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12. Campus Riots and the Guard
- Southern Illinois University Press
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· TWELVE Campus Riots and the Guard I t was as if all hell broke loose. Protesters, mostly students, went on a rampage , pelting state and local police with stones,bottIes, and bricks and randomly smashing windows of university buildings and businesses on Green Street near the campus. Plenty were arrested on charges ranging from mob action to resisting arrest itself. Anarchy was looming in Champaign and Urbana , the twin towns where the main campus of the University of Illinois sprawls flat as a pancake. The situation had gotten out of control, forcing university administrators and local officials to request Governor Ogilvie's help. He responded by ordering units of the National Guard to Champaign-Urbana. Order had to be restored, Ogilvie insisted, because in his words "rioting and violence in a tense situation are extremely disruptive of the processes and ideals of our country." While "dissent can be useful and creative," reasoned Ogilvie, "violence is destructive of every legitimate goal. We cannot tolerate it if we want to make progress in America. We will not tolerate it." So, held Ogilvie, "Protest, yes. But violence , no."1 The melees that Monday, March 2, I970, were spurred by the presence on campus of job recruiters for General Electric Company, a major defense contractor . In this era, defense contractors were not very popular with students opposed to the Vietnam War. Fanning the flames further, the university's board of trustees had voted to postpone a campus speaking appearance scheduled for March 3 by radical lawyer William M. Kunstler. Kunstler, an attorney in the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial, had defended antiwar extremists accused of inciting the disorder at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Most of the trustees thought that delaying the flamboyant Kunstler's appearance was "essential to campus security" because of disturbances at other campuses after his speeches. Reaction to the trustees' decision was mixed. Away from the campus , the trustees' action was widely viewed as necessary for preserving law and order. However, at the university itself, many agreed with the law school students and faculty who wrote to the trustees that their decision was an "arbitrary and capricious" violation of free speech and assembly rights.2 Even the trustees were not unanimous on the matter. One, Springfield architect Ralph Hahn, said 160 CAMPUS RIOTS AND THE GUARD 161 that the banning of Kunstler opened a door "for others to limit our freedom if our position does not coincide with theirs."3 And so, on the evening of March 3, a balmy night, students by the thousands streamed across the campus toward the fine large home on Florida Avenue of university president David Dodds Henry. They wanted Henry to tell them firsthand what rights they had. They would then demand Henry to enforce those rights, including an opportunity to hear Kunstler when they desired. Too, they would ask Henry to rid of the guardsmen, the police, and all the other elements that the protesting students found to be oppressive. On this night, though, the leaders of the march, some called them ringleaders , cautioned against violence or even confrontation. Save for a demonstration of disapproval earlier in the day at a Navy recruiting booth that had closed the Illini Union, Tuesday was peaceful so far in comparison to the tumult of Monday. Before taking off for Henry's house, the protesters, some of whom wore headgear and newspaper padding under their clothes, were warned by one speaker at a rally on the quadrangle south of the union building that "there are thousands of pigs around with dogs, sticks and guns. They're not nice people. Don't provoke them.'" As others marshaling the crowd also belittled the "pigs," the protesters' derogatory appellation for law enforcement officers, leaflets being circulated contained instructions for dealing with policemen, tear gas, and other threats. One admonishment called for the use of a dry towel instead of a wet rag for protection against tear gas. According to another instruction, HIf you are busted, look around for witnesses.... at the station, give only your nanle." Ogilvie did not escape verbal lambasting. The governor, a fascist dictator in the vernacular of many recruiting for the march, was derided by one rally organizer for "using this university for political purposes." The governor, charged this individual, "has only sent in troops to get votes." As for the national guardsmen, march leaders told those assembled that, based on reliable sources, the soldiers' weapons would not be loaded. Nervous laughter rippled through the gathering...