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... «the ~Great Slide ShowConspiracy Trial'" ...The purpose of the people who disrupted the panel,and of the guerilla theatre, was to emphasize the"oppression" of rights by the Department of Justice.This they failed to do most completely. All thattheir actions emphasized was their own "oppression"of the right of free speech. The student body reactedstrongly against such tactics.It was at this point that Dr. Blackburn and Kauffmanmade a great tactical blunder. They decided to presscharges against three members of the guerilla theatre.From this point on, the issue of freedom, academicand otherwise, was forgotten as students reactedagainst what appeared to be an attempt on the partof the University to suspend the three students.The "Great Slide Show Conspiracy" trial was a joke.Foster had made the guerilla theatre an officialpart of the program. The actual presentation of thatgroup, bad as it was, was not disruptive, but involvedinteraction between the "actors", the JusticeDepartment and the audience. Charges of disruptiveactivity should have been brought against members ofthe audience who did not let the panel answerquestions, not against the theatre. The three studentswere found innocent and became minor grade folkheroes.The entire incident points to one of the major failuresof administration, that of reaction instead of action.At the conclusion of the panel discussion, theUniversity administration appeared to most peopleto have been the victim of a group of disruptivestudents and non-students. However, at the end ofthe trial, it was the students who seemed to havebeen the victims of a university administration bentupon having them kicked out of the institution.Several questions have been raised by this incidentthat have yet to be answered to anyone's satisfaction.What is the role of the Office of Student life indisciplinary proceedings, and what is the role of theOffice of Campus Security? Is the Conduct Codeadequate for adversary procedures such as thosetaking place at the "Slide Show Conspiracy" trial? Howwill the University interpret "disruptive acts" in thefuture? If these questions are not cleared up,the tragicomedy of the Justice Department will berepeated again and again.241