UNM Strike Documentary, Part I

jenny in our relations weeks been killed you can the pain

a may nineteen seventy six days of protests at the university of new mexico a special presentation of k u n and news at our

data on wednesday april twenty nine nineteen seventy president nixon announced that he had already ordered us troops to invade cambodia at the request of the cambodian government by monday may fourth the ohio national guard had killed four students and injured eleven others at kent state university during demonstrations against us involvement in cambodia by the following thursday more than three hundred universities and colleges around the nation were on strike against the indochinese war and the atrocities against at the national guard marched on more than forty campuses to restore order the following is the story of what took place at the university of new mexico during those few days of national turbulence in may nineteen seventy neely

though the university of new mexico is only one of many universities on strike what happened here was unique in two ways first it was one of few universities during the strike where students were in nearby the national guard in fact it was the first time the national guard has ever been used to quell a campus disturbance at the university of new mexico secondly the university remained virtually open and in student control despite administrative attempts to close it down and send the students haul it is

the university of new mexico is located in albuquerque population three hundred fifty six thousand the largest city in the state the campus of fifteen thousand students has always been relatively quiet and like columbia and berkeley university has never been very fertile ground for radical student movements if anything the campus has always been a bit backward due largely to the apathy of the student body many of whom seemed destined to enter the mainstream of middle america protest issues have never gotten more than a small minority of students upset enough to get involved just why the sudden us involvement in cambodia and the great tragedy of kent state captured the emotions and anger of so many students at the university of new mexico no one can really say it is

for the university of new mexico it all began on monday may fourth the day for students at kent state were gunned down by the national guard that evening after a day of frustration and anger three hundred students gathered at the university to hear a scheduled speech by actress jane fonda her first before a university audience in her speech she called for quote non violent and vigorous protest of nixon's cambodian policy and an end to the bombing of north vietnamese villagers unquote ms fonda said she quote could no longer live in europe as an american trying to defend america unquote this final appeal to the audience for in her words total involvement for peace quote let the violence stay with those who are violent and let them hang forward or less thought i had finished several members of the audience took over the microphone and called for a strike and a boycott of classes to protest against eight killings the meeting then

suddenly became a strike organizing committee the assembled students voted to strike beginning on wednesday may the sixth three makeshift demands were drawn up to be presented to university in mexico president for all eddie the group demanded more scholarships for indian students letters of protest from dr heady against american involvement in cambodia and similar letters protesting the atrocities at kent state when some students demanded the removal our pc from the campus has found appealed for nonviolence quote we must act non violently she said asked by reporters whether she felt nonviolence to work this time to reply i don't need money

about three hundred students than march to president kennedy's home to resent him with their list of demands but dr heady chose not to appear the crowd gradually broke up to make plans through the night for the strike small heated discussions about cambodia and kent state took place all over the campus throughout the night these days students arriving for classes on tuesday morning stared in disbelief at the word strikes crawled on sidewalks in buildings around the campus to many this was the first they had heard of the rumblings of discontent at the university of new

mexico by seven thirty am leaflets were already being distributed to inform people of plans for the strike the strike began to gather momentum in many classes discussions about cambodia kent state and the strike were taking place throughout the morning department meetings are being called for the purpose of attracting statements in deciding whether or not to participate directly in the strike by eleven am word had been received at the department of educational foundations of the school of education had decided to join the strike on wednesday by nightfall departments of the university it's a biology geology psychology and the college's of engineering and pharmacy had either voted to strike is a group or had issued statements expressing support for the strike and its goals but leaving the decision of whether or not to strike up to the individual professors the students at the school are boycotting classes for the day in order to draft a statement of concern to the office of the us attorney victor are ortega the statement said in part with the dreadful sense of urgency

we submit that it is time for all of us to consider carefully the future that we would have for our nation is time to realize that unlawful acts and under oppression are not the answers to our affliction these days but one thirty pm a few minutes after associated student body president erik nelson was sworn into office the news conference was held to issue a statement concerning the proposed strike the statement said in part americans have long endured a fruitless war in southeast asia now that war is spreading with alarming rapidity students at home and once again stood up and said you know with anti war marches rallies and demonstrations

this time however their cries of operation and not with bullets which have looked for dead and an undetermined number injured the state also called for three current course of action it proposed that new mexico adopt a law similar to one which was recently passed by the massachusetts state legislature declined that no citizen of the commonwealth of massachusetts could be drafted to fight in any undeclared war it urged the president though it in the university board of regents while president nixon to express their condemnation of the cambodian action and the tragedy at kent state and lastly it called for the university to refuse to pay the ten percent federal telephone tax which is designed to provide revenue for the war effort that afternoon doctor hey began to respond to student demands in an apparent effort to show students that he was not against what they were advocating doctor had he sent a telegram to president nixon

university that's right at the same time dr henry declared a day of mourning on wednesday in honor of the kent state for that was the official response of the university administration meanwhile the newly elected student senate met in emergency session among the actions that took one authorization to fly the american flag at the university at half mast until saturday morning and for the dead students at kent state and an allocation for buses to take students from the university to the republican governors conference in santa fe and friday may

eight the actions taken by the state and senate were indicative of the early direction the strike was to take the fly became the center of controversy by noon tuesday before the student senate action crowd had gathered around the flight on the university campus and were dispiriting among themselves over whether or not to lower it to half mast following the student senate meeting president already authorized a flight to be flown at half mast every day until noon through friday the governors' conference became a focal point for strike action as a way of publicizing the demands of the nation's students on march was being planned to interrupt a breakfast for the governor's scheduled for friday in albuquerque civic auditorium it was started interrupting the governors' breakfast would give national recognition to the generals didn't strike meanwhile toll was beginning to the flag following the student senate meeting associated student body vice president franklin met with students gathered at the

flight call and inform them of the students in its decision thank you the flight was then lowered but was raised again to form asked by a group of anti strikers shortly afterwards at five pm the campus police seeing the potential trouble over the flag remove it from the paul meanwhile it was learned that vice president agnew had cancelled his scheduled appearance at the national republican governors conference its cancellation was that the lawyer for the conference president nixon had cancelled his appearance a few days earlier and many of

the governor's themselves had canceled following the outbreak of the general student strike in addition to the academic departments which are decided to participate in the strike a group of physical plant workers had voted to stay off their jobs until the strike was resolved the workers were involved in an attempt to unionize themselves to end collective bargaining rights their participation in the strike increased the perspective and scope of the strike demands to include their demand for collective bargaining as evening approached plans are being made for a strike rally to make some decisions about strike activities they're well a scheduled to begin at eight pm didn't get underway until ten thirty due to an incredibly long speech by john kenneth galbraith as the restless students sat and listened to congress criticized president nixon for his cambodian policy and student radicals for their patients with what color returned the democratic process when the rally finally got underway volunteers stepped forward to actors' strike marshals and medic units were organized to deal with

emergency problems discussion been focused upon what to do next the pope yeah yeah the

pumpkin mm hmm i'm renee montagne it's big thank

you thank you it's better

now mm hmm

while all this was going on workers received governor cargo had placed the national guard on standby alert all discussion turned immediately to the national guard and i have to see and what to do about each the task of organizing a strike was made a good deal from the threat of national guard action bickering subsided has problems arose requiring serious attention on the part of those students involved in the strike that really broke up with the bulk of students meeting in small groups to do a concrete planning while about three hundred others decided to march to the oust dc building and occupied good morning

it's b that alone

forty five pm while two hundred fifty students waited outside about seventy five others entered the era dc building through an open door and began to thaw the small lobby the only damage done during the student's occupation of the building a chord with the first wave of students to enter at some file cabinets overturned and the door was kicked in our dc records however were not disturbed associated student body president erik nelson ideology see buildings shortly after it was occupied he attempted to get those inside the building to leave before violence erupted the occupiers voted to remain in the building so reinforcements to strike marshals are posted near the building along with medical and tears to ensure the safety of the students involved k u n a master nelson shortly afterwards what the university administration's response to the occupation would be and the pain is

being weak nelson said he had been and telephone contact with president kennedy during the evening the president had assured him the peaceful picketing in connection with stryker activities would be appropriate but that interference from students wanting to attend class with nothing governor david cargo in turn had been in contact with president heady during the evening he called to inquire what it knew of the rt see building situation and he recalled that some mention was made at the time of the national guard i believe he brought it up and he said i don't think i did about conditions under which the guy really is that ewan and he hoped it would not be a sister to use the guard had he continued and if it was necessary to guard would only be brought to the campus to be used for traffic control to control entrances and exits freeing the other officers for use on the campus only integrate emergency and he said with a guard be used on campus i said i hope they wouldn't be used at all i said

i hope you understand the stance of the students in the administration about the use of the national guard at midnight cairo told the press i do not anticipate the guardsmen and the state police will go on the campus unless there is a real emergency they won't do anything about moving them from the building until morning that's right that's right yes

it is still being occupiers of the otc building spent most of the night an animated discussion about the war the military industrial complex and the strike in general order has received of those remaining in the building at dawn would definitely be arrested at five three am strike medics assembled near the otc building to prepare for a violent as a result of arrests with the arrival of

newsmen an impromptu news conference was held the students read a statement to the rest explaining the reasons for the occupation they said their primaries was to protest american military involvement in southeast asia and especially the unwarranted invasion of cambodia the secondary reason they said was a protest all in a non violent manner as promised the police arrived at dawn to clear the building about twenty were in uniform campus policeman and approximately one hundred other person's were gathered to watch the arrests but were surprised to see the students file peacefully out of the building and disappear into the crowd it's

on meanwhile a meeting was underway in the student union building to prepare for the picket lines which room to be the focus of the day strike activities it was agreed that no buildings at the blockaded norwood students wishing to attend classes be prevented from doing so as it turned out no coalition was needed to make the boycott and glasses effective since many classes had already been called off by individual professors by wednesday evening only thirty percent of schedule classes had actually been held and in most of these attendance was quite low at seven am astride fly during the similar clenched fist was discovered flying from the fly ball boy stroke had been cut by nine am the fly ball was again surrounded by strikers an anti strikers debating the presence of the strike flag how to remove it and whether the american flag won again atop its perch should be flown at half or formats

in the meantime the strikers formed lines of the major entrances to the university as the day progressed their numbers which were small at first swirled until it became impossible for vehicles to travel through the picket lines those who tried to run the picket lines were met by hundreds of angry students several of the including automobiles windows were smashed by the first of demonstrators in order to avoid further confrontations between strikers and automobiles distance are at the barricades and cordoned off the streets back at the flight all the crowds have grown an angry debate continued at eleven am a city fire truck arrived to remove the strike flight from nepal when i was down the flight was ceremoniously run by an ai strikers and the american flag again raised the form asked by the campus police this action by the campus police obviously only increased the hostility of the crowd and shortly thereafter un and vice president gerald lavender entered the crowd in order the campus police to lower the flag again to half mast to avert violence but the fly est at half mast only for a short time

at noon president eddy ordered the flag race of falstaff in accordance with his earlier instructions dr lavender was given the task of ensuring that the flag was raised shortly afterwards kaylan and spoke to lavender about what was happening i'm crying so many things things with it

there's been a pause because it's been shrinking sinking creek it's by the peak

has become raising the flight before mass did not end the matter by this time participants on both sides of the issue are beginning to feel that something ought to be done is human president erik nelson appeared at the fly ball to calm the various factions win this they'll be removed the fighting to get to the campus police station nelson requested from mr karan set of campus security the two or three campus policeman be sent to the fly ball to prevent any violence however no police were sent fifteen minutes later a group of anti strikers obtain the flight from campus police and raised it again to form asked on the fly ball a challenge is issued that anyone who wanted to fly and at half mast was welcomed to try and do so known took up the challenge until almost two hours later when a group of black students declared their intention to lower the flag once again this is what took place

i mean i mean jenny then the violence broke loose

but hhs in hand when one of the students reached up to cut the rope with a cardboard box cutter a fight ensued in which three students were caught at the time it was claimed that they had been stabbed later in the day warrants were issued for the arrest of six of the students involved in the fight they were charged with aggravated assault but a later investigation revealed that the injuries were accidental and all charges against the six were dropped injured students were taken that william county medical center and were treated for minor lacerations the incident at the flight boarded the university administration the opportunity it had been waiting for a meeting of approximately six hundred students have been called in the anthropology lecture all to prevent

dr martin flight from getting an exam to the students in his biology class while the meeting was in progress where it was received that president haiti in collaboration with governor cargo had close view of them until monday male lover i did that are capped and by law the on campus and a lot of iraqis and that i knew

and turned i'll always be here probably as possible and after cooperation and listen but the caption the captioned campaigns and danes are home and that the students attending the meeting reacted with predictable anger at his announcement

it was felt that haiti's closure of the university was nearly an attempt on the part of the university administration to co opt the momentum of the strike it was generally agreed that the strike should continue whether or not the schools closed in order to place more control over the students during the university closure the administration placed an eight pm curfew on women students residing in dormitories on the campus this measure was no more than a week gesture however because striking women students avoid the curator is entirely the anthropology lecture hall meeting broke up with the students marching en masse to the mall when it was decided to occupy the student union building since it was the best place to meet while classes or closed you and i'm vice president travels dad who had been standing silently to one side listening to the progress of meeting rosa the podium and pleaded with the students to leave the campus for as he said the safety of us all he was ignored and students began to stream into the union inside union officials tried to close the building but were unable to persuade anyone to leave the strike meeting was

continued inside the building the strikers are various speakers including asu interim president erik nelson among the speakers was george mcgill a law student who gave his reasons for going on strike and this it is that's right

right right please while this meeting was still in progress the second violent incident of that day took place at the

barricades the barricades had been erected at stanford and central to block any traffic at the university's main entrance at approximately five thirty pm one william least own a student drove his volkswagen into the barricades the impact past one student into the air and inflicted minor injuries upon three others through the stones are treated and released at a local hospital that evening the injured students were identified as michael montgomery william jefferson martin maguire and edward williams k u and m was at the scene i had i was in school with a barricade and sanford and son joe has been around here since then one man here to grand bargain ending down is being attended by students assembled service and surveillance because

their lives russia's heard the voices of the car and solidify and you're as serious an old car he was here on the corner and just three years ago there's concussion is probably gone are just completely rid of the great businesspeople that the pentagon it wasn't a major hit commissioners thousand concussions later that evening the driver of the hitman vehicle william stone turned himself in albuquerque police no charges were filed or

citations issued according to lieutenant bob stover was acting station commander at the time stone was released as attorney and to date no charges have been lodged against own despite numerous attempts to do so by members of the un and practical law program i'm back inside this of the occupation continued as the building's food supplies were opened and distributed since donated food money and later to keep the site running all night outside close to one thousand strikers line central avenue at the barricades waiting peace signs at passing motorists and yelling honk for peace in the intersection it

saves money it is today nice nice things notwithstanding the incident that afternoon

students man the barricades throughout the night and an atmosphere of peace prevailed over the gathering at eight pm dr trout also announced that the student union building would remain open legally all night for the use of the students and the sub ballroom a meeting was taking place to discuss plans for a peaceful protest of the republican governors conference meanwhile austin for making plans for a meeting with governor cargo and santa fe the next morning at age thirty pm the sub was temporarily evacuated because of a phony bomb threat the building was purposely searched and students returned to their activities without incident at closing time no attempt was made to remove the students from the subway the decision not to take action was made at a university officials confirmed with major hoover wimberly head of state police intelligence was of the opinion that the building was in no danger state police chief martino said he thought no action would be taken until the next monday the hill said in his words we were in favor of that because the last thing i wanted to do was to have to remove anybody by force

it's b soldiers today there's a narrative that they do

germany and early thursday morning governors of all fifty states were called to washington by president nixon for a special conference conference was called to discuss the strike actions and demonstrations which are taking place nationwide at ten am elected officials of gsa asu element law students met with governor cargo in santa fe fifteen students were present including erik nelson bill perkins and don't look at it

the group talked with cargo for half an hour discussing plans for a group of un and students being present at the republican governors conference during the meetings the students asked cargo about the awarding of the national guard cargo assured students that he could not foresee the use of national guard troops at you imam the establishment of a liaison between governor's office and you and was discussed but nothing definite was set up at eleven am professor walker un's law school met with president harry and asked him to make an immediate statement regarding our pc and you won and defense contracts and he told walker to see vice president wells that about our dc and vice presidents we're about the defense contracts walker then asked it to go over to the southern take a look at what was being done there according to walker and he said he didn't have time to walk over to the cell president having our dinner i say had no time and he said quote i saw no purpose and going in that i did not intend to discuss or negotiate about these matters well the sub was

occupied unquote while this is taking place five black students charged with aggravated assault in connection with the flight home away were arraigned before judge o'toole later that afternoon the fire appeared before a grand jury and all were indicted is you and senator barbara brown made a statement concerning the five men who are indicted bunny ears a mace exam just no student senator attended to lower the flag to half mast so he was attacking was white male this attack sam kass and had two front teeth knocked out and it was busted every time right now attacks and gets in a fight broke out between black males in washington wrapped in the flag pole in city and white male students for my

students are reportedly cannot stand this morning i mean last night i was informed that for black students have been arrested and two more have been saw end up applying to the paper statement i that's three that's three students have been arrested and two were still inside calling because in this case at eleven forty five it was learned that the republican governors conference had been canceled due to the unrest in anger which had gripped campuses across the nation following the invasion of tampa yet two o'clock so strike really taking place on the mall during a rally erik nilsson talk about the meeting with cargo and some of the

goals of the strike ecology it is both yeah yeah

jesus it can be it's boring immigration

thank you it's not purchase political

power the barricades at stanford in central were still up with a small number of students are manning the campuses go a quiet meanwhile negotiations are taking place between students and faculty with president heady also present it was agreed that the students would leave the cell before morning on friday well they were our december be inspected by un officials after the inspections completed the stones were be allowed back inside at six pm a meeting of the union workers held there were not enough student members present to make a quorum official board rejected a proposal to allow the sub to remain open twenty four hours a day with students performing necessary maintenance including functions under the supervision of one professional staff member unaware the questionable constitutionality of the meeting when this decision was reached president and he stated that he considered the union war decision valid and binding thursday evening su an unpleasant nelson made this statement concerning the union board meeting clear that

many many buildings pryor nelson statement doctor heady of comment on the situation in the student union building in a phone conversation and kalan and those had he was asked how he intended to handle the situation please with this

as bell

he has at seven pm eric nelson held a news conference at the downtown a motel the conferences arranged by political science professors kleiman gilbert there were about twenty local newsman present at the conference are nelson made the following statement this is true it is

graduation graduation i'm meeting took place in this obama eight pm in which erik nilsson explain the idea of a free university to the students during that meeting the goals of the stryker also discuss meanwhile the border regions known informally in a conference call and decided that the occupation of the south was illegal they sighted that the building should be vacated by thirty am on friday to return the sub too business as usual the regents decided to seek the head of the courts but petitioning the court for a temporary restraining order and for an injunction according to regents president artur ortego the action was to be accomplished by the campus police and by the city police from ten pm to midnight a gsa meeting was held the damage is a president bill perkins they discuss campus events and

eric nelson's for university proposal during the meeting three resolutions were passed by those present the first was a combination of the cambodian invasion and a demand for an end to the war in southeast asia the second call for the reopening of you and i am on monday may eleventh with increased options for the students to allow them to work for peace the resolution stated that when your city reopened gsa would give its services and money to further the cause to end the war and to make the academic community more effective since the

university of new mexico's a special presentation again on the news and things like that while schmeichel in our next segment we will deal with the events of friday mediate and there's a question on the campus of the university of new mexico now at he's been it's

been nice eh yeah