American Magazine, July 2015

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In the March issue of American,
we asked alums how they stood up
for social justice and they flooded
our inbox. Here, alumni share their
memories of the 1970 Kent State
protest and more.
I was at Ward Circle the day of the protest,
sometimes holding a large sign made
from a sheet reading “Honk for peace.”
Lots of honking, but one guy yelled,
“I hope you die.”
At one point there was a strange
incident. Someone brought a bag of
marshmallows and when the police arrived,
students began throwing them at the
police. The police began throwing them
back and it was kind of funny to see all
these white objects flying through the
air. It was kind of peaceful.
However, it was not too much longer
until tear gas was everywhere and
everyone was out of the street and into the
center of the [quad], coughing and gasping
for breath. People with water were pouring
it over others who were badly gassed.
It was strange to be in class just a bit
later, all wet and recovering from the gas.
–Michael Lee, CAS/PhD ’84, Eugene, Oregon
In 1970 I was living in AU Park and was
a junior in high school. I was walking
up Massachusetts Avenue with my best
friend, only to run into the Ward Circle
demonstration. Washington was awash
with protest in those days. The draft was
breathing down everyone’s necks. My
friend and I wanted desperately to join the
demonstration, but when the smell of tear
gas got heavier as we got closer to the
Massachusetts Avenue campus entrance,
we realized we were not yet equipped to be
participants at age 16 or 17.
I went on to participate in many antiwar
demonstrations. I participated in prochoice
demonstrations in New York City in the late
1970s. In Washington, DC, I protested the
Iraq War numerous times and crossed the
line at Fort Benning, Georgia, to protest the
School of the Americas. I was an election
observer in Chiapas, Mexico, in 2000
and most recently was part of the first
Ferguson evening protest in downtown DC.
I supported Occupy.
My engagement with protest and social
concerns has long been a part of who I
am and it is a part of the artwork I make
(michelecolburnart.artspan.com).
–Michele Colburn, CAS/MFA ’12,
Washington, DC
Memories about the 1970 Ward Circle
protests:
Supposedly, one of the reasons Ward
Circle was chosen was that then-defense
secretary Melvin Laird drove that way on
his daily commute.
The protests took place over a period
of days. The Civil Disturbance Unit was
not amused. Students were beaten
with oversized clubs and at one point,
officers set up mortar-like devices on
Massachusetts Avenue, lobbing tear
gas canisters onto the quad.
Many drivers on Massachusetts and
Nebraska Avenues were glad to take
the literature we were handing out. I
remember two drivers stopped at the light
across from the Massachusetts Avenue
entrance. One driver was pissed off at the
demonstrators. However, he drew the ire
of the adjacent driver who had served in
Korea and thought we, the students, were
doing the right thing, saying his service in
Korea was similarly pointless.
–Gary Gurner, CAS/BA ’73, Santa Monica,
California
Yes—I did stand up for social justice after
receiving my master’s in the administration
of justice in 1975. I worked as a police
officer/supervisor for 13 years and then as
a federal security manager for 31 years.
I also taught the then-Immigration and
Naturalization Service citizenship test to
immigrants for two semesters in 2002.
I’m pretty sure that isn’t what you were
looking for—but that’s tough. Wasting time
furthering the lie that Michael Brown died
with his “Hands up, don’t shoot” while the
hardworking citizens of Ferguson lost their
businesses to rioters and thieves was truly
worthless, a poor use of an education, and
the worst type of “social justice.” Lying
on the sidewalk or disrupting traffic are
mindless and useless tactics.
–Edward Templeman, SPA/MS ’75,
Alexandria, Virginia
I attended AU from 1962–1966 and worked
in the Registrar’s Office every summer
so I could stay in DC year-round. I
participated in more social justice rallies
and demonstrations than I could ever
count and became involved in the civil
rights movement. The incredible folk
music scene in DC kept us active and
involved and was an integral part of
the movement. Undoubtedly, the most
memorable event was participating in
the March on Washington. AU provided
a wonderful education for a political
science major, but the experience of
living in DC at that time and for the
two years after graduation made that
education far more meaningful. I use
what I learned there every day in my job
as the president of the largest local
union in Houston, Texas.
–P. Gayle Hamilton Fallon, SPA/BA ’66,
Houston, Texas
Our March issue touched on a
variety of issues with which student
vets grapple. We heard from several
alumni who shared stories of life after
the military. Download the American
magazine app for more letters.
I read Adrienne Frank’s letter in the March
edition of American with interest. I followed
a similar path in 1968 when I returned home
from military service overseas. In addition
to the GI Bill, there was another federal
opportunity from the Law Enforcement
Assistance Program (LEAP), which provided
funds for police officers to gain a college
degree. AU had taken advantage of the
funding. I joined the Metropolitan Police
Department in March of that year (the
riots broke out in April) and became the first
member of my immediate family to graduate
from college. Later, I obtained an MBA from
Averett University’s off-campus program
and taught at the college level after
retiring from the Alexandria, Virginia,
police department in 1997.
The advantages of a good education
cannot be overstated. Congratulations to
your husband for his hard work (I know
how difficult it is to work, raise a family,
and go to school) and thank you for
sharing his story.
–Ken Howard, SPA/BS ’77, Dumfries, Virginia
I read Mike Unger’s article (“A New
Mission”) with great interest. When I was
earning my master’s at SIS (1986–1988),
I knew of no other vets there. In fact, the
only other vet I knew on the entire campus
had served in the Israel Defense Forces.
There was no campus vets group.
As a Vietnam-era vet, I had earned my
bachelor’s at the University of Oregon,
which had a very active vets group,
so coming to AU, where awareness of
veterans’ issues ranged from dim to
nonexistent, was a bit of a letdown, to
say the least.
Of course, some people were helpful. I
remember talking a few times with thendean
Louis Goodman, who was sensitive to
the issues, but given the dearth of vets on
campus, there wasn’t much he could do.
One slight quibble: Unger wrote that
PTSD wasn’t in the mainstream lexicon
when Vietnam vets returned. Perhaps that
was because combat trauma has been
called many things over the centuries—
1,000-yard stare, shell shock, soldier’s
heart. Before PTSD, it was called Delayed
Stress Response Syndrome. (See Robert
Jay Lifton’s classic book, Home from the
War: Vietnam Veterans—Neither Victims Nor
Executioners.)
I am glad there is a vets group, but I
hope it does more than conduct yoga and
meditation classes at the fitness center.
Iraq and Afghanistan vets will have their
own unique issues to deal with, just as the
veterans of each past war had, and they
merit something more than the ritualistic
and meaningless “Thank you for your
service” and someone who helps process
paperwork for the Veterans Administration.
–David Isenberg, SIS/MA ’88, Arlington,
Virginia
42 AMERICAN MAGAZINE JULY 2015