University of Virginia Library

Court Ousts Students
From ROTC Building

By Peter Shes and
Mike Gartlan
Cavalier Daily Staff Writers

More than 250 University students
occupying Maury Hall left the NROTC
building peacefully yesterday morning
after D. Alan Williams and local authorities
presented them with a court
injunction demanding their departure.

The injunction, issued by Circuit
Judge Lyttelton Waddell of Albemarle
County at the request of University
President Edgar F. Shannon, was delivered
to the jeering crowd sitting in the
NROTC wardroom just before 5 a.m.
yesterday.

Court officer Frank Grave, a University
security agent, haltingly read the
injunction to the students who frequently
broke into mocking rounds of applause and
laughter.

After leaving the occupied building, about
half the crowd marched to Carr's Hill where
they were met by Mrs. Shannon who requested
them to leave. Although a small segment of the
crowd began to taunt the President's wife, it
dispersed quickly.

It was the second visit to the presidential
home in seven hours. A crowd of about 1,200
marched to Carr's Hill from a spontaneous
demonstration at the Rotunda to protest the
killing of the four Kent State students Monday.

Present Issues

President Shannon and his wife met the
demonstrators who then read a telegram they
intended to send to President Nixon which
condemned the violence in Ohio and the
escalation of the Indochina War.

Mr. Shannon, in a noticeably tense response,
praised the students for their non-violence but
said he would have no further statement until
the morning.

As the students left Carr's Hill, a smaller
group broke off from the rest and began to
block traffic in front of the Rotunda. The
dissidents then left for Maury Hall where they
were met by David Morris and David Bowman,
College officers, among others.

The students tried to keep the demonstrators
from entering the building but fell back
after demonstration leader Tom Gardner
guaranteed that the sit-in would be policed by
the students.

About 50 YAF and ROTC members also
entered Maury Hall and, after joining in a
shouting match with the demonstrators,
proceeded to block the stairway upstairs in the
building. Presumably the second group was
guarding the "weapons stored upstairs."

Once inside, the demonstrators began to
discuss a list of demands to present to President
Shannon. The discussion, moderated by
Tommy Steele, revealed that only one third of
the students were willing to stay until the
police arrived and to be dragged away by
police.

Bud Ogle, former president of Student
Council, then made a plea for solidarity, saying
"I don't think solidarity is to stay here and get
busted. Real power is to effect change. There is
going to have to be a lot of persuading — that's
why I voted no against the bust."

The group of demonstrators then decided to
wait for further developments before making a
final decision. It was decided to recruit more
students to occupy the building.

Issue Injunction

At 3:20, Leo Keyser, Student Legal Advisor,
announced to the group that the administration
had decided to issue an injunction against them,
and that he had written it. Mr. Keyser said that
the administration had been given an
ultimatum, apparently by Gov. Holton, and
that all students must be out of the building or
state troopers would be called in. The students
then decided that when they were presented
with the injunction they would leave
peacefully.

D. Alan Williams and Robert Canevari came
to Maury Hall at 4:20 to tell the students
officially about the injunction and to inform
them of the consequences if they failed to
comply with the court order. Mr. Williams, who
made the statement, said that the injunction
named several students individually but that the
injunction would apply to all those connected
to the demonstration.

Effective Immediately

The injunction, which arrived as expected at
5, went into effect immediately following its
delivery and will "remain in force for a period
of 90 days unless sooner dissolved or
made permanent."

The court order decreed that the defendants
named and all others acting on their behalf be
enjoined from continuing their occupation of
Maury Hall, and from interfering with the
normal University activities throughout the
90-day period.

Thus, in effect, the University gave the
State, under Judge Waddell, the right to take
any action it deemed appropriate if further
disturbances arose.

Photograph By Andy Stickney

D. Alan Williams Explains Court Order To Occupying Students.