University of Virginia Library

'Square Center' Opens In California,
Publishes Magazine, Prints Graphics

By Stefan Lopatkiewicz
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

"I am a Square. The silent majority
in many schools are Square,
not to mention most adults in the
world outside."

With these words, Ed Butler,
editor of a new magazine, the
"Westwood Village Square," introduces
himself and the "Square
Movement."

The new movement has been
labelled as one uniting the moralities
of Ronald Reagan and
George Romney, but Mr. Butler
describes it as a banding together,
in the face of today's "increasing
challenges and opportunities,"
of a heretofore voiceless majority
of individuals dissatisfied with
both the stagnant status quo and
the irresponsible answer of the
hippies.

"Squares are idealists," he says,
who "feel that materialism is a
major error of both The Establishment
and its enemies."

The author of a forthcoming
book, "Revolution Is My Profession,"
Mr. Butler asserts that
"Squares" are committed to the
expansion of the mind with
creative, new ideas, not drugs,
and that their sentiments are
gaining increasing popularity
throughout the country.

"Square Center"

Recently, a "Square Center"
was set up in California's Westwood
Village ("In UCLA's front
yard"), to provide a forum of
media and products for the
movement.

Mr. Butler's square-shaped
"Square" magazine, a publication
of the center, is designed to articulate
the movement's ideas on
art, politics, and culture.

The first issue, published
March 18 of this year, features
a copyrighted article suggesting
that Vietnamese Communists are
behind much of the violence that
has disrupted American campuses
and cities. The article identifies
Jerry Palmer of the UCLA Vietnam
Day Committee, and a leader
of last year's June 23 rioting
in Los Angeles, as the addressee
of many letters from Hanoi.

Mr. Butler, 33, states that genuine,
non-Communist opponents
of the Vietnam War should be
made aware of the fact that elements
of the anti-war movement
have been captured by Communist
sympathizers so that they
can "cleanse their ranks of red-fascist
elements."

The editor of "Square" credits
Patrick J. Fawley, an industrialist
who has sponsored such TV programs
as "Up With People" and
"Hitler In Havana," with the
foresight and support necessary
to make the magazine possible.

Graphic Symbolism

Besides publishing its magazine,
"Square Center" houses a
company, SquareOptics, whose
products are intended to show
the graphic side of the new movement
through posters, bumper-stickers,
and buttons. The Cubic
Inch, a tiny store made from a
converted elevator on the "Square
Center" patio, is the sales headquarters
for SquareOptics products.

"Square" art director Hank
Compagnon dismisses squabbles
between so-called "Right" and
"Left" forces as "not related in
reality today," and replaces them
with a modern battle between
"Tyrannisers (Nazis, Communists,
KKK, etc.)" and all those who
oppose them ("Squares").

One of his posters concerning
the Vietnam War denotes the
"path of surrender" as the old
nuclear disarmament symbol
while the "path to victory" is
formed by "squaring" the circle,
with its upward lines forming a
"V for Victory."

A related SquareOptics product,
the "mini poster," is a four
inch square label with a gummed
back which can be handily applied
to anything. Mini posters
graphically expound such ideas as
"Tyranny Divides" and, concerning

drugs, "Users Are Losers."

Completing the Cubic Inch's
inventory, a colorful SquareOptics
bumper-sticker illustrates
"Black plus White divided by
Red equals Riot," while the latest
and best-selling "Square" button
cries "Remember the Pueblo!"