University of Virginia Library

Misdirected Energies

Anyone could have mistaken yesterday's
so-called "mass tally" for a photographers'
convention as few more than 150 students
gathered on the north side of the Rotunda to
hear speakers blast the indictments handed
down by the Ohio grand jury in connection
with last May's violence there. Student
Council, or rather a majority of its members,
wants to mobilize the students and faculty of
the University in protest against these Kent
State indictments.

We would like to applaud their objectives,
but question their means. At a special
meeting of the Council Wednesday night. Ken
Lewis, a representative from the College,
introduced the successful motion which called
for participation in a National Civil
Liberties Action Day today. The motion
continued that the Council should: "1. Solicit
signatures for a petition calling for a federal
grand jury investigation of the indictment. 2.
Collect money for the defense of the indicted
students and faculty members and 3. Call for
a mass meeting Thursday to plan for
workshops, meetings, and speakers on
Friday."

The first two proposals seem to us
reasonable, but the third, as evidenced by
yesterday's sparse attendance, is not
commensurate with the cause. In fact, it does
little to help it. If, every time there is a
controversy on the national scene, the
Student Council resorts to "mass meetings"
and "protest demonstrations," they will soon
lose meaningful support for crises of a more
significant nature.

Certainly the action of the Ohio grand jury
appears to be totally unjustifiable, especially
in the face of their decisions of the past two
weeks which absolved the National Guard
from all blame for last spring's senseless
killings. The grand jury's refusal to place any
of the blame for the shootings on the
National Guard, yet to indict students and
faculty seems to us to be a sanction for future
unwarranted murderous action by police and
troops involved in campus disturbances.

We agree with the Council that these
indictments should be promptly investigated
by a Federal Grand Jury. We hope that
students and faculty will contribute, as they
are able, to the bail funds of the indicted at
Kent State. We do second Mike Cohen,
representative from the School of Law, that
there should be no support for any coercion
of the judicial process, nor any moratorium or
the cancelling of classes.

A pitifully poor turnout, such as the one
at yesterday's rally, does more harm to a
cause than good. We believe that a large
number of students and faculty here would be
willing to sign a petition calling for an
investigation of the Ohio incidents, but
that a majority of the students think the
Student Council is far overstating the case by
calling for mass rallies and the like.

Last May it was obvious that students were
deeply disturbed by the killings at Kent State
and the widening of the Indochina war, and
that mass rallies and demonstrations to
protest these events would draw large
frustrated numbers of members of the
University community. Student Council
hardly led at that time. They should assert
their power and leadership in the future if we
are faced with a similar situation and not
allow a hodge-podge of factions to resort to
mob tactics, but clearly this is neither the
cause nor the time.

If members of Council continue in this
manner, they will only discredit themselves
and lose any semblance of influence they now
have. They will be deservingly criticized for
either being unable to read the political
winds, or for being rabble rousers less
concerned with constructive results, than with
sparking controversial confrontations which
put the spotlight of notoriety on themselves.