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4. The Launching of a Movement
- University of Illinois Press
- Chapter
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81 4 The Launching of a Movement The new SEOP students, like many beginning freshmen, eagerly anticipated the start of the academic year. The continuing students were excited to see their new recruits and ready to get them acclimated to campus. SEOP students and BSA volunteers lived together in Illinois Street Residence Hall (ISR), a highly coveted residence hall, during SEOP orientation week. Though placement tests occupied much of their time, the week spent together fostered a sense of closeness and cohesiveness. The initial intent was not to politicize the SEOP students, but together the new and continuing students would have a baptism by fire a full week before classes began. Disputes over housing arrangements and financial aid packages erupted 9 September 1968, the first day of New Student Week, and ended in a mass arrest of Black students. The arrest energized BSA and validated the organization’s call to close ranks. Previously a small group of students, BSA became a major force for change on campus. Although not all Black students participated in BSA and BSA rhetoric alienated some potential allies, the arrests galvanized most of the Black student population and inaugurated the Illinois Black student movement. Prior to September 1968, Black students created structures that would enable them to maintain coordinated protest, including a well-developed organization, experienced leaders, and communication networks.1 On 15 May 1968, BSA held its second official election and elected graduates and undergraduates, men and women to the executive committee. The involvement of graduate students, most of whom had attended historical- 82 Black Power on Campus ly Black colleges in the South for their baccalaureate degrees and had either watched or participated in the southern civil rights movement, helped BSA become more savvy in its protest tactics and its negotiations with the administration. The spontaneous protest on 9 September created conditions through which Black students would aggressively disrupt the social order at Illinois and demand institutional reform. However, the arrests proved a double-edged sword. On one hand, they invigorated the Black student population, and BSA issued a list of demands for institutional reform. On the other, the arrests precipitated a backlash against Black students and SEOP. Illinois residents, campus constituents, and legislators demanded harsh punishments for the arrested students and indicted them for tarnishing the name of the university. The verbal attacks on Black students made the need for Black student unity even more urgent, and BSA sought to provide a working definition of Blackness. At times the definition became incredibly restrictive and created strife among Black students on campus. BSA recognized the dangers of a narrow understanding of what it meant to be Black, but the organization believed the need for unity in the face of attacks outweighed the need for a fluid definition even if the organization’s rhetoric alienated potential Black student allies. By the end of the spiral of effects, the arrests would have a far-reaching influence on personal and institutional levels. The Arrests As indicated in chapter 3, a state of total confusion existed when the SEOP students arrived on campus. Miscommunication between BSA members and recruits exacerbated the fact that the university was unprepared for the number of students that would enroll through SEOP. The result was that many arriving students had not taken the appropriate tests for college admission or course placement, did not have room assignments because of incomplete housing paperwork, and were awaiting news of their financial aid status. Administrators assured students that the remaining housing and financial aid issues would be resolved during New Student Week or the first few weeks of school and encouraged the students to focus on such matters as course selection, registration procedures , the activities of New Student Week, and books for their classes.2 On the last day of orientation, Saturday, 7 September, administrators instructed the SEOP students to move out of ISR and into their permanent room assignments in the residence halls across campus. The general student body was arriving for the beginning of the academic year, and many would be moving into their assigned rooms in ISR. [44.221.46.132] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 17:24 GMT) The Launching of a Movement 83 A sense of Black student camaraderie alleviated some of the tension produced by the academic, financial, and housing uncertainties. BSA members and SEOP students began to form a community during their orientation week on campus. The excitement of the continuing students cannot be overstated...