April 28,1972

The Scarlet and Black

Anti- War Activities Fill Weekend

Rain Soaks

300; turnout
‘Fantastic’

The weekendeiong slate nfantlewar
actiVities held here in Grinnell this
past weekend began when an estir
mated and people participated in a
silent peace march on Friday morti-
ing, College students, professors,
local businessmen, housewives, and
high school students began gathering
on Central Campus at 7.30 despite
a di'izzling rain and temperatures
hovering in the low torties,

After being instructed to maintain
silence and to march in groups of
two, the marchers formed a long
line and began marching toward the
high school along the muddy side-
walks oi Eighth Avenue, Upon reach.
ing the high school the marchers
turned around, proceeded by way
of Prairie Street to Sixth Avenue,
walked through downtown on Main
Street, turned on Fourth Avenue,

and finally marched on Park Street
hack to tile cnillpus an hour after
beginning.

Extremely cooperative Grinnell
policemen helped to avoid any con-
fliCt at the intersections with the
heavy (by Grinnell standards) morn-
ing traiiic, itt lciist one reporter-
from the local radio Station was
seen scrambling about interviewing
various students Witle»eyed stile
dents at Bailey Park Elementary
School and businessmen and secres
tai'ies ili downtown stores and 01s
tices took time out to watch the
marchers puss nv silently anti stctlti»
ily; otherwise, there was no visitth
reaction from townspeople The
marchers were thoroughly dren—
ched, as the rain progressed iroin
a mild drizzle tD ii steady rain to
a petting downpour at the veiy con
clusion 0f the march.

Al Rosenfield headed tlle group 0|
Student Organizers of the march,
which also included John Pfeffer,
Phil Sasich, and Judy Phillips. Al
termed the turnout “fantastic," and
he and the other lenders emphasized
that the marchers ranged from nine
to ten-year-old children to John
Whitson, a Grinnell resident who
has been an active paciiist in every
war Since World War I and is now
over eighty years old,

About 25—50% oi the Grinnell
student body responded to a call tor
a student strike last Friday, stay-
ing away irom classes and instead
hearing discussions, lectures, and
panels on the Vietnam war, writ.
ing letters to their elected l‘eprer
sentatives, and watching tintiswar
iilms

A large group met in the South
Lounge tor a discussion with orin»
nell Vietnam War veterans, At tcn,
students met in Cleveland Lounge
ior bran counseling, and in the
Religious Activities Room .to hear
supporters oi George McGovern (Dr
South Dakota) and Linda Jeiiess
(swpenv) explain how the election
oI their candidates to the Fresh
dency would bring an immediate end
to the War.

At ti on, a discussion oi the war's
eiiects on the Vietnamese culture
was held in the Youltkct' Lutlnge, and
at 12:30, a group explained the
Philosophy and Practice at Civil
disobedience in Herrick Chapel.

A letter writing campaign orgunr
ized by Art Andrews drew about 25
people to Younker Lounge and over
so to Loose When they were fill-
ished pounding their typewriters
at about 2:30, they had produced
225 letters to their elected repres

sentatives and hometown newspaper

photo by Bill Kneclit

A number of Grinnell students went to Drake Univei sity to meet Kansas Senator Robert Dole Fl iday

War Events
Receive Wide
Media Coverage

Grinneil’s anti-war protest activir
ties received wide coverage in both
the local and national media The
Des Moines Register contained two
lengthy articles about Grinnell actis
vities, the Grinnell Heraldelcegister
gave iront page coverage to the
demonstrations in two consecutive
issues, and college radio stations
across the country aired taped re
ports about Grinnell activities which
originated with KDIC

Friday's silent peace march re—
ceived the most coverage Friday
morning's Register reported the
plans ior the demonstration, and
that evening's Tribune carried a
iairly lengthy piece on the march
itselt.

Saturday morning's Register car
ried a comprehensive iront page
ieatnre on ways in which college
demonstrations had aiiected atti-
tudes about the war among Grinnell
townspeople The article iiuplied
that very little town support tor the
war remains today, and that there
is little animosity in the town tor
wards college antiewzir protesters
Friday aiternoon, KnlC began telo-
phoning news “feeds" to radio sta-
tions in Chicago, lowa City, and
Saint Louis The station provided
coverage of the silent march through
town and other activites on the cam
pus, as well as a six minute onstlte»
spot report oi the demonstration

against the Drake University ap
pearance ot ltepublicnn National
Chairman Robert Dole, in which
about 50 Grinnell Students partici-
pated,

WHPK, the University of Chicago‘s
station, was the Midwest coordinate
ing station ior a nationwide college
station network set up to handle news

oi protest activities The Grinnell
ieeds were incor orated into longer

reports of activities throughout tht
Midwest. which were In turn transs
mitted to stations all over the Mid
west

In addition, WHPK provided tape
clips of the Grinnell feed to the East
and West Coast coordinating stations
at Yale and Stanford, Both centers
included sections of the Drake (ye,
monstration in tlicir reports, which
gave Grinnell a degree of national
coverage,

Overall, Coverage of the demon-
strations involving Grinnell students
was lavorable both to the College
and the demonstrators, Most Con-
trasted the situation Friday with
that of two years ago, noting a lack oi
tension now whereas tension was
quite pronounced then

The Grinnell demonstrations res
cell/ed a good deal of media coverage
primarily because oi their relative
size compared to those attempted in
other cities. Although 30.000 turned
out in New York and a large crowd
was present in Los Angelcs weekend
rallies, disappointing turnouts were
reported by organizers of many
other demonstrations,

By contrast, Grlnllell‘s wellr
organized demonstrations involved
a quarter oi the campus, and weie
hotli peaceiiil and well executed.
These factors combined to assure
wide media coverage

'Service For

Peace’ Closes
Week’s Action

A community-wide servtce {or
peace last Sunday clilnaxeti last
week’s peace and antlewnr uclivl—
ties. Held in the Coiigiegational
Church, at 7 on p in , the service
lasted lsl/Z hours and attracted a
number of participants, hoth colli-
munity and student body
One of the impressive highlights
of the service was the excerpt froth
The Trial of the Catonsville Nine,
in which five Grinnell students reenr
acted scenes from the trial of Daniel
Berrigan Students involved included
Steve La Rocqtie, Mary Margaret
Brown, Tom Simpson, Laura Korach
{Ind Jeff Lehman

Community minister Itngh Shiveley
led “ community piayc in which
anyone could express what he or she
thought needed to be prayed for or
about.

Suggestions included a thanks for
the power of conscience and a re-
quest tor respect oi that ponel‘, a
plea tor lasting concern; a prayer
tor love; acknowledgement oi the
Vietnamese people’s courage in the
face of destructio and hope that u
ieeling oi despair does not envelope
each one'S concern
Two other pastors concluded the
service tiy oiiering the "passing
of the peace” to all present, The
beliedictory Song, "Shalom, Good
Friends," was sung by all as they
filed out

'Strike Day"
Students Act
In Many Ways

editors, most expressing support
of the GraveieMondale Bill to end
the War.

The day concluded with three sets
of anti-war films in ARH Auditor~
ium, and two lectures, A group oi
about 15 met in Younker Lounge
to discuss the differences between
the 1970 and 1972 protests, while
a panel in the Religious Activities
Room led a discussion of Religious
Pacifism

Saturday was devoted to a rally In
the United Methodist Church (moved
there from Central Park due to
inclement weather) and a day—long
antirwar movement special on Kch.

KDIC suspended all normal opera-
tions, and for more than Eight hours

Approximately 60 Grinnell students
joined In last Friday evening's dem-
onstration in Des Moines as He
publican senator Robert Dole (Kan-
sns) spoke at Drake University,

The Grinnell students arrived about
7 '3 at the draft-resistance antic
war building in confused fashion,
only to find a few minutes later
that the Des Moines people had put
together a very well organized pro-
test, At Drake’s Fine Arts Build»
ing the Grinnell group was not allow-
ed to sit down in the auditorium,
but rather participated in the Des
Moines protest

Groups representing labor, mot-
hers against the war, veterans oi
the war, and Drake students were
all in the audience.

Immediately aiter Senator Dole
began his speech an antiwar veteran
addressed him and asked him to
talk only about the war. As expect-
ed, Dole said nothing in response,
so the protestors stood up and turned
around with their backs iacing
Dole. Every back had the name of
a Vietnam war Victim written on
it Nearly everyone in the audience
participated in the protest.

Near the end of Dole's speech,
someone played Taps and a coiiin
was brought up to the treat or the
room and placed in front of him.

Upcoming Antiswar Activities:

discussed the War with students,
protessors, and townspeople. Spe-
cial telephone hookups, arranged by
the engineering stait on very short
notice, made the station look like
a spider's web oi black wires. but
did allow listeners to air their views
over the air

The special hookup also allowed
KDIC to receive news feeds from
other stations throughout the coune
try, and also to ieed out news
of Grinnell events. About ten na-
tional feeds had been received by
Sunday afternoon, and several fed
out, including a six-minute descrip-
tion of the Friday night demonstra»
tion in Des Moines against a Drake
University speech by Republican Na-
tional Chairman ‘Rohert Dole in
which a number of Grinnell students
took part.

The day’s programming also in-
cluded a facultyestudent discussion
with Alan Jones; Alan Nasser givA
ing his views on the war and answer-
ing phonedein questions, and David
Abel, who offered readings from the
best selling history of fndian Masa-
cres.

Dole finds
Many Critics
At Drake U.

A sign on it read: Stop the Kil-
ling

The demonstration was very well
organized and orderly. The groups
there asked progressively pointed
questions of the Senator, showing
that every group there, and not only
students was against the war.

As Dole was leaving the auditorium
Grinnell and Drake students formed
a human chain surrounding him
to dramatize the fact that he was
rolling all over them, He rushed out
and disappeared through a side exit,
however, where one of his aides
ripped down a protest sign a stud-
ent was holding. Dole skipped the
reception which had been planned and
rushed straight to the airport,

Several oi the groups thanked the
Grinnell students for participating.
One Veteran told the Grinneligmup,
”You were beautiful.”

A proposed one hour cessation oi local business on Moratorium
Day will be taken to Grinnell's City Council Monday.

Protestors will travel to Washington and Des Moines.

Anti-war activities for campus and community are being planned.

Few lownsmen
Attend Rally

On Saturday

Last Saturday's college-commune
Ity antiwar rally, originally
scheduled for Central Park, ended up
in a local church with few towns-
people in attendance. Over two hun-
dred people :illcntied, but less than
twenty could lie identified as having
no college connections

Although the overcast skies and
threat of retiit ruined the Central
Park rally tor some, one speaker
was happy with the change oiloca—
tion, A middle-aged Quaker, who had
recently Spent the night in jail for
an illegal sitdtiwn strike in Washing—
ton, noted that two years ago the
chances of bringing an antiwar group
into any church were slim

Six speakers, including two towns-
people, twc Vietnam veterans. and

two Grinnell professors, provided
the central locus oi the meeting,

Alan Nasser, Philosophy, noted that
the steprup in U,S bombing of the
North can be seen as Nixon’s acA
ccptnnce of a plan of action in small
wars iormulated by Henry Kiss»
inger. This plan is to give the enemy
the choice of either total surrender
or eventual escalation into nuclear
war.

Alan Jones, History and American
Studies, said that the war will be
remembered as an aggressive action
of a “racist and imperialist nation,”
Jones claimed, however, that the
best way to end the‘ war is not stu-
dent strike action but to get rid of
Nixon, and the only way to do that is
to vote him out

All speakers emphasized the im-
moral nature of the war and the
position of students throughout the
years in bringing this betore the
public, Support tor student action
from the townspeople seems never
to have been higher.

The rally ended With a period of
silence to reflect not only upon the
tragedy oi the previous week and
years, but also on the effectiveness
if any, of the weekend’s activities
in bringing a swiit end to the war.

 

