Monday, May 6, 158
Commentary
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
z Editorials
The Daily Nebroskan
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f The other side
I of Columbia I
.Editors Note: Harvey Fleetwood, a student at
Columbia, was inside the Columbia University ad
ministration buildings durng most of the protest. The
following is his view of what happened.
NEW YORK (CPS) Columbia University pro
fessor of Internatkm Affairs Dankwart Rustow stood
before a faculty meeting and announced, "It is out
of the question that we resume classes . . . that we
take up the next paragraph on the syllabus as if not
ing had happened . . . this is not humanly possible."
There was an electric feeling in the air. Pro
fessors who just hours before had been denouncing
the strike leaped to their feet, applauding. The
whole faculty meeting started chanting "Kirk must
go. Kirk must go. Kirk must go."
The calling in of police by President Grayson
Kirk had turned many faculty members against
!iim. In open meetings the police action was char
jcterlzed as "a brutal bloodbath" by. faculty mem
bers, many of whom were beaten and arrested for
placing themselves bodily between students and
police? (More than 145 students and faculty received
hospital treatment, and, according to a police ser
geant. per cent were treated for head wounds.)
At the press conference after the arrests, Kirk
stated, that such action was "necessary to permit
the university to resume its operations."
Exactly the opposite happened. The student
governments of all divisions of the university called
For support of a student strike. Many faculty mem
bers supported the strike. The student newspaper
supported the strike. Except for some faculty
members and a few students, there was little sup
port for Kirk's call to "resume operations."
What brought this great university to an ap
parently suicidal act?
' It has a long history. Over the past several years
Students for a Democratic Society, the Student
Afro-American Society and various community
groups have conducted a continuous campaign
agajnst plans for Columbia gymnasium on Morning
side Heights, a Harlem Park.
T This past year SDS and other groups have also
prfcte,sj;ed the university's institutional affiliation wit
the. Institute for Defense Analyses. Sit-ins. demon
strators, petitions with thousands of names, for
mal requests from the Columbia Citizenship Coun
cilman arm of the student government), and other
forms of protests were used.
To all these legitimate protests the university
turned a deaf ear. Its answer to the Citizenship
Council early last fall was that construction of the
gym could not be halted 'and that "it was as good
as built."
But it was a minor event that set off the chain
of events.
On March 27 SDS staged an indoor demonstra
tion in Low Library against the IDA. Five of its
members were to be brought up for university pun
ishment, charged with violating a recent, and some
times ignored, edict against indoor demonstrations.
In an effort to win an open hearing for the
students SDS sponsored a rally at the sundial in
the middle of campus. After about half an hour the
demonstrators proceeded to Low Library, the main
administration building, to test the edict on indoor
demonstrations en masse. They were turned away
by campus security guards and went to the gym
site where several of them were arrested.
Re-assembling at the sundial, they decided to
confront the dean of the college Henry F. Coleman
at Hamilton Hall. The dean was not there when
they arrived, so about 300 of them waited for him
in a hall outside his office. When he finally made
his way through the crowd of students, he was pre
sented with a list of demands and answered "I
have no intention of meeting any demands under
conditions such as these."
As the evening wore on, black community-members
from Harlem began joining the demonstrators.
By 8 p.m. the militant blacks occupied the stra
tegic position around Coleman's door and around
the entrance to the hall. One black took over the
microphone and reaffirmed the six demands, and
said, "We're going to do whatever is necessary to
get them met. The black community is taking
over."
At 5 a.m. Mark Rudd announced to the white
students that the blacks had asked them to leave.
Some of the white students were shaken by the ac
tion of the blacks but they left anyway, going to Low
Library, where they broke into the building and
entered President Kirk's office.
Within an hour after the students entered Kirk's
office, 50 city police came on campus for the first
time in three years.
Wednesday the administration tried to come to
an independent agreement with the black students.
They promised them that construction of the gym
would be halted and that none of the blacks would
be suspended.
But it didn't work. The blacks rejected the of
fer unconditionally, saying that they were staying
until all students received amnesty.
Each of theliberated buildings had representa
tives to a central strike committee, which was or
ganised to coordinate activities. From the first it
was agreed that all negotiating was to be handled
together and that no building under any circum
stance would take individual action. The blacks in
Hamilton Hall never sent representatives to the
central strike committee, but remained in constant
Informal commnnication.
The faculty from the beginning, though, did
take ihe strong position that the police should not be
sent qn the campus. Several faculty members took
up positions outside the occupied buildings and
vowed to stand there keeping the police off. Thurs
day night several plainsclothesmen moved through
the huge crowd with night sticks concealed under
theirraincoats. Without identifying themselves they
asked 30 faculty members to move. Then they
starred swinging their night sticks, and several
facuily members were viciously clubbed.
At Avery the next Tuesday came the first po
lice 'violence. Faculty and groups of supporting
demonstrators stood on the front steps when the
polices-charged. Only a few policemen carried night
sticks, but most carried hancufdfs, which were
used -as brass knuckles. Students and faculty who
remafhed on the steps were smashed and bloodied
in full view of reporters.
Daily Nebraskan
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William F. Buckley
You have, I hope, medi
tated the meaning of the
charges that have been lev
elled against the New York
policemen who liberated Co
lumbia University Brutality.
It apparently has not oc
u r r e d to a living soul, to
judge from published reports,
that the caterwauling students
who are charging brutality
because the police interrupted
their week-long, whickey-fed
stercoricolous occupation of
other people's property could
very easily have avoided bru
tality by simply obeying the
policemen when they were fi
nally dispatched to uphold the
law.
In the flat words of t h e
newspaper account, "The po
licemen had first read a state
ment urging the students to
leave voluntarily, and ;
protesters had refused."
other words, the police lu-l
even been instructed to per-
Marat-Sade
mit the students to leave with
impunity to get off without
arraignment on the charge of
criminal trespass. But the
students refused.
So, under the vigilant eyes
for having called in the police
of radio, television, faculty,
press, the Commissioner of
Police, and the head of the
local Mau Mau, they were
dragged away. Oh yes, there
were also representatives
there of Mayor Lindsay,
whose comment the next
morning will never perish
from this eath. "Mayo Scores
Columbia Sit-Ins-But Backs
the Right to Dissent."
That is as if, stumbling into
Buchenwald with the liberat
ing army, General Eisenhow
er had said, waving in t h e
general direction of the
the demonstrators, and now
are criticizing President Kirk
that is what we were doing,
we would simply arrest the
process.
One is tempted to observe
corpses, "I do deplore all of
this, but I stoutly defend Ger
man dissent from the Ver
sailles Treaty."
What is going on? One is
increasingly reminded of the
observation of Albert Jay
Nock, that it would be fascin
ating to write an essay on how
one can tell one is slipping into
a dark age. His point is that
if we knew collectively that
after six days. But it is not
incredible any longer: incred
ible though tliat may be.
Everybody's doing it. Not
quite everybody, but, for in
stance among the students all
the leaders of the various stn
dent body groups appear to
be unanimous in their con
demnation of Mr. Krk.
The president of New York
University, though declining
to promise that under no cir
cumstances would he ever
call the police, professed him
self as "revolted" at the use
of the police at Columbia, and
stuffed a dollar bill into a jar
being passed about to collect
money to defend the stu
dents. A young rabbi recently ap
pointed as chaplain to t h e
Jewish students of Columbia
was heard declaiming get
this: "No amnesty for K i r k
and the Board of Truestees!"
T h e y are not to be forgiven
for restoring order to the
campus by involking those
whose job it is to restore or
der when there is disorder.
And then the rabbi attempted
i' assert his impartiality: "I
want to show you I'm going to
be consistent." he said, re
minding his audience that he
had sided with all of the de
mands of the rioters except
their call for amnesty for
themselves.
Mar 6. 1968
Vol. 91. B.a. 106
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tlali! Service. '
Editor's Note: Ken Pellow,
who contributed the following,
is an instructor in the depart
ment of English.
Peter Weiss' play, The Per
secution and Assassination of
Jean-Paul Marat as Per
formed by the Inmates of the
Asylum of Charenton Under
the Direction of the Marquis
De Sade, is both a good and
a poor choice as one of this
season's productions by the
University's Department of
Speech and Dramatic Art.
First of all, the play al
though, admittedly, it is pro
bably one of the best plays of
our time has been sub
jected to a great deal of ex
posure. In Lincoln alone, it
has been seen in two different
productions within the last
year or so: on stage at Ne
braska Wesleyan and in a
filmed version of the London
stage production.
Certainly there are periods
other than contemporary from
which some choices could
have been made; in the past
half-dozen years, University
Theatre has dune precious
little 20th-century drama oth
er than contemporary (no Ar
thur Miller, no Tennesee Wil
liams, no Synge, Yeats, Piran
dello, Strindberg, O'Casey,
and only one play each by
Chekhov, Shaw, Ibsen, and
O'Neill).
During the same span, there
has been no Restoration-era
English comedy done and
only one 18th-century play.
There has been no Renais
sance drama other than
Shakespeare, etc., etc.
In short, it hardly appears
necessary to have chosen a
play that has been pretty well
"worked over" while exclud
ing so many that have not
been seen by local college au
diences. On the other hand, there
are some excellent justifica
tions for the choice. Not only
is it good theatre, but it is
of extreme social value. And
perhaps even more important,
it provides an entertaining ve
hicle for the kind of theatre
in which Director Stephen Cole
is most expert and, at the
same time, provides opportun
ity for a large number of com
petent student-actors to dis
play their talents.
The result is a very pol
ished production, notable for
some outstanding acting and
above all for excellent
"teamwork." So well, in fact,
Teamwork molds production
does the production go that
one can easily forgive the
"overexposure" charge
(though the box-office results
may be more difficult to over
look). Marat-Sade is an extremely
difficult play, for players and
producers as well as for au
diences. It examines the na
ture of revolutions and, more
important, the nature of hu
man responses to revolution
ary motivations; it conducts
this examination from almost
every possible viewpoint, and
reaches "conclusions" that are
at best, paradoxical.
Always ambiguous, some
times ambivalent, the play
manages to cancel out "ans
wers" almost as fast as an
audience can form them. This,
of course, makes for odd
"structure" as far as stan
dard theatric notions of "ris
ing" and "falling" action are
concerned. In the play, as in
revolutions themselves, moti
vations are frequently ob
scure; if the play does not
always progress in logical
fashion, neither does the sub
jet it examines.
But what makes this play
even more difficult than its
themes alone would is the
form in which those themes
are expressed. A "play within
a play" when it is set in an
early - nineteenth - century
French asylum presents num
erous problems; when musi
cians, dances, pantomimes,
and an audience-within-an-au-dience
are added, the result
is one of the wildest exercises
in Brechtean theatre yet writ
ten (the era of "Brecht on
Brecht" may have given way
to "Brecht on acid")...
It is this challenge which
brings out the best in this
University Theatre production
Marat-Sade provides the finest
"total-theatre" effort we have
had here since Mother Cour
age was performed a couple
of years ago.
The acting in this production
is outstanding all the way
down to the most minor roles.
At the top, performances are
predictably competent; but
the minor roles are perhaps
the most significant aspect of
the production's quality.
Never, throughout the en
tire evening, can one spot an
actor getting out of charac
ter, even momentarily! Even
the musicians stay with the
tics, vacant? stares, spastic
movements, tec, designed to
designate them as residents
of Charenton. Jean McLaren
and Roni Meyer, as the wife
and daughter of M. Coulmier,
the Asylum's Director (per
formed ably by Phil Zinga),
are representative of the abili
ty of this whole cast to re
main in the play.
They must sit through the
whole performance, reacting
to lines and actions of the
other actors, and giving no
lines of their own. Their at
tentiveness never diminshes.
In many cases, actors in
this play are required to do
about a week's work each
evening. Bill Szymanski, for
instance, turns in a consis
tently excellent performance,
though he's on stage about
twenty minutes early and
stays.
Donald Hunter creates a
frighteningly real "Mad Ani
mal" and sustains the charac
ter beautifully. That these two
actors can perform their roles
four nights in succession is a
tribute to the physical condi
tioning which people have to
undergo to act in a Steve Cole
play.
Several young actors who
have been in several NU pro
ductions do their finest work
in Marat-Sade. Skip Lundby
(as the Herald) and John Jes
sup (Jacques Roux), both
strong in Scapin, are even bet
ter now. Janet Jensen con
tinues the s t e a dy improve
ment she has shown through
such roles as those of Lady
Macbeth and of Edna in Deli
cate Balance. As Simonne,
she is at her best. Most of
all, this achieving of new
highs is evident in Susan Vos
ik who plays alternate per
formances as Charlotte Cor
day. The expectations of many
people, which Susan may not
have come up to in previous
performances, have now been
fully justified. Her Corday was
sometimes electrifying, al
ways fascinating. In addition,
out an outstanding new young
star in Cheryl Hansen who
plays the part on Thursday
and Saturday evenings.
Although a considerably dif
ferent character than Susan's,
Cheryl's Corday certainly doe
not weaken the play. Indeed,
she plays a stronger Char
lotte than Susan does (neces
sarily, perhaps, since her
voice is stronger), and if not
quite as believable as a mela
cholic patient with sleeping
sickness, she is certainly incre
dible as a political murde
ress. The four clowning Singers
can make or break this play;
led by "seasoned veteran"
Mike Dobbins, this quartet is
largely responsible for the sue
cess of this production. Ric
Marsh continues to become
more and more competent as
he becomes more confident;
he, too, is outstanding. Never
theless, despite all the stage
savvy of these two, Linda
Riggs and David Landis
the other two singers are
not to be outdone. The rap
port and interaction among
this group is great.
Ultimately, of course, Marat-Sade
must depend on the
two characters named in its
title. NU Theatre is fortunate
to have two such mature, skill
ful performers, for these key
roles, as Denis Calandra
(Jean-Paul Marat) and Jim
Baffico (the Marquis de Sade)
Calandra's opening-night ef
fort was somewhat uneven (he
started "big", appeared to tir
somewhat, then came back
strong), but his second-night
performance was perfectly
steady. He plays the rhetori
cally skillful Marat with con
siderable passion, yet is com
pletely articulate a diffi
cult combination.
Baffico's Sade is something
of a surprise. One expects to
be overwhelmed by a power
ful Marquis; instead, Baffico
brings to the role a quiet, ra
tional, almost passionless,
calm. A bit difficult to ac
cept at first; his treatment
of the role becomes more
plausible as the show goes
along. Sade becomes a mas
terfully self-controlled, diabol
ical figure in Baffico's presen
tation; while this interpreta
tion can, I suppose, be ques
tioned, his performance is as
impressive as always.
The only drawback I can
think of, in seeing this show,
is that same one I always en
counter when attending a big
circus I have trouble de
ciding which ring to concen
trate on. In the University
Theatre's Marat-Sade, how
ever, this is no major prob
lem. So, despite the play's having
been much played, Marat
Sade is worth seeing again
and again.
SAF document
is revisited
After almost two years of being coddled, re
vised and lengthened the Student Bill of Rights
(now labeled the SAF document) finally is ready
to face the Facutly Senate May 14. -
Although students twice have approved by
large majority a statement of rights, many unsatis
fied students are still grumbling in the ranks.
It should be remembered, however, that the
Faculty Senate is notoriously conservative as a
whole and active student support of the SAF docu--ment
will probably be needed if the document is -to
be passed. t
Probably very few Faculty Senate members:
have read the SAF document in its entirety or un-;,
derstand the far reaching effects it could have. ;
And their opinions of the document are certainly -not
being enhanced by the uninformed name-callers -who
say the statement is nothing but garble gen
eralizations. '
It is the responsibility of both students and
faculty members who are familiar with the SAF
document to approach the faculty and attempt t
orient them with the proposals and highly encour
age them to attend the next Senate meeting.
Also, some administrators and faculty mem
bers and students have placed themselves in pre
carious positions for encouraging and supporting
a document, which would prove to be one of the
most progressive and liberal accomplishments ever
to make its way through the University's red tape
and channels.
Their work can not be allowed to fail because
of a balking Faculty Senate which may not under
stand the issues.
Every effort must be made to insure the SAF
document is passed by an overwhelming majority
next week.
Cheryl Tritt
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j Andy Corrigan
Eight days
I a week I
Sice this is the last time "thirty cents worth
of love" will be appearing in print I view this col
umn as my swan song. It would be an appropriate
time to review the semester but I feel that last
week was exemplary enough and so I shall confine
my rantings to the not so distant past.
Monday: nothing.
Tuesday: nothing.
Wednesday: nothing.
Thursday: nothing.
Friday: less than nothing.
Saturday: it really didn't happen, did it?
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Campus Opinion
Dear Editor:
A thinking President would be a great anomaly
in the United States. Under the gloss of an expen
sive publicity machine, JFK probably was this kind
of man. though we will never know. Eugene Mc
Carthy is a thinking man.
With a quiet sureness, courage, sincerity, he's
won over people all over the nation. From bored
and disinterested intellectuals to disenchanted pros,
he's collected a following in the name of peace,
honor for America, a broad civil rights program,
greater local control in welfare, support for the
farmer.
The largest and most outstanding issue, of
course, has been Vietnam, simply because it has
been the largest and most outstanding issue in the
national consciousness. If any peace efforts have
brought about a slowing down of the war, it has
been McCarthy's successes in Wisconsin and New
Hampshire. These contests have shown that a vote
still can express the wishes of the people.
I sincerely hope the wishes of the people of
Nebraska are for an enlightened, thoughtful, peace
ful, honorable Presidency in 1968 with Eugene
McCarthy.
Mrs. Nancy Magee