University of Virginia Library

Students Hold Rally Today;
Plan Meetings, Workshops

By Bryan DeLaney
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Photo By David Hunt

Some 250 Students Rallied Around Rotunda Yesterday

They Mel To Discuss Planned Activities On Civil Liberties Day

At what was previewed as a "mass
rally" at the Rotunda yesterday some
200 to 250 students voiced support for
Student Council's proclaiming today as
Civil Liberties Action Day and began
planning the meeting and workshops to
begin today at 1 p.m.

At approximately 3 p.m. Student
Council President Kevin Mannix cancelled
the installation of a public address system
and requested the small but growing
crowd to gather on the bottom steps of
the Rotunda.

The main purpose of the rally as
outlined by Mr. Mannix was to plan the
activities for Civil Liberties Action Day, to
begin passing around a petition calling for a
Federal grand jury investigation of the Kent
State indictments and to set up and begin a
fund drive for the defense of the Kent State
students.

Along with suggestions that students begin
wearing their University identification cards
around their necks to illustrate that students
are the "new niggers" and are being treated as
second class citizens, it was decided that a
meeting would be held today on the street side
of the Rotunda at 1 p.m. This meeting or rally
is intended to be very brief in order that those
attending may break up into smaller workshops
to discuss civil liberties and the problems arising
from and solutions to what some termed as
repression.

These workshops will hopefully be led by
law students and faculty members and are open
to everyone. In addition to these, the Union of
University Students announced to those present
that it was holding a meeting last night where
faculty members would not come to tell
students what they could do and where the
more active aspects of anti-repression were to
be discussed.

Several times during the meeting Tom
Gardner attempted to shift the emphasis away
from Kent State and to focus it on local
problems of "repression" and the arrest and
confinement of Tom Doran specifically. Mr.
Gardner stated. "The idea that there is no
movement here, no repression here, and that it
is all at Kent State is wrong."

He further pointed out that Mr. Doran's
arrest and attempts during last spring's strike by
people such as Charles Whitebread, law
professor and speaker during a spring rally, to
separate radicals from the main student body,
were just some examples of the repression in
Charlottesville and in the University. Mr.
Gardner said, "The way to fight repression is to
fight it where we get it, here."

Clarified Doran Case

Mr. Gardner's ideas received considerable
support from graduate student Bill Olson who
offered a clarification of the entire Doran case
for the meeting.

When discussion of the fund drive arose it

was decided the money would first be used on a
local level, that is to provide bail and defense
funds for Mr. Doran, and after that 10 per cent
of the remaining funds should be sent to Kent
State along with a telegram of solidarity. All
donations would go into the Charlottesville Bail
Fund.

Petition Distributed

The petition presently being distributed by
the Council states, "We, the undersigned,
request that U.S. Attorney General John
Mitchell impanel a Federal Grand Jury to
investigate the indictments arising out of the
Kent State incidents of spring, 1970." Mr.
Mannix stated that copied of the signed
petitions would be presented to Governor
Linwood Holton at Saturday's football game.
The original will be sent to Mr. Mitchell.

To conclude the meeting students were
given petitions to be taken around to the
dormitory and fraternity areas and assignments
were made so that tables could be manned
today for the fund drive.