The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, May 14, 1971, Page Page 8, Image 8
M6thof M
Adinhb
Monday, May 11
The morning hours were quiet on
campus.
lDr. . Jones sat down with the
editors of the two local newspapers
for a background information
session.
Signs began to appear on
campus advertising the afternoon
st udent rally and also supporting a
move to the Administration
Huilding by those in sympathy with
the defendants scheduled to ap
pear for a hearing.
A joint meeting of the Discipline
and Faculty Advisory committees
was called but reports indicate
neit her t he student representatives
nor Ihe one female faculty member
of the )iscipline Committee were
not itied of the meeting. The action
of the Executive Committee of the
Trustees in appointing a special
hearing committee was discussed
but the questions raised to the
Administration in this regard were
described by some faculty as
''atuous." Others attending the
meeting raised the question of due
process and there was a discussion
ot facult y responsibility on oc
casions such as this currently
tacing the University.
Outside the joint meeting, other
facult y members were arranging a
series of "rap" sessions for Russell
louse. 'T7hree sessions concerning
the issues of Cambodia. academic
freedom and the limits of dissent
were scheduled for a three-day
period. A fourth "rap" session
involving a Trustee of the
University already had been
scheduled.
At I p.m.. the Chairman of the
Hoard of Trustees met with a small
delegation of students. Both the
Chairman and the students in
volved voiced pleasure with the
ione and results of the session. One
situdent described the meeting as
a breakthrough in com
munications." Unfortunately these
same st udents reported an entirely
different impression to the people
atending the afternoon rally.
The rally on the Horseshoe.
originally scheduled for noon.
actually began at 2:30U p.m. There
is no firm estimate of the crowd
but participants and the curious
are believed to have totaled not
more than 4400 people. The general
purpose of the rally was to urge
amnesty for all those arrested in
the Rlussell House incident. A
petition to this effect had been
circulating around campus and
more names were added during
the rally which was peaceful and
relatively low key as compared
with the two events held on the
Horseshoe the week before.
At approximately :3:15 p.m..
someone among the participants
stood up and urged the crowd on to
the Administration Building. This
appeared to* be a pre-planned
gest ure and the mass move to the
Administration Building appears
not to have been spontaneous.
Approximately 250-300 people were
involved in the action.
The crowd took up positions in
Iront of the Administration
Building. Several campus securit y
people were Inside the building in
control of tihe front door. Since no
trouble had been anticipated by
tIniversity or other officials the
only security available was that
which could be provided by
cnmpus police.
alstrati(
Fed by the curious, the crowd
outside the building grew. The
mood of the crowd was at times
menacing as speaker after speaker
alternately cajoled the crowd or
attempted to cool emotions.
Meanwhile. inside the building.
stall people began moving
breakable items from the lobby.
4 Ht ices were cleared and personnel
told to leave the building. An at
iempi was made to begin the
hearings in the second floor Board
Room. Only one defendant was
heard.
Kven while an attempt was being
made to hold the hearings, im
prompt u meetings were being held
het ween students and Trustees
whithout any fruitful results. Some
of the students seemed to be
leading double lives in this in
stance -at one point conferring
with Trustees. at other times
acting as agitators.
As the crowd outside grew. the
threat of a physical take-over of
ihe building became more real. At
approximately 4:15 p.m.. the front
doors were stormed. the police
gave way and the building was
occupied. At the moment students
entered the building. the President
telephoned for help to the
Governor's office. The Governor
was in Washington and most State
oft ices were closed because of the
'onlederate Memorial Day
hIoliday.I
A limited number of highway
patrolmen and other security
people arrived at approximately
[ '.3 p.m. and took up station on the
second floor of the Administration
Btilding. With several hundred
people on the first floor. security
people decided not to attempt to
clear the building but rather to
protect the second floor and its
occupants. Meanwhile, on in
structions from the President, -a
telephone call was made reaf
tirming the need for the National
Gtard.
A tew moments after the arrival
of highway patrolmen. students
and others began vandalizing the
Treasurer's offices on the first
floor. Purniture was destroyed,
equipment damaged or wrecked,
records dest royed or scittered and
ob)scene words and phrases
scrawled over walls. Police felt
hey were powerless to stop the
vandals because of the limited
number of officers available.
There was no discernable effort on
t he part of the ma.jority of students
in the building to stop those who
were wrecking the offices.
livery at tempt by st udents,
facult y and administrators to cool
mat ters either inside the building
or at the front entrance was hooted
dtown. Students inside the building
continued to hurl a barrage of
invective at the police stationed on
the second f1oor.
Many of the students in the
building were demanding that Dr.
.lones speak with them. The
P'resident retfused because he
could not accept the principal
non-negotiable" demand offered
earlier 'amnest y for all defen
dtent s . ttinder the circumstances
he felt an appearance would be ". .
.an empt y gest ure" which would
only enflame the situation.
(In the second floor, Trustees.
administrators and police waited
'somewhat impatiently for the
airrival of the National Guard.
I )ownst airs. siutdents barricaded
bu 1 ilM
doors with furniture. One student
who,charged the stairs was struck
across the nose with a riot club and
arrested. Other students persisted
in making long distance telephone
calls from telephones in the
Treasurer'1 office.
Outside the building the crpwd
grew and several automobiles
parked in front of the building were
very severely damaged by the
onlookers. A small force of City
Police arrived on the scene and
these soon became involved in a
rock-throwing battle with students
' i his incident was seen by millions
on national television).
A rumor that students in the
building had tear gas prompted
ollicials to t urn off air conditioners
on ihe second floor. Rest rooms on
the first floor were deliberately
flooded. A bomb scare prompted
some student - marshals to
evacuate the building.
Inside and outside the building,
nearly everyone knew the National
Guard was on its way. When the
Guard finally did arrive (8:05
p.m.. students in the building
hast ily evacuated the -building and
t hese and onlookers moved over to
the Horseshoe while the Guard
look up positions immediately
behind the Administration
Ruilding.
By 8'30 p.m.. the Administration
Iluilding had been cleared of
everyone except security and
maintenance people and the
President lr. Jones went to -his
residence on campus at ap
proximately 9:IM p.m. Enroute the
police car in which he was riding
was hit by rocks.
After several warnings to the
shouting students - on the Hor
seshoe. the order was given to
clear the area with the use of tear
gas. Guardsmen moved in ranks
down the Horseshoe with a cloud of
iear gas in front of them. The
si udent s were dispersed.
Tear gas was also used by the
Guard on Green Street in .the
vicinity of Russell House which,
with the exception of the Post
Oflice and the cafeteria had been
closed. A considerable amount of
gas entered residence halls on the
Horseshoe, residence halls along
G;reen Street and in the Towers
complex. Tfhe latter condition
precipitated an orgy of rock and
hot ile throwing in that area which
lasted until the early hours of
Tfuesday.
Some students* claimed ex
cessive use of force by police.
Tlhere were several injuries and
much discomfort on both sides.
Tlhere were a number of arrests.
l)uring the night official
phot ographs t aken during the
Administration B4uilding take-over
were processed and studied for
hit ture arrest proceedings.
The President conferred with
ti niversit y officials until after
midnight and following a telephone
con versat ion with the Governor
'T'he Governor had returned from
Washington>. a curfew was an
nounced f or I I p.m.
'The previously prepared petition
calling for a special faculty
meet ing was act ivat ed through the
Secretary of the IFaculty.
Tuesday, May 12
TIhe Governor issued a
proclamation declaring a State of
I:me'rgency on campus. Non
t udent s w ere for bidden to enter
ding ta
the campus. meetings of more
ihan six people on cahpus were
torbidden, a W-N) p.m.-6:4) a.m.
curlew was established.
The President met with the
(overnor during the morning
hours. conferred by telephone with
residence hall leaders and
recorded a special message to
si udents which was broadcast over
the campus radio station and
repeated every hour.
A group of seventeen faculty met
i o prepare an agenda for the
special faculty meeting. Because
of the State of Emergency
regulations this and all other
meet ings planned for the day were
scheduled in off-campus locations.
The faculty met in the Town
Theatre.
D uring the meeting, the faculty
adopted three resolutions and six
proposals to help demonstrate -the
University's determination to
complete' the academic year
successfully.
Among its- resolutions, the
facult y affirmed continued support
ot '. . . the tenets -of academic
treedom as stated in the Student
Rules and Regulations"; con
demned violence or vandalism
within the University; and
declared ". . . its determination to
do everything possible to insure
ihat the University -remains open
and completes its normal
academic schedule."
Among the six proposals ad
vanced at the meeting, the faculty
urged each faculty member to set
aside a portion of classroom time
May 13 and 14 for a discussion of
t he present situation. It also urged
ihat faculty and students - alike
ut ilize every established means of
communication, supported the
e1.t,,bishm-nt .f - rumor control
center, approved the idea to -have
faculty student "rap" sessions in
residence halls, called on everyone
to' obey State- of Emergency
regulations and supported Dr.
.lones and others in their efforts to
resolve the crisis.
THE ULTIMATE
THS S HELST
THIS OF THENTAS.
Reduced Rates for stu
discount cards
Features 1-3-5-7-9
keover
In the evening, dissenting
st udents held a rally in Maxcy
Gregg Park orr campus. Par
iicipants in this affair then moved
to- the Statehouse. Five
representatives of the group met
wit h Ihe Governor but the meeting
was not fruitful, primarily because
ihe -tudents - presented non
negotiable demands to the
Governor which he did not accept.
With some students- urging
moderation and others angry, the
group left the Capitol and moved
toward the campus shortly before
the start of curfew.
While the rally was being held at
Maxcy Gregg Park and later at the
Sitatehouse, faculty volunteers had
entered every residence hall on
campus for pre-curfew "rap"
sessions with students. The Rumor
'ontrol Center went into operation
at Russell House and used the
facilities of the campus radio
station to separate fact from fic
iion for student listeners. Student
Government officers established a
command post -at the nearby
Sheraton Inn and attempted to
develop communications between
the residence halls and the
security command. post in the
Governor's office. However,
everyone involved realized before
the night was over that vom
munications badly needed
iightening.
IDuring the night and the early
hours of Wednesday, violence and
vandalism again erupted, par
iicularly in the areas of Bates
House and the corner of Main
Street and Devine Street where a
cluster of- residence halls is
located. Rocks and bottles were
thrown by students -and others,
windows were broken and a liberal
amount of tear gas was used.
There were a large number of
arrests on various charges in
UAuLAinAg %;UrAtw vAoaintA.
It should be noted, however, that
a substantial majority- of the
%t udent body observed the curfew
and other regulations imposed on
the campus by the State~ of
IKmergency proclamation.
EXPERIENCE
NEEKEND THAT YOU
KE A TRIP INTO THE
dents with