Campus Like ‘Battlefield’

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31920, 22 February 1969, Page 1

Campus Like ‘Battlefield’

The campos of Tokyo University had the appearance of a battlefield after student riots there, said Mr R. Shepherd, reader in civil engineering at Canterbury University, on his return from an overseas study tour which included a visit to Japan.

“Glass from hundreds of broken windows littered the grounds, and large areas of footpaths had been denuded of their concrete pavingslabs by rioting students,” he said.

“They had removed them under cover of darkness, carried them into the roofs of the university buildings, and

subsequently thrown them on to the university officials and riot police below.” Mr Shepherd said the unrest in Tokyo seemed to be organised by Left-wing student groups, supported by many genuinely-ipoderate students who desired reforms of a university system which, by New Zealand standards, appeared extremely restrictive. During his stay, said Mr Shepherd, the situation . was relatively quiet, as the riot police had removed 600 violent students from the Tokyo University buildings in midJanuary, and many of these were still in gaol. But all classes had been suspended, and the staff had only just been able to return to their offices after being excluded by student activity for many weeks.

At Berkeley, in California, Mr Shepherd also saw evidence of student unrest. There, he said, an attempt was being made to close the campus by the strike action of a minority of undergraduates.

About $500,000 worth of damage was done to the Wheeler Hall auditorium one night during his stay by incendiarists.

The only readily-visible sign of discontent had been provided by pickets at the campus gates, and small groups of noisy demonstrators.

“Racial agitations are largely responsible for the continuing unrest at Berkeley,” Mr Shepherd said. “But no disruption of the work of the engineering departments occurred during my visit.”