The Cavalier daily. :: Tuesday, May 20, 1969 :: University of Virginia Library

The faculty and students of Amherst College
have just experienced an extraordinary two
days. Our usual educational activities were
replaced by debate, discussion and meditation,
which have given shape to our beliefs about the
nature of higher education and the governance
of educational institutions.

It is clear that we have much to do to set
our own house in order. We are convinced, and
have shown during these days, that changes,
even fundamental ones, can take place without
physical duress.

It will require all our care and energy in the
months ahead to combine change with
continuity, to provide students with a real and
regular role in influencing their education and
the college's government, and to honor both
intellectual discipline and creativity.

We have as a college emerged from these two
days with a renewed sense of the urgency and
seriousness with which we must attend to our
primary purpose.

We have also as a college embraced a new
sense of urgency of another kind. We believe
that we must speak out to make clear that
much of the turmoil among young people and
among those who are dedicated to humane and
reasoned changes will continue.

It will continue until you and the other
political leaders of our country address more
effectively, massively, and persistently the
major social and foreign problems of our
society. Part of this turmoil in universities
derives from the distance separating the
American dream from the American reality.

Institutions dedicated to the nurture,
husbanding, and growth of critical intelligence,
and to inquiry into basic problems cannot but
open people's eyes to the shoddiness of many
aspects of our society.

In yesterday's New York Times it is
reported that five officers in your Cabinet
"seemed to agree that the disorder was caused
by a small minority of students."

Our conviction is that such a view is
seriously in error if it is taken to mean that no
legitimate and important reasons exist for the
anger and sense of impotence felt by many
students and faculty.

The pervasive and insistent disquiet on many
campuses throughout the nation indicates that
unrest results, not from a conspiracy by a few,
but from a shared sense that the nation has no
adequate plans for meeting the crises of our
society. To nae only one issue of special
concern to the students: since the Kerner
Commission's report, there has been no decisive
response to its recommendations.

We do not say that all the problems faced by
colleges and universities are a reflection of the
malaise of the larger society. That is not true.
But we do say that until political leadership
addresses itself to the major problems of our
society - the huge expenditure of national
resources for military purposes, the inequities
practiced by the present draft system, the
critical needs of America's 23,000,000 poor,
the unequal division of our life on racial issues
- until this happens, the concern and energy of
those who know the need for change will seek
outlets for their frustration.

We realize that in writing this letter we have
taken the unusual step of speaking publicly for
our community on pressing issues of the
moment. We do this out of an urgent concern
to question the widely held view that university
unrest is merely an internal problem, or at most
fomented by an outside influence.

If, however, this important element in
student unrest is understood, it would be
possible for you. Mr. President, to redirect
youthful energy toward those more idealistic,
creative and generous actions which reflect a
concern for others. Your influence can provide
that hope which encourages those visions to
which young men so gladly dedicate themselves,
and we will support those efforts.

I send this letter to you on behalf of an
overwhelming majority of Amherst students,
faculty, and administration who attended the
closing meeting of four days of inquiry tonight.
Copies of this letter with the signatures of all
those who wish to subscribe will follow as soon
as possible.