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From Labor Action, Vol. 14 No. 22, 29 May 1950, p. 7.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
MADISON, Wis., May 19 – A minor explosion occurred on the University of Wisconsin campus at the annual federal inspection of the ROTC on May 11.
High brass of the army, navy, air force and marine corps snapped to review attention. The band played briskly. Two thousand members of the Reserve Officers Training Corps stood ready to march on signal at Camp Randall.
At this point a group of 20 student pickets marched past the astonished military officers. They carried signs which read: Militarism Is Un-American,” “Is Compulsory ROTC Democratic?” “Student Body Voted 2–1 Against ROTC.” “No A-Bombs or Molotov Cocktails.”
After they had walked past the reviewing stand the university police pounced upon the pickets. The following is an excerpt from the student newspaper, the Daily Cardinal:
“They [the police! slammed one of the students against a wall. They grabbed one of the girls by the arm and almost sent her sprawling on the cinders. They shoved two of the picketers in front of a loaded cannon while the cannoneer frantically warned of danger.”
When Hammersley, chief of the university police, was asked what regulations were being violated, he answered, "I am the law, I make the rules.” The attitude of the police is evident from the statement made to the pickets as they were lined up, “Now we'll have our own army ... line up over there.”
There was an attempt to label the demonstration Communist-in-spired. But the claim did not stick. It Was an undertaking which was not sponsored by any group but by individuals of diverse ideas and convictions.
In unprecedented action the board of regents publicly apologized to the military and ordered a complete investigation of the episode.
All manner of coercive pressure and means of intimidation were used on the students. The administration made no formal charges. But the University Conduct Committee. which is holding hearings, threatened disciplinary action.
Star-chamber methods were being employed by the hearing committee, was the charge made by John Diehl, law school student and counsel for the students. He said: “Students are directed to appear before the committee upon receipt of special-delivery letters with no specific charges being filed against them.”
The university administration takes the stand that the demonstration embarrassed guests of the university and was in poor taste. The conservative Wisconsin State Journal, backing up the administration, wrote the following in an editorial:
“Civil liberties have nothing to do with the case.
“Nor has the argument over compulsory military training which the paraders were protesting.
“The protestors never have been denied a hall of their own choosing. They could and should protest about compulsory military training all they want to – in the right places.
“But they barged into someone else’s party with obvious design of embarrassing it if not breaking it up.
“That is an act of boors and ruffians. Civil liberty is not uncivil license.”
Since there were no formal charges made against the pickets, the only question is one of etiquette.
The students received support from various liberal quarters. State Assemblywoman Ruth Doyle wrote a letter to the board of regents urging that they reconsider their request for an investigation. In the letter, which was made-public, she said: “to deny the opponents of compulsory military training their rights to demonstrate for their point of view, or to stigmatize them for so doing, is to deny them their rights as citizens of a strong, free nation.”
The Capital Times came to the aid of the students with the following editorial:
“It is not surprising to find the present big-business board of regents at the university voting in the same meeting to turn down the faculty report on human rights on the campus and then voting to set up an inquisitorial board to hound and harass a group of students who exercised their right of free speech to demonstrate against compulsory ROTC on the campus.”
The effect of the demonstration was to focus sharply on the issue of compulsory ROTC and point up the issue of an encroaching military rule. It definitely resulted in a resurgence of student awareness of the undemocratic effects of direct or indirect contact with militarism.
There is the possibility that a civil rights suit may be undertaken, depending on the action of the university administration. The atmosphere is tense, discussion is widespread, and the campus community is beginning to awaken to the fact that it can happen here.
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