Page Meeting, part 2: Tape #5 / Silent Vigil (1968) and Allen Building Takeover (1969) Audio Recordings / Duke Digital Repository

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Charged with tear gas into a crowd that stampeded,

0:02

and people around me were falling and being trampled.

0:05

There's only one place for responsibility,

0:09

and that is with the people who are responsible,

0:12

knowing in advance, being warned in advance,

0:16

of the implications of their action,

0:18

for bringing the police onto campus.

0:21

They are responsible in this sense,

0:23

that you don't do such things unless you foresee

0:26

the kinds of consequences that might result.

0:30

If you want to plead, oh, but the situation got out of hand,

0:33

and I didn't, wasn't there to give that explicit order,

0:38

then I suggest you are incompetent.

0:41

(audience laughing and applauding)

0:44

In any case, the faculty who had

0:58

proposed these motions, a rather small group of faculty,

1:03

I'm sorry to say, then moved that

1:08

since the faculty of Duke University

1:12

were obviously not to be included

1:16

in decision-making in this matter,

1:18

that the meeting of the faculty be adjourned.

1:21

That's a motion that does not permit debate,

1:25

it was lost by a large majority,

1:27

at which point, that small group of some 35 faculty,

1:32

I'm told, got up, left the meeting,

1:36

amidst hisses, jeers, and a hearty,

1:40

large, derisive applause by a considerable number,

1:45

very considerable number, of their colleagues.

1:49

(audience applauding)

1:53

It's so nice to know that the faculty

2:04

sometimes acts rationally, you know?

2:06

(laughs) And these are the people who are teaching us,

2:09

teaching us not just some drivel in the classroom,

2:13

but how they act, and we know how they act, you know,

2:16

and I question their humanity, I really do,

2:20

having called the police into this university

2:22

to attack first, an empty building,

2:26

(audience laughing)

2:28

and second,

(audience clapping and cheering)

2:30

and having, after having

2:38

victoriously conquered the empty building,

2:39

(audience laughing)

2:41

they turned to the spectators who were watching,

2:43

and decided that they ought to conquer them.

2:46

(audience laughing)

2:48

And so we played powers around the Quad.

2:50

(audience laughing)

2:52

There are some serious matters that need to be discussed,

2:57

one of them is, as I understand it,

3:01

some people were arrested or might have been arrested,

3:03

and we've got somebody here, you know,

3:07

who wants to talk in that direction.

3:09

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My name's Buddy Keeger, I'm a second-year law student.

3:12

(audience applauding)

3:15

Good, so four things that I want to go through,

3:20

and like the context, first of all,

3:24

is that we're not going to get any

3:26

demands satisfied through legal action.

3:27

I think, the point about legal action is that

3:29

the University's interest is to put us on the defensive,

3:31

in Pickets and Protests trials, and in the courts.

3:34

And our purpose, I think, is to prevent that,

3:37

and maybe to put them on the defensive

3:40

by suing them on certain points.

3:41

And I'd like to go, well, talk about four issues,

3:43

one is that apparently five people were arrested.

3:47

So far, we know the names only of two of them.

3:51

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What were the charges, what were they ar--

3:54

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We don't know the charges,

3:55

we don't know what bond they're being held on,

3:56

or even if they're in jail.

3:58

Someone else called the jail, and the magistrate said

4:00

that he'd never hear of anybody being arrested,

4:03

which either means that he's lying,

4:05

or that they weren't arrested,

4:07

or that the police still have them.

4:09

I don't know, that's why I wanted to

4:12

ask if anybody knew the names of the people,

4:13

saw the arrest made, or particularly,

4:16

if either of the two people whose names we know

4:18

are here, one is Ed Stokes, Ed Berlin,

4:20

who's a freshman living in House O.

4:23

The second one is Benjamin Stokes.

4:25

Does anybody know the names of

4:29

the other three people or others who were arrested?

4:31

Okay, the fact that five people

4:37

were arrested raises a couple of issues,

4:38

one is that we might need bail money,

4:40

and possibly, at the end of what I have to say,

4:42

maybe a collection could be taken up,

4:45

maybe just, people could pass dollar bills around

4:47

until they got to the front or something like that.

4:49

(audience members chuckling)

4:51

Second thing is that if there's anybody here

4:55

who's in a position of owning property in Durham,

4:57

we might need property bonds,

5:01

and anybody who owns property in Durham might come forward.

5:02

Okay, a long-range point is that

5:07

if people have been arrested,

5:09

and if they will eventually be tried in Durham court,

5:10

it might be difficult to try them if everybody

5:14

who's in this room goes to the courtroom.

5:16

(audience applauding)

5:19

This also relates to the second issue,

5:28

which is the Pickets and Protests policy.

5:30

Now, I don't know whether the University's

5:32

gonna have the nerve to go ahead and

5:35

try to try all the people who were

5:36

in the Allen Building today under Pickets and Protests,

5:38

but again, if they do try to do that,

5:40

it will again be very difficult for them to do so if

5:43

everybody in this room goes to that room.

5:47

This has been done in other places,

5:50

at Columbia, there are some people who

5:52

still haven't been tried for last spring's thing,

5:53

'cause people got upset and decided to go attend.

5:55

Another point on this, I think this is

5:59

really very important, is that

6:00

the people who were in Allen Building today,

6:03

by and large did not, like, sign their names to anything,

6:06

and leave the names in the building,

6:10

and it'll be impossible for the University

6:12

to bring Pickets and Protests actions against them

6:14

if they don't know who they were.

6:17

So, if anybody here knows the names of any of the people

6:19

who were in the building, don't tell anybody.

6:22

(audience laughing)

6:25

(audience applauding)

6:26

So, there were some people who gave their names

6:32

over the radio, or who gave names over the radio,

6:33

but there's certainly no way to know

6:36

whether they gave their own name,

6:37

and we oughta look toward points that

6:39

could be raised if there is a trial,

6:42

and if, if through our own apathy

6:43

we allow a trial to take place.

6:45

Okay, third thing is that, aside from trying to

6:51

prevent the University from holding trials against us,

6:54

we might look toward holding

6:57

some sort of trials against them.

6:58

(audience applauding)

7:00

A group of us at the Law School will be

7:06

getting together tomorrow to try to think through

7:07

the possibilities of suing in federal court,

7:10

to enjoin enforcement of the Pickets and Protests policy.

7:13

That's one thing, a second thing is that

7:19

it might be possible, and we don't know yet,

7:21

to bring a suit for money damages

7:23

against the police and against the University

7:26

for the injuries that were inflicted upon several people.

7:30

(audience applauding)

7:33

Now, for this, we're gonna need

7:43

two things, one, again, is money.

7:46

And maybe while people are together tonight,

7:49

people can, maybe we can get some money together

7:52

for this kind of legal action.

7:54

Seems to me that the student government

7:56

oughta finance things like this, and

7:58

(audience applauding)

8:00

whether they do or not, possibly,

8:06

we'll have to raise money individually,

8:07

but it seems that, that's certainly one area that

8:09

we can look toward after tonight is over, at any rate.

8:11

The other thing that we, that would be very helpful,

8:14

would be statements from any people who observed beatings.

8:16

Several people were clubbed by the police,

8:20

and, I, it's doubtful that anybody,

8:22

anybody could recognize that, the,

8:26

I don't know why I'm saying police,

8:29

that anybody could recognize the pigs

8:31

that are actually doing the beating, they didn't,

8:32

(audience laughing)

8:34

they didn't have badges on, I don't think,

8:35

or if they did, they certainly didn't have big neon letters.

8:36

But anybody who saw any incidents,

8:39

tonight, while your recollections are

8:41

fresher than they're gonna be tomorrow,

8:42

please write up statements of exactly what you saw

8:44

in as much detail as you can.

8:46

And the second thing is that anybody who was

8:48

in the area around the steps of Allen Building,

8:51

just before the gassing started,

8:54

it might be very important to record tonight,

8:56

what, if anything, the pigs said to the crowd

8:59

before they started the gassing,

9:03

whether there was any warning given,

9:04

and secondly, any conversation among them.

9:06

Apparently, somebody heard somebody say,

9:09

"Well, let's gas 'em."

9:11

Now, if anybody heard anything like that,

9:12

or anything in more detail, please write up a statement.

9:14

Maybe the easiest thing to do with the statements is,

9:19

what, to give them to me temporarily.

9:22

(audience members speaking faintly)

9:27

To the while office, okay, that's fine.

9:29

And, you know, please do this tonight, 'cause people always,

9:31

whenever there are incidents, always think wow,

9:33

you know, I really saw some stuff goin' on,

9:35

but by the time you get to write it down,

9:37

it gets very fuzzy, and you can't really be sure,

9:39

so anybody who saw beatings, anybody who was

9:41

at Allen Building just before the first gassing,

9:44

or anybody who saw anything else that might be helpful

9:47

in a suit against the University,

9:49

please write it up tonight.

9:51

I don't know whether the suggestion about

9:53

passing money forward is a very popular one,

9:56

but maybe somebody else can comment on

9:57

whether we could raise some money tonight, right.

10:00

In the event that we do need bail money,

10:03

which we would need very quickly, because the,

10:04

being held in the jail tonight could be very unpleasant.

10:08

So, let me suggest, tentatively, as my own idea,

10:12

that people who have a dollar to spare

10:15

just start passing it forward.

10:17

And if anybody thinks that's not good,

10:18

or thinks of a better idea, let's hear it.

10:20

(audience members speaking faintly)

10:26

Tom, Tom Renney? Yeah.

10:29

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Do you have some sort of, some sort of report

10:35

on our brothers and sisters, (speaking faintly).

10:37

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Does anyone know about the

10:44

numbers of people that were injured,

10:45

I've heard reports, talking about the rumor mill,

10:47

I've heard reports that there were 20 people

10:49

in the Duke infirmary with various busted parts.

10:51

18? Okay.

10:55

(audience members speaking faintly)

10:57

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Two? (laughs)

10:58

(audience laughing and applauding)

10:59

(audience members speaking faintly)

11:02

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Ah, enough to draw blood, I suppose.

11:06

(audience members speaking faintly)

11:09

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One highway patrolman got hit with a brick, okay.

11:11

Yeah, I...

11:15

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Bill?

11:16

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Yes, Mark? Yeah.

(audience cheering and applauding)

11:23

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Now, my name is Mark Pinsky,

11:28

(audience members speaking faintly)

11:30

I got, I got two canisters, two, two, count 'em, two.

11:33

The thing, that in the days to come,

11:36

in the months to come, you have to think of, like,

11:39

the little minds of the industrialists from

11:45

Salisbury and Burlington and all these, you know, places,

11:48

they won, you know, they showed us,

11:51

they weren't gonna be intimidated by us.

11:55

And they were gonna put us in our place.

11:57

So they said jump, and Doug Knight jumped.

11:59

And Doug Knight said to the faculty,

12:04

you jump, and the faculty jumped.

12:05

Now, we know who of the faculty are with us,

12:09

who are human beings,

12:12

because they were right out there with us,

12:13

they were bleedin' with us and coughin' with us.

12:15

But from now on, if you ever go back to class,

12:18

you know, when you look at that faculty guy,

12:22

at that teacher in your classroom,

12:27

when you look at that greasy administrator, you know,

12:29

who is really an understanding person, you see,

12:33

he just doesn't have any power,

12:35

you can really look at that vice president, or that dean,

12:37

you remember who these people were, you know?

12:41

Either they acted consciously and actively

12:45

against you to come down on your head,

12:49

or else they did it with silence, they were afraid.

12:54

They were the good men, the good Germans, you know,

12:57

where were they at the time, you know?

13:00

Alright, you know, I'm not ideological in that respect.

13:03

But these people are responsible for tonight,

13:07

the trustees, Dr. Knight, and the faculty.

13:11

And as long as you're here, you know,

13:15

as long as whenever you smell tear gas,

13:18

you sort of remember tonight, you know?

13:20

As long as you have blisters and bumps

13:22

and stuff like that, and you recall that,

13:24

you just remember who did it to you, you know?

13:26

Keep the memory, you know, because,

13:30

they did it tonight 'cause they thought

13:33

they could get away with it cheap.

13:34

Well, they'll do it again, see?

13:36

And these are the people who've been doing sort of,

13:38

you know, evil things in ways that didn't seem evil.

13:40

Well, now you've felt it, and you smelled it tonight.

13:42

So, just remember that, like someone said

13:46

when the vigil was sold out,

13:49

when various things happen, the wheel turns,

13:51

and sometimes you're on the bottom,

13:53

and it looks like you're never

13:55

gonna get a chance to get on top.

13:57

Now, those people showed us tonight

13:59

that when they get their foot on our neck,

14:01

they're not gonna hesitate to come stampin' down.

14:04

Now that's, that's really unfortunate,

14:07

that people should be that way,

14:08

that's really unfortunate that

14:10

some people won't do the right thing

14:11

unless they get kicked in the teeth.

14:13

But the wheel's gonna turn, see,

14:15

and it may be this week, you know,

14:16

that we sort of get ourselves together,

14:18

may be next week, it may be next year,

14:21

you know, it may be next month, you never know.

14:22

But the wheel's gonna turn, and payday's comin'.

14:24

(audience applauding)

14:27

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Yeah, alright.

14:33

I've had a request, wait a minute,

14:36

I've had a request--

14:38

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Uh-huh?

14:39

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Yeah, right, that Provost Hobbs and Dr. Cartwright

14:40

be given an opportunity to speak here.

14:44

No, wait a minute, okay, relax, right.

14:47

I think that we are the courts to them.

14:49

(audience members arguing and yelling)

14:51

I think that we oughta give them the opportunity

14:57

that they never gave to the faculty members

15:00

who wanted to raise some questions and some issues,

15:02

but I only think that we oughta let them talk here

15:04

if they're willing to stay and answer questions.

15:07

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Right on, brother.

15:10

(audience cheering and applauding)

15:11

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So let me, let me--

15:17

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No, no, no, that's--

15:18

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Uplift, run, get to Hopkins.

15:19

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Okay.

15:20

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Hopkins is coming.

-

I don't think we want to listen

15:22

to any more of the bullshit.

15:24

We want them to answer questions.

15:26

I'm really not interested in hearing

15:28

just one more statement,

15:29

we can read about it in the paper,

15:31

that's probably all that'll be reported.

15:33

So I think I've got the sense of this,

15:36

Mark has a quote that he'd like to throw in here.

15:38

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Yeah, across the heating ventilation,

15:41

above the heating ventilations,

15:45

where the ultimatum was read,

15:47

Marcus Hobbs stood up and he said,

15:50

yelling through the window, "You have one hour."

15:52

And Chuck Hopkins yelled back, he said,

15:57

"Man, you're giving me one hour," he says,

16:01

"We've given you 2 1/2 years to clean up your house,

16:04

"to end the racist nature of this institution,

16:10

"and you've got the nerve to give me one hour?"

16:12

Now, the people in this room, along with Marcus Hobbs,

16:17

the University mind-forces and the University lackeys,

16:20

the blood of whose hand, you know,

16:24

our blood is on their hand, see,

16:26

there's Bill Griffith, and there's Cliff Pride.

16:27

(audience chattering)

16:30

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Let him talk.

16:32

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And these are the people who let this happen, you know?

16:33

And you can say it's, you know, cops gone wild,

16:36

(audience members yelling)

16:39

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Let him talk.

16:45

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To answer questions for a limited period of time.

16:47

(audience cheering and applauding)

16:50

They have talked in terms of 15 to 20 minutes.

16:57

(audience applauding)

17:02

Okay, now, you know, I'm willing to let them talk

17:12

as they answer questions, and we'll try, you know,

17:15

try and let them say their little piece, okay?

17:20

(audience applauding)

17:27

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Gentlemen, I come here, of course,

17:37

as a representative of, ladies and gentlemen.

17:39

I come here as a representative of the president,

17:43

and I have one major announcement

17:49

that I should like to make immediately,

17:52

President Knight felt it would be best for him

17:54

to try to speak to the entire University community

17:57

on Saturday at one o'clock in the indoor stadium,

18:01

and there, we would like the faculty, the students,

18:05

and the staff of the University available,

18:08

Mr. Bush, you'll require this opportunity

18:10

to hear the president express some of the things

18:14

that he feels are absolutely essential that you hear.

18:18

We do hope very much that you will come,

18:22

and that there'll be an opportunity

18:25

to have some clarification.

18:27

(audience members speaking faintly)

18:28

I think I want to make one or two other observations,

18:36

and not try to take up a lot of time,

18:40

Mr. Bush, or, we just, simply to let you know

18:42

some of the things that I think are

18:45

pieces of information that would be appropriate,

18:47

no one in the University, and I am one of these folks,

18:51

is going to move with haste on the basis of what occurred.

18:56

We are--

19:01

(audience murmuring)

19:01

We, the president, and the chairman of the board,

19:07

are the folk who had to make decisions

19:12

that were related to what went on today,

19:16

and we were in constant communication

19:20

as nearly as was practicable, the

19:22

other pieces of information that I think that I have

19:30

might come out in response to answers to questions,

19:33

but I do want to assure you that

19:37

there are a couple of other items that

19:40

will be of great significance from our standpoint,

19:42

and I hope you'll give them the most

19:46

serious consideration yourself,

19:47

one of which is the following,

19:49

that we had been working on the problems

19:51

that related to the Afro-American group

19:54

in a very serious way, I've been in office, you remember,

19:58

ladies and gentlemen, for roughly since

20:01

the 15th of March, the 15th of January,

20:06

and, oh, I, I would that it was past the 15th of March,

20:11

but the, (laughs)

20:15

(audience laughing)

or even the 22nd, as a matter of fact,

20:19

the point is that we have gotten on these jobs,

20:22

built on a firm foundation that the,

20:26

Dr. Cole and the other people in

20:29

the administrative have been working on,

20:31

we are trying our level best to try to set up

20:34

really efficient mechanisms of handling questions

20:38

that arrive not only from,

20:42

(audience members speaking faintly)

20:44

not only from the Afro-American group,

20:47

but from concerned groups of the entire student body.

20:50

And one of the things that I think

20:54

is of some considerable significance is that we have got

20:57

the best faculty committee that

21:01

we know how, to get on with this job,

21:04

and they can do it more efficiently,

21:07

gentlemen and ladies, than can any administrator,

21:09

and I assure you, this is in fact the case,

21:14

because, excuse me, if I can complete this,

21:17

the administration has a certain capacity to perform,

21:22

I don't know whether you know how few

21:26

people are really involved there,

21:28

and I don't know that you appreciate that

21:31

a many of the authorities and responsibilities

21:34

in the University are delegated, by law,

21:37

and by the by-laws of the University,

21:40

to the faculty, and to the trustees.

21:42

And so what we've got to do is to try to work,

21:45

and get things going as quickly as we possibly can,

21:48

and Mr. Alan, Dr. Alan Kerckhoff,

21:52

of the Department of Sociology,

21:55

has accepted the chairmanship of this,

21:57

and I'm sorry that I don't recall

22:00

precisely what the other membership is,

22:02

but if Mr. Cartwright could help us on that,

22:04

who are they, Mr. Cartwright?

22:06

-

Professor Thomas Langford.

22:09

-

Professor Thomas Langford.

22:11

-

Professor Clark Havighurst from the Law School.

22:15

-

Professor Clark Havighurst of the Law School.

22:17

(audience laughing)

22:20

-

Professor Richard Watson of the History department.

22:23

-

Professor Richard Watson,

22:25

(audience clapping)

22:26

(audience member booing)

of the History department, I'm re-announcing these,

22:28

I guess you may not hear them in the back.

22:31

(audience member yelling faintly)

22:32

-

Professor--

22:34

-

What about Dr. Feenberg of Philosophy?

22:35

-

Not, uh, and (drowned out by audience applauding)

22:37

May I announce the last person, please?

22:41

Professor Martin Lakin of the

22:44

Department of Psychology, Psychiatry.

22:45

(audience member speaking faintly)

22:47

-

Well, I, I (drowned out by audience murmuring)

22:49

-

What about Feenberg?

22:51

-

Feenberg, Feenberg!

22:53

(audience applauding)

-

I bet all these people voted to bring the cops in, too,

22:57

(audience applauding)

23:00

now they're gonna

what, solve the problem, yeah.

23:01

(audience laughing)

23:05

(audience member speaking faintly)

23:07

(audience chattering)

23:09

-

I think it would be of some consequence,

23:11

and I would appreciate you listening carefully,

23:13

because Professor Cartwright can, as best he can,

23:15

explain what the purpose of this committee is.

23:19

(audience murmuring and laughing)

23:22

All of you, I think, know that Dr. Cartwright

23:27

is the chairman of the Academic Council,

23:29

and you understand that the Academic Council

23:31

is an elected body of the faculty, that it--

23:34

(audience members shouting)

23:38

And, and that it attempts to deal with,

23:44

in every way it can, the problems that come to it.

23:48

Now, I think Professor Cartwright

23:51

is a person who you will properly hear,

23:53

and I hope that you'll understand what he's trying to say.

23:57

(audience members murmuring)

24:00

(audience applauding)

24:05

-

Well as I said at the forum this noon,

24:15

whatever I might say may sound very glib

24:17

to a considerable number of you, but it is not glib.

24:20

The organized faculty of this institution

24:26

is indeed greatly concerned and involved

24:29

and influential about what goes on here.

24:32

(audience members shouting)

24:35

And furthermore, I am not willing to stay

24:40

and talk to you with this kind of a reception.

24:42

(audience members shouting)

24:45

-

Let him talk!

24:52

(audience member speaking faintly)

24:53

-

Well, can we let them talk?

24:57

(audience members arguing)

24:59

I would like to have them answer some questions,

25:05

though, rather than keep talking.

25:07

(audience members shouting)

25:12

-

Let's read him his rights, come on.

25:17

(audience laughing)

25:19

-

I would insist that not I speak that only for myself,

25:24

but the overwhelming number of the faculty,

25:28

and I believe, of the student body,

25:30

in saying we cannot operate a university

25:32

unless we can operate it with rational discourse.

25:35

(audience members shouting angrily)

25:38

-

Not rational?

25:49

(audience members speaking faintly)

25:51

-

I don't bring tear gas to class.

25:53

-

Right on.

25:56

(audience clapping)

25:57

(men muttering quietly)

26:04

-

Could I make it of note?

26:06

-

Yeah, I'm, I'm here, I thought we were invited,

26:07

I didn't know we were forcing ourselves onto you.

26:10

-

I'm sorry to interrupt,

26:13

but this is kind of a vital announcement, I think,

26:14

the five persons who were arrested have been found,

26:17

in fact, and they're in jail,

26:20

and they were all charged with assault on an officer.

26:23

(audience exclaiming and booing)

26:25

(man speaking faintly)

26:30

(audience cheering and clapping)

26:33

-

What we might, we might, at this point,

26:38

want to determine what role the University will play

26:40

in trying to get the charges dropped,

26:44

but for the moment,

26:46

let me say that we have approximately $231 of,

26:47

the total bond, it's $200 on each one,

26:52

that's a total of $1,000.

26:55

If we can get a bondsman to put up bond for them,

26:58

we'd have to pay 10% to him, which would be $100,

27:02

which would be lost, that would be his.

27:06

So, again, if there's anybody here,

27:09

possibly Dr. Hobbs or Dr. Cartwright,

27:11

who owns property in Durham,

27:14

who could put up bond for these people,

27:16

then we can use the money for another purpose.

27:17

So, I would maybe take this moment

27:21

to ask Dr. Hobbs or Dr. Cartwright

27:23

(audience cheering and applauding)

27:26

whether they can find it in their hearts

27:43

to put up bond, put up property bond

27:45

for these five students who assaulted policemen.

27:47

(audience members clapping)

27:50

(audience members shouting)

-

Or anybody else who owns property,

28:02

that was the point of going up.

28:04

-

As the chairman, I do not expect to take

28:07

this matter on as a personal matter

28:13

any more than any of you do, I think that the University--

28:15

(audience members shouting)

28:19

I think you can be assured that the University

28:22

will take the steps that it ordinarily takes in these cases,

28:25

which is an attempt to get these students released

28:28

as quickly as possible from jail,

28:30

and I think you can, I think you can be sure that,

28:33

Mr. Griffith, would you care to comment on that?

28:36

-

As far as I--

28:43

(audience murmuring and clapping)

28:44

As far as I know, that's the reasonable action,

28:47

these people are students of the University

28:50

and it's pretty obvious that we are

28:52

interested in trying to see that they

28:54

not be detained any longer than necessary,

28:57

but I can not make a promise about

28:59

my own personal commitment to this matter,

29:01

and I think I can speak for

29:04

Professor Cartwright on the same tone.

29:05

(audience murmuring)

29:07

-

Um, may we, I think, would you like

29:09

to complete your statement, Mr. Cartwright?

29:13

(audience members sparsely clapping)

29:15

-

May, may Professor Cartwright have your attention

29:19

for a completion of his brief statement,

29:22

and then we'll try to answer a few questions?

29:24

(audience members speaking faintly)

29:28

-

It was our understanding and it is our certain knowledge,

29:32

the University administration and members of the faculty,

29:37

and black students were involved

29:40

in consideration of black problems,

29:42

that a substantial number of the problems

29:45

were being worked out, that others required much more time.

29:49

We, uh, fully expected and believed

29:56

that this matter would work itself out.

29:59

When the matter became

30:03

more, what should I say, impassioned?

30:07

When it looked as if it wasn't moving

30:12

as fast as it, one hoped that it might move,

30:15

I don't think I can say as fast as it could move,

30:20

members of the Executive Committee

30:25

of the Academic Council made a decision last week,

30:27

reinforced it on Monday afternoon.

30:32

(speaks off microphone) like what would happen today,

30:34

to take this and several other problems

30:38

to the Academic Council itself

30:41

for discussion at its next regular meeting.

30:42

When we learned that a

30:47

substantial number of black students

30:52

had weighted on the president,

30:54

and, according to the Chronicle,

30:56

said that unless action was taken soon,

30:58

there would be unspecified action,

31:02

we thought that we ought not to wait

31:05

for the Council meeting and it indeed,

31:06

it was more than a Council matter.

31:08

Hence, yesterday morning, the Executive Committee,

31:12

which serves as a committee on committees

31:15

for the University faculty, asked the

31:17

president to utilize that committee

31:21

as a committee on committees,

31:22

(audience laughing)

31:24

(audience murmuring)

31:30

to nominate to him for appointment,

31:38

as a committee of the faculty, not the Council,

31:41

(audience murmuring)

31:44

a group of people that we thought brought today

31:49

breadth of understanding and depth of understanding,

31:55

and a sensitivity, and would at the same time,

31:57

be people whose recommendations

32:01

might well be taken by the faculty.

32:04

-

How did they vote?

32:07

-

And he agreed, hence, yesterday afternoon,

32:11

we spent a considerable period of time, a good many hours,

32:15

talking about what this committee ought to do,

32:21

and talking about its makeup.

32:23

When we broke up last night,

32:26

still not in any way anticipating what would happen today,

32:30

because we had no idea that it would,

32:33

-

You never talked to any of the black students.

32:35

-

We,

32:37

-

Don't put this on--

32:39

-

I am not about to get into what I would consider

32:40

an argument with you people tonight.

32:44

(audience murmuring)

32:46

(audience member speaking faintly)

32:47

I spoke to the forum this noon.

32:50

(audience murmuring)

32:53

We, uh,

32:58

constituted with the president on our recommendation,

33:03

constituted this committee as a

33:06

faculty committee on student concerns,

33:08

charged it to seek out students and faculty, and others,

33:11

including, of course, student leaders, elected or otherwise,

33:17

and black students, and black leaders, and others,

33:21

and to be receptive to them,

33:25

and to proceed as speedily as it could,

33:28

to try to find out more, what the problems unsolved are,

33:32

and what it thought ought to be done about them,

33:37

and what possible matters could be done about them,

33:40

and arranged that its recommendations would have

33:44

the highest priority with those normal channels

33:48

which are required to affect University action.

33:52

In terms of Black Studies, for instance,

33:57

these things go through departments.

33:59

Appointment of staff goes through departments.

34:04

Neither we, nor, I assume, you would want

34:07

a situation in which any one person could say

34:09

what a total faculty or a department is going to do.

34:13

Matters of the total undergraduate curricula

34:17

are in the province of the Undergraduate Faculty Council.

34:20

We proceeded today to get these committee members appointed.

34:24

We had an appointment with Professor Kerckhoff

34:29

in his office, early this morning,

34:32

arranged last night to talk with him about the matter,

34:34

to see if he would serve as chairman.

34:37

At the time, we had no idea that these

34:40

other developments were going to take place.

34:42

Somehow, in an orderly, rational way,

34:45

faculty and students and staff

34:50

are going to have to work these things out,

34:53

and a great many of them cannot be worked out overnight.

34:55

Page Meeting, part 2: Tape #5

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