Calm on the campus

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32474, 8 December 1970, Page 16

Calm on the campus

Student demonstrations make news; but the virtual absence of student demonstrations in the United States this year—after the angry clashes on many campuses in the previous two years—also makes news. A recent review of the student scene by James Reston, of the “ New York Times ”, pointed to the striking contrast between conditions today and last year. He noted that “ there is clearly more “ sensible communication between students and “faculty now than previously”; and this may well be the main factor in reducing tensions in the universities.

The Scranton Commission, appointed by Mr Nixon to inquire into the causes of campus unrest, was criticised for failing to make clear-cut recommendations about changes in the American university system. But the commission did call on members of the university to reaffirm that its proper functions were teaching, learning, research, and scholarship. Some members of the academic community, the commission said, had abandoned such pursuits for the rewards promised by political power; the universities must remain an open forum for all views, and dissent and non-violent protest must still be protected. Towards that end, it urged that each university should have a specific code as to “the “ limits of permissible conduct ”, and should indicate also the measures to be taken when these were violated. The commission was insistent that “ faculty “ members who engage in or lead disruptive conduct “ have no place in the university community ”. The impressions of Mr Reston support the general feeling that the campus atmosphere is now fairly peaceful; that students, by and large, have little interest in party politics—relatively few voted in the recent elections—and that they are equally tired of protest: “ They regard peaceful protest as “ ineffective and violent protest as repugnant. ”. If that is a fair summary, the outlook may be less stormy for the new academic year. Most students are believed to be anxious to avoid a recurrence of violence, which is now likely to be the resort of an extremist fringe rather than of large groups of students as in the past However, the retiring chancellor of the Berkeley branch of the University of California, Mr Roger Heyns—“ burned out ” after five years of exhausting administration—is not optimistic. At the moment he said, Berkeley was enjoying the longest period of calm during his chancellorship. But he prophesied that it would not last. “ There will be new conflicts. All universities “ today can expect it ”.