In my last two posts about experiences that led me to join the Peace Corps, I introduced my life as a student at UC Berkeley from 1963 to 1965. Under any circumstances, it would have been interesting and challenging. Berkeley is one of the leading academic institutions in the world. But it was politics of change that brought the campus to the forefront of people’s attention in the 60s. Today, I begin my exploration of the student revolution from my perspective of having a front row seat on the action as I struggled to understand what was happening and where I fit in.
What truly fascinated me about Berkeley was the palpable sense of being involved in the events of the day. I was drawn toward these issues, and the call to action tweaked my interest. Limiting the future of a potential Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein or Mahatma Gandhi because of who his parents were went beyond being counterproductive. It was stupid. We all lost. But I wasn’t ready to take up a picket sign. This was my first year at Berkeley and my hands were more than full in struggling with classes and eking out time to be with Jo Ann. There were also numerous responsibilities to fulfill in my role as dorm president.
I did strike one tap hammer blow against the machine, however. We were expected to participate in the annual Ugly Man Contest. Its purpose was to raise money for charity by having someone or thing really ugly as the dorm’s representative in competition with other dorms, fraternities and sororities. People would vote by donating money (normally pennies) to their favorite ugly man. In addition to being pure fun, it was on the top of the Dean’s list as an acceptable student activity.
I proposed that our ugly man be an unfortunate Joe College student whose computer card had been lost by the Administration. Consequently, he no longer existed. Early computers used punched cards to contain data and had become ubiquitous in our lives. They came with the warning “do not fold, spindle or mutilate.”
We made up a casket and wandered about campus in search of poor Joe. It was a small thing, but it reflected a growing unease I had about the alienation created by assembly line education where numbers were more important than individuals. It seems that the student body wasn’t ready for the message. A popular bartender, selected by a fraternity as its ugly man candidate, walked away with the prize.
While my concerns over student alienation were evolving, the administration was monitoring off-campus student activism with growing concern. The University perceived its primary objectives as carrying out research and preparing young people to become productive members of American society. There was little room in this view for students seeking social and political change— in Mississippi, in Oakland, or on campus.
But the world was changing. A young President in Washington, Jack Kennedy, was calling on the youth of America to become involved and had created the Peace Corps to encourage involvement. Racial equality seemed attainable in the United States, and people the world over were yearning for and demanding freedom. It was easy for idealistic young Americans to believe we were at the dawning of a new age, and natural to want to be involved in the transformation.
Had the students restricted their political efforts in the early and mid-sixties to the far off South, the eruption of conflict on the Berkeley Campus may not have taken place. But they chose local targets as well. When the students marched off campus to picket the Oakland Tribune, Sheraton Hotel, United Airways and Safeway over discriminatory hiring practices, they were challenging locally established businesses with considerable power. Not surprisingly, these businesses felt threatened and fought back. Rather than deal with the existing discrimination, they demanded that the University, local authorities, the state government and even the Federal government do whatever was necessary to reign in the protesters.
Their arguments for the crackdown were typical of the times: A few radical off-campus agitators with Communist connections were working in conjunction with left leaning professors to stir up trouble. The participating students lacked mature judgment and were naively being led astray. The vast majority of students were good law abiding kids who just wanted to get an education, party, and get a paycheck.
The University was caught between the proverbial rock and a very hard place. The off-campus political activism was creating unwanted attention. Public dollars could be lost and reputations tarnished. There was a justifiable fear of reprisal from the right. The ugliness of McCarthyism was still alive and well in America. Its half-truths, outright lies and accusations had created a deep paranoia and distrust within American Society.
Only a few years before, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) had held hearings in San Francisco in its ceaseless search for Communists. UC had been a target. Clark Kerr and others had worked hard to protect and restore the academic freedom on campus that loyalty oaths and other McCarthy-like activities had threatened. Student activism would refocus right wing attention on the Berkeley Campus.
My greatest insight into the mindset of the Administration was when the Dean of Students called student leaders together to discuss the growing unrest on campus. Our gathering included members of the student government and presidents of the resident halls, fraternities and sororities. Noticeable in their absence were student representatives from off campus organizations such as CORE, SNCC, SDS, Young Democrats, Young Republicans and other activist groups. We sat in a large room with tables organized in a square; there must have been at least 40 of us. I was eager to participate and imagined an open discussion of the issues. I couldn’t have been more wrong, which is the subject of my blog-a-book post from The Bush Devil Ate Sam next Wednesday.
NEXT POSTS
Friday’s Travel Blog: Last Friday I featured the magnificent sea stacks found at Harris Beach State Park on the Oregon Coast. But what about ordinary rocks? This Friday, Peggy and I lower our cameras to look at a collection of ‘not so normal’ rocks and driftwood at the park.
Wandering through Time and Place 
Young people should be at the forefront of movements to make things better. But having seen things as they were in the 60s, I often think “if today’s young could only see how much worse things – e.g., the environment, working conditions, racism – were back then and how far we have come.
I truly agree with you on the latter, Ray. I’m not sure that most adults perceive how far we have come. On the other hand, when we look at issues like global warming, it’s obvious that we have a ways to go. 🙂 Thanks. –Curt
Thanks for this. Having been in a US university from 1966–1970, I especially identified with your comment—’I struggled to understand what was happening and where I fit in’.
I did a lot more listening and thinking that I did acting, Peggy. Part of my answer was the Peace Corps where I decided I could react to what I perceived as very real problems in a positive way. –Curt
It was a good choice. I had similar thoughts, but got side-tracked.
I did have the added incentive of a war going on… 🙂
A very interesting inside look at Berkeley during some very tumultuous years. I will look forward to the next segment! In our own times of social challenges, I found this line very relatable – “I struggled to understand what was happening and where I fit in.” I always want to help, but sometimes it all seems so beyond any control that I don’t even know where to begin!
Thanks. MB. I share your love of history. The 60s were one of those periods when history was being made. Many of the issues we have been struggling with over the past 60 years were put in the spotlight: Student rights were only a small part. Equality for women, blacks, hispanics, Native Americans, gays, etc, the environmental movement, and the Vietnam War to name some… The birth of the modern day left and the modern day right was underway. Berkeley, in many ways, was a harbinger of things to come— a microcosm.
Even at 78, I continue to debate with myself over whether I am doing enough and what else I could be doing. 🙂 –Curt
Those years were for protesting against the Vietnam war. It was the beginning of actions for the female emancipation in Australia, which were bewildering to my newly married girl from Finland who felt that women in Finland did not need freeing at all, they were free already.
I don’t know how far this movement has evolved seeing today that our male politicians and their staff are bogged down in endless allegations of sexual harassing females inside Parliament. One male politician was caught texting lewd messages while a health bill was being passed, and at another time was soliciting a woman to have sex inside parliament. Cleaners routinely are being asked to clean up after ministers’ couches, desks and offices were used for late night partying and sex.
We have a major scandal going on now, Gerard. One of Trump’s strongest supporters in Congress. They may get him on sex trafficking.
I think that politics, like Hollywood, is conducive to sexual misbehavior. –Curt
Those computer cards! Guess some wouldn’t get it. “do not fold, spindle or mutilate.” We used that line with people, too…not that anyone listened. Still progress has been made. Change come slowly, but it happens….except it currently seems so much was taken for granted and misplaced and the wheel will have to be reinvented again.
Three steps forward and two steps backward, Karen. Forever the refrain. As long as we avoid three steps forward and four steps backward. 🙂 –Curt
How ironic that Berkeley (or a goodly portion of its population) has become the very antithesis of the liberalism of the ’60s.
The pendulum swings, Linda. Even in the 60s, the campus was divided between its more liberal and more conservative elements. –Curt
That’s certainly true. I think one of my greatest disappointments with today’s Berkeley (and other places in this country) is that the easy-going acceptance of differences seems a world away.
I think that the issues are real and demand solutions, Linda. Sadly, exploiting divisiveness is a way to gain power and expand ratings. Cable TV and social media have enabled tribalism and increased intolerance instead of bringing people together. All too often, open, back and forth discussions turn into screaming matches. –Curt
Oh I love this picture Curt and can’t wait to send it to my almost graduate in Bus School at Berkely. Then and now. What a meca for change and you were right there as the class dorm President. Such cutting edge times that spun change which we need to continue unfortunately! Ugly Man Contest and how to fit in.. now wonder it was a struggle!
Can’t wait for the next one! 💖💖
The 60s were a time of dramatic change, Cindy. It was exciting to be at one places that was a focal point for the change, and to be part of it. –Curt
Yes, you were so lucky to experience that Curt!
So cool!👏👏👏
Really fascinating to read about this from someone in the thick of it. It feels as if nothing has changed. This sentence struck me: “The ugliness of McCarthyism was still alive and well in America. Its half-truths, outright lies and accusations had created a deep paranoia and distrust within American Society.” You just need to replace McCarthyism with Trumpism 😦
I look forward to the next post.
Alison
The parallel is scary, Alison. It definitely crossed my mind. Thanks for your observation. –Curt
I enjoyed reading this Curt. I also was thinking about the parallel to our modern times, it seems impossible NOT to see the connections. But like you say, pendulums swing back and forth in history. In any case, how lucky you were to have experienced that particular slice of time at Berkeley.
Thanks, Sylvia. Very fortunate. I like to note that I learned more about politics and life on the streets than I did in my history and political science classes. –Curt
Although I was a collegiate in the 60s, I wasn’t involved in any movements that I know of. Your front row seat and your current assessment of what was going on are fascinating. After watching what happened during the Trump years, I might have been more interested and aware of the protests and the opposition.
So often, it is the young people who are on the front lines. It may not mean they always make the best decisions, but who does. I, for one, am ever so glad that young people care about the future of our nation and are willing to speak out. And thanks. Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about how the 60s continue to influence us today. –Curt
In some ways, the seeds of change were sewn in the 60s.
In many ways, Rusha. A great deal has been accomplished since, which is sometimes lost amid all of the clamor. –Curt