University of Virginia Library

'Northern Students More Violent And Successful'

Success Of Buffalo Student Activists
Caused By Liberal Administration

By Jay Steer

—ed.

Not only are student activists at
Northern Universities more violent,
but they are also more successful.
However their apparent success is
not due to violence, but rather to a
liberal administration, experience at
one Upstate New York university
last month has shown.

At state-operated University of
Buffalo, this reporter encountered
an exercise in the politics of
"confrontation" during just-completed
spring break. Student activists
occupied the office of President
Martin Meyerson in Hayes
Hall, U.B.'s main administration
building, on Wednesday, March 19,
one week after the University
Student Coalition staged its unsuccessful
motorcade to Richmond.

Student Violence

Students broke windows, and
disrupted administrative activities
for a 15 hour period. A violent
clash with Buffalo police was
averted due to faculty mediation

between militant students and angered
administration.

The focus of concern during the
student occupation, according to
Spectrum, student newspaper at the
University of Buffalo, was the
sentencing of local resident Bruce
Beyers to a three-year prison term
for assaulting a federal officer in
connection with a draft evasion
charge. Another factor leading to
the confrontation was the arrest of
seven. University of Buffalo students
for burning in effigy Judge
John T. Curtin, who had sentenced
Mr. Beyers.

Non-negotiable Demands

While the students were occupying
Hayes Hall, they presented
President Meyerson a list of five
non-negotiable demands which
were to be met before the students
would leave the building. Meanwhile,
President Meyerson obtained
a Supreme Court show-cause order
which was served at daylight on the
following day. The militant students
evacuated peacefully the next
morning upon receipt of this order.

The demands of the Buffalo
student activists were: 1 - abolition
of ROTC; 2 - amnesty for
agitators; 3 - fully integrated
construction crews on all new U.B.
construction; 4 - further admission
of minorities; and 5 - an end to all
U.B. sponsored defense contracts.

President's Response

It is worthwhile to note that
demands 3 and 4 are similar to
those submitted to President Shannon
recently by the Student Coalition.
But this is where the similarity
ends, because U.B. President Meyerson
responded in a meaningful
manner to every demand:

1 - In regard to ROTC, Mr.
Meyerson reported to the students
that the faculty senate was hard at
work making ROTC non-credit-bearing.
He said that the results
would be out before next year.

2 - Responding to the amnesty
for agitators demand, Mr. Meyerson
said that he believed amnesty could
be granted for occupants of Hayes
Hall, unless serious damage or theft
had occurred.

3 - On the integrated construction
crews demanded, Mr. Meyerson
seemed extremely sympathetic
to the students. In fact, he ordered
all construction by private contractors
to halt until construction
crews were fully integrated. (Two
weeks after this announcement, a
compromise agreement was reached
between Labor Unions and University
officials so that progress on the
new buildings could continue.)

It was generally admitted by the
newspapers in Buffalo and by
others that this student demand
was highly successful. Governor of
New York Nelson Rockefeller,
came to Buffalo and publicly
supported this stand by the university
students. Both Buffalo newspapers
supported this demand,
along with all elements of the
substantial black community in
Buffalo.

4 - Concerning the further
admission of minorities, President
Meyerson reported that 800 students
from minority groups had
been accepted at the University of
Buffalo for the forthcoming year.
This roughly equals 15% of the
freshman class.

5 - The defense contracts issue
proved troublesome. Mr. Meyerson
said that he favored ending defense
contracts on campus, but said he
could not abolish the contracts now
effective.

As everyone at the University of
Virginia is aware, when President
Edgar Shannon was presented with
similar, even less demanding demands,
not only did he wait a week
before responding, but also he took
a position which many people
described as "hedging."

Specifically, when one compares
the results of demands 3 and 4 by
Buffalo students and the results of
the student coalition demands for
better pay for University employees
and further admission of minority
groups the differences become
apparent.

Sympathetic Administration

Many observers of the entire
course of the demonstrations at
once inactive U.B. could not help
but note that the administration
was sympathetic to the students.
Many of the more reactionary
Buffalo citizens were outraged by
the willingness of Berkeley-trained
Meyerson to talk to the students.
But more realistic observers saw
that Mr. Meyerson averted further
violence through his dialogue.

The Buffalo Evening News, in its
lead editorial on Thursday, March
19 said "had Mr. Meyerson acted
more precipitately, had he called in
the police to enforce his very first
"ultimatum" instead of continuing
his patient adherence to campus
due process and discussion until
this morning, there could well have
been violence with the campus far
more bitterly divided today than it
is.

'Really Concerned'

One more aspect of the whole
affair is worthy of note. A staff
member of the Spectrum felt that
the people that were the loudest
protesters and the fiercest
antagonizers of the police betrayed
the rest of the "really concerned"
students.

He explained that he personally
could not stand the leader of the
whole thing. He said that this
student was a publicity seeker and
almost provoked a confrontation
with the police on an insignificant
issue.

The unidentified newsman also
said that the occupation of Hayes
Hall "proved nothing. Everything
that we wanted and got, we could
have gotten without the
demonstration. It seemed in
Buffalo that the whole thing was
just a show."

It will be very interesting to see
just what will happen on the shores
of Lake Eric in the next couple of
weeks.