Memories of ’70 closing

Regarding why UC closed in the spring in 1970, I have a somewhat different recollection than the letter writer in August. My memory is that immediately after the Kent State shootings, the governor closed all the state schools, and there was a fear over UC staying open — because it was still a municipal university and not subject to the governor’s order, it might attract a large protest, converging on the still-open UC campus. Actually the campus first closed for a week, then some days later decided to close for the remaining four (plus or minus) weeks of the quarter. At least that’s what I remember 40 years later. Keep up the good work.

Henry Jackson, DAAP ’74
Lexington, Ky.

Dear somewhat misinformed friends: I remember 1970. It was the year I graduated from UC Business. What I distinctly remember was Antioch College students taking over Dr. [Walter] Langsam’s office, and he did nothing. One Antioch student tried to intimidate me with his shout that I should not cross his picket line. I informed him that if he tried to stop me from going to my class, he’d have his picket sign protruding from his mouth. He ran off with a whimper.

Ergo, I do not have “sweet” memories of those days. I had wished, and continue to wish, that Ol’ Langsam had exhibited some spine.

David Steele, Bus ’70, JD ’73
Covington, Ky.

Editor’s reply to both letters: According to UC archivist Kevin Grace, MA (A&S) ’77, “President Langsam did do something, although some may disagree with what he did. He refused to talk to students, then convened all his administrators to discuss his course of action, which was to close the university.”

The university closed on Friday, May 8, 1970, following the May 4 incident at Kent State University in which the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four students and wounded nine others. Student unrest around the country had been growing since President Richard Nixon’s announcement that U.S. military activity in Cambodia would expand.

UC’s main campus remained closed the following week, while classes resumed on Monday, May 11, at Raymond Walters Branch, the Ohio College of Applied Science and its Ohio Mechanics Institute Evening College (as they were then called), according to Cincinnati Enquirer articles. During that week, students and professors kept scholarly activity alive by meeting in professors’ homes and other establishments.

On May 14, plans were made to reopen the main campus on Monday, May 18.

But late that night, Mississippi police and National Guardsmen who were trying to quell rioting students at Jackson State College killed two students and wounded 12 others. Over the next days, tensions — now laced with racial issues — grew on college campuses throughout the country.

Late Sunday night, UC’s advisory University Senate voted to keep the main campus closed for the remainder of the term. Around 2:30 a.m. on Monday, the governing University Board of Directors voted to do so. Although commencement was held on June 14, many students did not return for the event.

An Enquirer editorial on May 20 called the closing “regrettable, but justified,” explaining: “If one person is spared injury, one confrontation does not materialize, one building endures undamaged, then the inconvenience and imposition of the suspension will have been worthwhile.”

As letter writer Henry Jackson noted, UC was a municipal university in 1970. On May 6, Gov. James Rhodes recommended that state universities close, but he left the decision up to each school. Estimates indicate more than 900 institutions of higher education closed across the nation, roughly one-third of all schools.

Watch documentary video on 1970 closing

Corrections

10 years off
In the August 2010 issue, you published a letter from my father. Although he was kind enough to give me credit for graduating from the UC School of Law, he listed my year as 1972 (which would have been at age 15). My actual graduation date was 1982. But what’s a decade among friends and alumni!?

Charles Rayburn Wharton, JD ’82
Carmel, Indiana 

UC East in rented Ford plant
UC does not own the former Ford plant, which is being used as the UC East facility in Clermont County, as indicated in the last news section of “UC Magazine.” UC is only leasing two floors of the former facility’s administrative building, which amounts to 81,000 square feet of office space. UC Clermont College began offering classes on the first floor this fall. On the second floor, UC’s College of Nursing and the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services will offer a number of bachelor-degree completion programs, including the bachelor of science in nursing.

UC East will be home to Clermont College’s allied health programs including: surgical technology, respiratory therapy, physical therapy assistant, emergency medical service-paramedic certificate, medical assisting and multi-skilled health technician.“

There is no plan to use the actual manufacturing plant at this time,” says associate provost Tom Cruse.

Letters to the editor policy
Letters to the editor must relate to the university, be signed and include addresses, colleges and years of graduation, when applicable. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity or factual accuracy and to reject letters of unsuitable content. Letters may not criticize other letter writers. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Cincinnati.