Emma Wishau Annotated Script History 387

Proposal for project: I will be using a collection of multiple interviews of University of Eau Claire Alumnae, to create a segment on protesting on campus in the 1960s and 1970s. Within these two decades, the United States had an explosion of change in a very short period of time. The interviews collected will touch base on Vietnam War, such as marches and drafts, also organizations created. Also some experiences with the Civil Rights Movement, with Martin Luther King Jr. being a speaker on campus in the early 60s and the diversity of the student body on campus and how its changed today. Lastly what will be discussed is the culture of the young people during these time periods. Hippie culture hit every part of the United States at the time so getting an insight of how it affected Eau Claire is interesting to hear about. The purpose of this interview is to leave the audience feeling they seen history through the eyes of ordinary people, not what Hollywood depicts or what some text book tells you.

Sources: Sharon Tripp Interview = ST David Blakeley Interview Class of = DB Carole Spenser Interview Class of 64 = CS Rita Sorkness Interview Class of 76 = RS Barbara Field Interview Class of 83 = BF Karen Alexander Interview Class of 67 = KA Narrator: Emma Wishau = EW EW: After World War II, soldiers were welcomed home to a baseball playing, apple pie eating, wholesome United States. Everything seemed peachy keen through the 1950s, with economic growth, subdivisions, new cars, and a budding family. Seems like a picturesque world to live in, and even today we find ourselves thinking back upon these times as a simpler time to live, but its true to not judge a book by its cover. When the 1960s hit, all the turmoil being repressed began to bubble to the surface. Movements began to take a more public approach; people began becoming comfortable popping the bubble that everyone lived in. Long hair, rock n roll and love were being preached by the young people on campuses across the United States. Protests began, the word of the people were being spread, some

ending violent like Kent State (1) others were peaceful. The life of a college student had been altered, now it was normal to have a stance and be vocal about it. EW: In this podcast I will be using different views on certain events on the campus of University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Topics such as Vietnam, Civil Rights Movement, and Hippie Culture will be discussed and will be presented by different sources. This segment will discuss the one campus but different movements and different perspectives. EW: Our first speaker is Barbara Fields who describes what the beginning of Hippie Culture was like growing up and going to school. People began to become more peaceful with being vocal and it became a popular fad at universities to take part in. BF(32:00- 32:56) The beginnings of the Hippie culture. You know, in San Francisco and really I think for me the first time that you really realized that what the beginnings of the influence across the country. How it can influence even your small campus and community. It was the beginning of the probably the first, I would say nationally and locally just the drug culture. It was huge with the marijuana and the culture with young people experimenting with LSD at the time. So that was kind of the beginnings of that, you know, where it came and grew. And you never realized where, you know, today where it would have gone. EW: When asked the question was the Hippie Culture Prominent on campus during that time? her response was BF (33:01- 33:22): Somewhat. You know, they would have been now that you think about it, they would have been the groups that were probably more active politically. They would be...some groups would be more apt to maybe some of the smaller protest movements that were around. I don't remember a lot of it now. EW: David Blakeley, was a student at UW-Eau Claire in the mid 1960s. In his interview he describes being subjected to the draft as a college student during the Vietnam War. He later goes on to describe what he did to protest the war, and his reasoning why. DB. (11:29 12:40, 12:45-12:54) in my final year of school in November there was something called the Draft Lottery and they drew you birthday out of a hat. My birthday was, my birthday was 1/20/49 and January 20 was drawn, number 270. If one read the fine print in the rules it said you had to be in the Lottery, you had to be in the draft pool with your number during a calendar year. Well it was already November so I went immediately to the Draft Board and changed my student deferment, I believe it was S-1 or S-2 to a 1-A and was, declared myself eligible for the draft with a lottery number of 270. And of course in that 30 day time there was no way that they reached 270, nor did they ever reach 270, but on December 31, I was free of the draft and reclassified as 1-H, not considered for service. And so, by the time I graduated from school, Vietnam was no longer a threat to me. And that was the luck of the draw..(12:45-54) I read the rules and they were very clear: you had to be in it in a calendar year. Well calendar years end on December 31st, end of story.

EW: When asked about draft card burnings he replied DB (13:29-15:03) What was burned was draft cards; a draft card was your sel--, it was your Selective Service registration that you had to register, and maybe you still do, for the Selective Service. You had a card, it was your draft card. It didnt mean youd been drafted. I really think the draft card burning was really rare, although much publicized, I never witnessed one. Also know that it was illegal to do so and if you burned your draft card you could be convicted of it as a crime and punished I dont know, ever heard of people burning their letters, saying they had to come to register or be drafted. And as far as the chant, yes it was a chant among general war protest gatherings that would be one of the chants. But you have to remember that this was a very delicate thing, you could lose on either side of the coin. You could be drafted and be sent to Vietnam or if you committed a crime in terms of burning draft cards or refusing to show up when you were inducted, you know then you could be punished. And when you say did we know the rules? We knew the rules like the palm of our hands, you had to know the rules, failure was not an option. I consider those protesters some of the most patriotic people Ive ever met. EW: He was then asked to explain what he meant by this and he explained DB (15:06- 15:22) Well the war was wrong, it was immoral and to protest it was true patriotism To go along with it was foolishness and I would stack that against the last little business of militarism EW: When asked if he took part in the protests he responded DB (1:05:51- 1:06:56) Ohh, I marched in war protests, as I said I never witnessed any kind of criminal or miscreant behavior in any of those protests, people were orderly, they were dignified. We all knew about things like the Dowel Riot, you know, we knew about the Krouger store that was burned down in Madison, we knew about that stuff. How and when and how it happened, it was not clear to us and nor clear to anybody today. But certainly that was not the general way of behaving. Now as far as did I participate, if you want to talk about anti-Vietnam activities, yes I did participate and if you say a big thing, well is a march a big thing as opposed to sitting at a table handing out flyers on how to avoid the draft. I dont know which is bigger. EW: Next person to be interviewed would be Sharon Trip, who graduated from Eau Claire in 1971. She explains why men were beginning to enter into college more than they used to and also what protesting she took part of. ST (23:19- 24:17) I think there were many of the boys that went to college because of the time it was deferment from the so I know a lot of the kids from the graduating class went to college whether they could stayed or handled it they went for deferment. There was marches going on toward the end. Candle light marches down Water Street. I believe and maybe they went all the way downtown. I only participated in about one of those. Because they were normally at night. But there were a lot of that going on. Peace marches. I dont recall any sit-ins or demonstrations. But there may have been at least some at that time I would have to double check like Kent State when that happened that may have had an impact. That was a big event going on in my years at college.

EW: Next we hear from Carole Spenser who went to school in the mid 60s at Eau Claire, who describes how the faculty on campus handled such a delicate time withouth creating more of an uproar from the students. CS (34:25- 35:41): I its true in the sixties, you know, that was beginning and certainly that was a concern but it was during the time that I was getting my masters in sixty-eight, sixty-nine, and seventy, that the war really became an issue and there were a lot of protests and when those young people were killed those students that were killed in Ohio. There was a mass demonstration here and I have to give credit to Dr. Haas, who was the chancellor at the time, he really I think he understood what was happening with the students and how they were reacting because he didnt force anybody, he said, you know, I understand that this is a real issue were going to let you meet and, as long as its a peaceful rally, you know, well let you go ahead with your rallies and your marches and whatever. Which was a smart thing on his part because I think that if he tried to stop it, it would have ended up being much more combative. CS(35:45-36:01): I mean I remember marching down Park Avenue, downtown, or down across Water Street Bridge, and there that part thats over there meeting and having a rally and, you know, it was a time of great unrest for a lot of people.(36:18-36:27) a lot of unrest and people having various opinions. Yeah, it was a difficult time. Mhmm EW: Lastly on the Vietnam protesting we hear from Rita Sorkness who graduated in 1976. She describes how her childhood was affected by the war and also what it was like to go to school at the end of the war. RS (23:40-25:12) I know there had been different things during the at the height of the Vietnam War, protests and things, but that was before I came to school here. I would guess the greatest effect of the ending of the war would have been some of the student veterans coming back to school. I dont remember, I think they had a club or something but of course I grew upI graduated from high in 1966 so we were the second or third year of the baby booms from World War II, which both of my parents were involved in and then the Veitnam War certainly affected a lot of mainly males when at the time I was in high school. If you did not go on to college you were pretty, mostly likely going to be drafted and thats what happened. So I suppose the greatest affect to on the University at that point, even still somewhat when I was attending, I cant remember when the draft ended, I think there were a lot of students, especially male students that came to school that probably wouldnt have necessarily have had the time to avoid the Vietnam War. Quite a not too happy of a time period. EW: Other movements that were happening across the nation also had some influence on campus at Eau Claire. Karen Alexander, who graduated in 1967 recalls the night Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at UW-Eau Claire. She was in High School at the time but it is still clear in her mind of the event. KA (13:26- 14:09) I remember sitting in classes with students who had talked about going south to help with voter registration. Um the speakers we had. Martin Luther King Jr. was here and that was a very memorable night for many, um reasons. But the man whom Schofield, um not Schofield, um Schneider Hall is named for had really worked to bring Martin Luther King Jr. here and he died of a heart attack in

the hallway in the-right after the speech. And so forever, that has been connected in my mind. There are a lot of individuals that have had an impact on this university a lot. KA(15:14 15:31) Makes you much more aware of, um the national life and the responsibility we all have. I think the more personal experiences we can have as were going through life, the better citizens we are. EW: When asked about certain protests that happened on campus for civil rights movement Karen goes on to talk about an understanding staff that listened the objections of the students. KA (15:51-16:13) I understand that there were students who started to, um demonstrate at that time and I understand that the chancellor and his wife spent a night in Schofield Hall, sitting on the floor listening to students concerns. And I think that many things on campus were managed in that way. EW: These individuals, who told their stories, are not like any text book or movie you may read or watch about these events. They lived their lives around these events, and learned how to adjust to them and move on like they were any other normal days. Hearing first hand of their experiences, we are able to hear it in their voices how they saw these events as and what they thought as an individual instead of as a group or number or statistic. Thank you for listening in today.