Cornell '69, 50 Years Later

I was a senior government major at Cornell University in the spring of 1969, when the campus was in turmoil after an armed takeover of the student union building by eighty members of the campus's Afro-American society.

This site is a discussion forum for participants and observers of those events. It was launched at the 40th anniversary of those events, and continues now with the 50th.

To contribute your thoughts and reflections, click on the "Comment" tab at the end of the "Remembering 1969" post or any of the other posts.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Remembering 1969


For those of you that were at Cornell in 1969, what are your memories, thoughts or reflections about those events? Share your thoughts by clicking on the "Comments" tab below this post.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 31, 2009 at 7:29 AM

    Hi - Ok, I'll go … I'm Bob Radford, Class of '69:

    I was in University Hall #3, Room 3206 (if I recall correctly), with roommate DavidH and next door to TomJ (I was excited to support his Presidency of our Freshman Class). I worked hard in classes and at a work-study job (in Rand Hall Computer Center). I participated in Fraternity Rush (DTD & SC) but it didn't work out. I enjoyed being in the dorm and then moved to a College Town apartment with JimB from down the hall in UH #3.
    I was much affected by war, race and gender issues while in High School and College. Pres. Kennedy's assassination in1963 made me suspicious of the American Dream. I followed Martin Luther King and learned from his teachings. From 1965 to 1968, I participated in Anti-War, Stop-Draft and Civil-Rights demonstrations. I'm proud to have tried with Father Daniel Berrigan to be a peacemaker.
    I took a leave from Cornell studies in spring '68. I stayed in Ithaca much of that time, actively working at a Psychology Lab & the Computer Center and participating in various social & political organizations. I returned to my studies, one year behind and with renewed commitment.
    I got married in January 1969 to Cheryl, a high school sweetheart. We moved into a place in Ludlowville and she got a job with the University. I continued my studies and jobs. We talked a lot about how to support the AAS efforts and respond to the Straight Takeover. We decided the best way was for us to serve as active witnesses, during and after the event. In spite of demanding personal schedules, we stood in vigils outside the Straight, fearing that the police or community would not allow a peaceful resolution. We see ourselves in some photos taken during those challenging days, including as we stood outside the 1969 Commencement, with peace and love in our hearts. We left Ithaca in June 1970, driving with 15 people in 3 US mail trucks toward Seattle WA.
    My Cornell BA diploma is dated August 1975 and signed by Dale Corson - but that's another story.
    I believe that the years 1968 through 1974 "were lost" to some of us, sacrificed to wars, takeovers, riots & bra/card burnings, in response to corporate & government institutional crimes & injustices. I'm not sure how much choice or self-determination we exercised in those responses.
    We must understand what happened at Cornell during Parent's Weekend 1969; however, we should bring our discussions into a context of the times. I hope that these reflections, building on 40 years, will allow us to express, share and appreciate what we did and thought. It is in the best interests of our personal and institutional growth that we tell these stories.

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  2. Mary NeesApril 11, 2009 at 12:33 PM

    That event in April ’69, and what followed it for me was the beginning of a serious search. I was a freshman, thrilled to be at Cornell and “loosed” from the confines of the stale and stolid Midwest of my upbringing. I listened thoughtfully to everything I could be exposed to: David Burack’s and others’ speeches on the stump, Father Berrigan, earnest discussions in the hallways of Risley, the clarion call folk music at Sage, the reflective walks were just as much a part of my educational exposure as my classes.
    I remember when the Straight takeover happened, it seemed everyone else’s parents were calling them and telling them to come home. My parents were unconcerned, so I called them informing with excitement that we were going to “restructure the University!” I was dead serious. My Mom laughed (what did she know). I attended many meetings that attempted to explain the grievances of the Black students. I helped occupy Barton Hall. I read every book recommend that Spring from a list someone put forward for our “reeducation”. I joined a committee that met to rewrite the events as they happened that parent’s weekend -this was an ad hoc response due to the fact that Newsweek’s reporter had done a sloppy job. We were eyewitnesses, each of us, and we knew that what had happened amongst us was important and deserved a truthful telling. I think I was the only freshman in that group. What I remember most about this committee was how incredibly frustrating it was to come up with “the story”. Everyone had a limited scope of view. My takeaway from that experience was that any telling of an event is loaded with the writer’s own prejudice, and prejudice is subtle and comes in many political stripes and persuasions. How does one come to know the real truth of an event?
    Once home, I went to a student bookstore in Chicago and bought up a number of books on philosophy and started some serious reading. Then the pivotal event of my life happened. A dear friend was killed as we worked together that summer in Colorado. I was shattered by this on many levels. But it propelled me further into this search for truth; now it seemed surely a life and death matter.
    And it has never stopped amazing me that the question I was asking then, was the same question posed 2000 years ago by a Roman governor, even as he stared Truth in the face, “What is Truth!” We can ask the question. We need to ask the question. My life is testimony that there is an answer that transforms and carries beyond the prejudices of all men. Seek Jesus while He yet may be found by you. He is real, and true.
    Mary Barton Nees

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  3. AnonymousApril 14, 2009 at 5:35 AM

    Wow - Mary's comment/story is wonderful. Thank you for sharing such a clear view.
    Yes, the Straight Takeover became a "life and death matter" for many of us; an event and journey that lasted a day, month, year or more.
    Part of the frustration that I hear in David's posts ... that he missed the significance ... may result from how or why he didn't feel the intensity / danger / value that he saw in the faces of Mary and others.
    We had no choice but to stand up, to sit in, and to arm ourselves ... our world was facing a reckoning that we were not prepared yet to handle.

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