "Smash Racist Lies," and "Fight Herrnstein - Come to the SDS Nat'l Convention." INSTEAD OF WAITING FOR HERRNSTEIN students began debating the issues. Some questionned calling Herrnstein a racist. Others quoted from his article: Herrnstein calls this social system a "meritocracy" and very clearly blames black people for the rotten conditions they live under. "...there will be precipitated out of the mass of humanity a low capacity intellectual and otherwise residue that may be unable to master the common occupations...[underline]The troubles...have alreadyy caught the attention[/underline] of alert social scientists like Edward Banfield, whose book, [underline]The Unheavenly City[/underline], describes the increasingly chronic lower class in America's central cities." ([underline]Atlantic[/underline], 9/71.) (our emphasis.) He's clearly saying that blacks (in the "central cities") are ALREADY an inferior group. SPEAKERS TALKED ABOUT SOME OF THE programs Herrnstein's Nazi theories lead to. Like the bill that's passed the Indiana Senate. It forces women on welfare with 2 kids or more to be sterilized, or lose their welfare checks! (SDS'ers in the midwest are preparing a resolution calling for a midwest demonstration in April against this facist law. The resolution will be discussed and voted on at the SDS National Convention Against Racism.) WHILE DEBATE WAS STORMY INSIDE, COPS were holding back 100-150 students outside who were trying to get in. The Dean of Students, a former ROTC commander, tried to "cool off" the crowd outside. Herrnstein has a right to talk about what he wants, the dean claimed. "LET US IN!" & "COPS OFF CAMPUS!" the crowd roared back. "WE WANT HERRNSTEIN!" CHANTED THE students inside - as the 4:30 deadline came & went. Finally the psychology department chariman got on the stage and said Herrnstein wouldn't talk. His voice was barely audible above the boos and hisses. AWHILE LATER, SOMEBODY FOUND OUT Herrnstein was hiding in the faculty club. Cops were called again to keep people from forcing their way in to confront this racist. THIS KIND OF MASS ACTION IS A BIG victory for the nation-wide anti-racist fight. Herrnstein, Shockley, Urie Bronfenbrenner (from Cornell), and the rest of the racist scholars are no longer free to spread racism WITHOUT OPPOSITION. Herrnstein is under attack wherever he goes. The day before Iowa, at Harvard, where SDS started a campaign against Herrnstein last fall, 400 attended a forum on Herrnstein & racism sponsored by 9 groups including SDS. A few days ago, Herrnstein walked out of a discussion group at Harvard rather than facing angry students. Because of opposition at Princeton, he cancelled a scheduled speaking engagement there. {Photo of students} This picture & one to right from U. of Iowa... {Boxed in text: Students Shelve Racist Text (Salt Lake City) THE AD HOC COMMITTEE Against Racist Education (including SDS) won their demand to ban the racist text, [underline]Educational Psychology in the Classroom[/underline], by Henry Clay Lindgrin. This book, taught to perspective teachers, is full of vicious anti-black, anti-working class slanders. It tries to portray class understanding and a rebellious attitude as the result of stupidity. Take this quote: Culturally disadvantaged children are less able to learn from being told than are middle class children...[here is his "proof":] A policeman visited the school and talked to the children about the need to be careful in crossing the street. The next day when the teacher showed the children a picture of a policeman helping a child across the street, they insisted he was taking the child to jail. Although the teacher persisted in questioning the children, they were unable [sic! [underline]unwilling[/underline]! !] to tell her that he was helping the child across the street. The committee is now planning to fight Edward Banfield's [underline]Unheavenly City[/underline] and Ardrey's book, [underline]Social Contract[/underline], Ardrey says blacks are physically superior genetically ("they can hit a basketball (!) from L.A. to San Francisco" he claims) but are slow learners. One down, 2 more to go. SMASH RACISM!} THE U. OF I. ADMINISTRATION WAS SO shaken by the action against Herrnstein that they immediately banned SDS from campus. (SDS was already using the name Worker Student Alliance at U of I because of a previous ban!) The deans are willing to go a long way to make sure racist theories are taught and heard on campus. We have to go further to stop this! Students at U. of I. are now circulating a petition to BAN RACISM NOT SDS. And they will follow-up the victory against Herrnstein with even bigger anti-racist struggles! {Photo of student gathering} A DAY IN THE LIFE... or how Prof. Herrnstein uses his "freedom of speech" (Reprinted from a Harvard-Radcliffe SDS leaflet.) [underline] Monday, March 6. 10 am.[/underline] Prof. Herrnstein enters Burr B to teach. 3 posters are tacked up. One reads: "Afraid of an audience that knows you for what you are...raci$t?" He announces: "I will not lecture while those remain on the wall; neither will I take them down." Nobody moves. Finally, when Herrnstein is putting on his coat to leave, 2 guys rip them down. Is he still rattled from Iowa? Or the confrontation in Elliot House? On his way across the Yard a group of black students putting up crosses to protest Harvard's investments in Gulf Oil cussed him out. "GET OUT OF HERE, YOU RACIST DOG!" [underline]11 am.[/underline] Concerned students crowd around after class. "Why do you propose collecting census data on I.Q.?" He clams up. "What do you think of the Indiana bill that would force mothers on welfare to accept sterilization or lose their checks?" Herrnstein slips out the back, through a broom closet, heads for William James Hall. 40 or so follow him. More questions. Herrnstein says NOT ONE WORD. The professor steps into an elevator along with his new, 6'6", 270 lb. bodyguard. "The elevator is full," says the guard. (Of what?) Students push past him, ride to the 6th floor. For 1/2 hour Herrnstein wanders, silent. Increasing numbers beg for enlightenment. he picks up a [underline]Harvard Crimson[/underline]. Headline: "HERRNSTEIN CANCELS PRINCETON VISIT!" He drops the [underline]Crimson[/underline] like a hot potato. Finding CONTINUED...on back page {Handwritten on bottom right corner: [1972]}