Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of a large student demonstration on the University of Hawaii campus to protest the U.S. invasion of Cambodia and the shooting of unarmed student peace protesters by National Guard troops on the campus of Kent State University.
It was the largest demonstration to that date by UH students against the U.S. war in Indochina.
I dug out some photos I took during the afternoon rally which will hopefully provide a sense of what it was like.
Discover more from i L i n d
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Good series of pictures. In 1970, I was in New York. There was havoc everywhere, wasn’t there? But, more so in Hawaii, where there was and is a strong military presence.
Thanks, Ian. I was a student at San Francisco State at that time. Lots of tumultuous response there, as you might imagine, including a brief shutdown of the campus. One thing we always said in the aftermath, though, was that the police shootings and killings ten days later at Jackson State–a historically black university in Mississippi–should not be forgotten because of the national outrage over Kent State. But, of course, they were. Guess why. In any case, there’s a new book out on the Jackson State Killings, Steeped in the Blood of Racism, by Nancy Bristow, for those who might be interested.
IAN, as always, thank you very much. These photos elicit so many different thoughts and emotions.
Looking at the large crowds of young college kids in 1970, I’m certain not one graduated from UH with any college loan debt–except for maybe a small Sinclair library fine. And I’m also fairly certain the professors in the photos were paid well enough to raise a family and eventually own a home in Hawaii as time went on.
So what’s happened to the college system in Hawaii and the rest of the country since your photos were taken 50 years ago?
Today those young kids in your photos would very well be leaving UH saddled with five-figure college loan debt. And a bargain at that since many mainland colleges are more expensive than UH!
I get it, the cost of living has gone up for everyone and everywhere since those photos were taken. Maintenance workers and custodians as well as professors deserve to be paid fairly. And you wouldn’t want your dentist to be using the same equipment used 50 years ago (although I still appreciate the open-air windows at Sinclair). But something has to give. Free tuition for all?
By the way, today’s pandemic is altering business models for many colleges. Less foreign travel means less foreign student income for colleges (think way more expensive out-of-state tuition rates), and the need for more online classes has some instructors wondering if they will become expendable.
I doubt we will ever see the same passionate protests again.
I remember the Kent State incident as if it happened yesterday. I was in the US Air Force stationed at the Pentagon when It happened. I had also just started attending Northern Va Community College, so I had even gotten chewed out for letting my hair grow too long for our AF standards. I was working a night shift at the Pentagon when I reported for work, the TV in our office was on and they were reporting about the Kent State shootings. Our shift supervisor turned to us and said “well they deserved to be shot, they had long hair”. That made the rest of my shift very difficult to complete. Because the Pentagon was a “special” assignment, I was able to request an immediate transfer; I did, and ended up in Thailand of all places.
Belated note on Michael’s comment. He rhetorically asks: “Free tuition for all?” From the mid-1950s, throughout the 60s, and into the 70s all public institutions of higher education in California were tuition-free under what was called the Master Plan for higher ed. From small community colleges to UCLA and Berkeley. As a California resident you could go from high school to a PhD at a great university without paying a penny in tuition. And the economy was booming. This isn’t an idea invented by Bernie the Socialist, but by the California State Legislature when Dwight Eisenhower was President. Also, student loans (to help pay living expenses) were federally administered and closely monitored to keep interest rates low, unlike today.
Under Governor Reagan “fees” began being inserted as stealth substitutes for tuition, and I remember well the outrage at SF State around 1970 or so when a semester’s fees totaled $75! I say all this not to pine for some mythical good old days, but to agree with Michael that today’s young people are being royally screwed–and in the process the entire country is being seriously damaged.
This was right towards the end of the Hong Kong Flu pandemic that killed an estimated 100,000 people in the U.S. Guess social distancing wasn’t a thing back then. And I don’t remember missing any school either. What a difference from then and now. But I still prefer to make love and not war 😉