Anniversary commemoration focuses on the positive legacy of the takeover

By Franklin Crawford

On April 20, the 30th anniversary of the Willard Straight Hall takeover, several student, staff and administrative groups sponsored a daylong commemoration of the event. There were speeches, student and faculty panels, a reception, workshops, discussions, photo exhibits, a short film and forums focusing on the legacy of the takeover and its implications for the university today. Here are comments from some of the participants:

"Thirty years after shutting down campus and demanding democracy within the ivory towers, the true decision-making power has not yet transcended from Day Hall to the Cornell community. In fact, we may be worse off today than we were 30 years ago. The consciousness of full democratic participation has been dulled into a general apathy and contentment among the broader community. Yet, in many ways the struggle on campus is stronger than it ever has been before. Activists from various faculty, employee and student communities are beginning to realize what their various causes have in common. We share more than a common enemy; we share a strong sense of citizenship and a moral idealism which allows us to see the world not as it is, but as it can be. This is perhaps, the most important legacy of the struggle of 1969: the idealism of a truly democratic society based on self-determination, justice and equality. While we commemorate the legacy, this time must also be used as a wakeup call to make sure that the will to fight for such a society still continues on campus and throughout our nation today.

"For the struggle certainly continues."
--Stephen Patrick Rockwell, senior and student panelist during the "Student Activism Today" segment of the commemoration event. Rockwell is a policy analysis and management major and a student-elected member of the Cornell Board of Trustees.

"Looking around the room today, there are many differences [compared to 1969]. But one thing, perhaps I'm wrong ... what I see is very few faculty. Certainly very few white faculty. And that is the same."
--Benjamin Nichols, professor emeritus and '46 alumnus (electrical engineering), speaking as a panelist during the "Faculty-Student Forum: '69--'99; Keeping the Legacy Alive" segment of the commemoration.

"The Afro-American Society made their experience relevant to what was going on beyond this campus. There was a sense of continuity to their activism. [But] to a great extent I feel like the administration's legacy has survived to a much higher degree than the great legacy that the students who took over the Straight left behind."
--Tsedey Betru, senior in urban and regional planning and a student panelist at the commemoration.

"The representation of events in the book by Donald Downs [see related story, Page 8] has been skewed. I think not enough play and not enough coverage has been given to the ways in which many figures both in and out of all the agitating community were raising issues in a responsible and serious way. ... The response of the faculty [to the situation] was often obtuse and often caught up in the machinations and the articulations of statements ..."
--H. Reeve Parker, Faculty--Student Forum panelist and professor of English, who came to Cornell in 1967.

"Even within the university, the notion of reason does not overcome deep-seated intellectual, ideological self-interest. Where are the 'reasonable' people that are looking at a clearly racialized work force at this university and the impact it has on intellectual and social life? I've yet to see one majority faculty member or group of faculty take this issue up before it becomes necessary to protest about it."
--James Turner, professor and director of the Africana Studies and Research Center and panelist during the Faculty--Student Forum.

"I make no apologies, none, for my involvement in the Straight takeover 30 years ago, nor do I make any apologies for the takeover itself. I believe as firmly now as I did then that we did the right thing."
--Andre McLaughlin, guest keynote speaker at the commemoration, '70 alumnus and former Afro-American Society member at Cornell, who is now a professor at Medgar Evers College.

"The door was broken open in 1969, and we will keep it open for ourselves as we continue to struggle."
--Nicole Guidotti-Hernandez, graduate student in English language and literature, who was a student panelist.

"I thank all those student activists of 1969 for having the fortitude and the skills and the courage to ask hard questions and demand meaningful answers. I hope that the rest of us will have the fortitude to carry on."
--Jane Mt. Pleasant, American Indian Program director and faculty panelist.

"There isn't enough communication between groups of color at Cornell. We hope to get together with minority sororities and fraternities so that we can encourage activity and participation on a broader scale."
--Nancy Kim '00, biology, a student panelist. Kim is a member of Alpha Kappa Delta Phi, the national Asian interest sorority, which sponsored a roundtable discussion at the commemoration on improving race relations.