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Demonstration policy rooted in University history

On Monday, a task force led by Larry Dietz, vice chancellor of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, will begin proposing changes to the current SIUC demonstration policy; something new for a policy that has gone virtually unchanged since its inception in 1970.

According to SIUC documents, the Crisis Management Committee developed the Interim Demonstration Policy in the summer of 1970. The Crisis Management Committee was made of undergraduates, graduates, faculty members and administrative staff members.

The SIUC Office of the President approved the current demonstration policy in February 1983 and amendments were made in May 1998. The University has kept true to the original demonstration policy with only slight changes in wording.

The first demonstration policy came into effect during September 1970, following one of the most violent times on the SIUC campus. In May of that year, riots broke out across campus, eventually causing then- SIUC President Delyte Morris to shut down the University.

The protests that took place in May 1970 were due to many causes. The Vietnamese Center on campus, the Vietnam War, a women's curfew on campus, the U.S. invasion of Cambodia and the killing of four students at Kent State are just a few of the reasons why students demonstrated on campus.

According to SIUC History Professor Robbie Lieberman, students during the '60s and early '70s held demonstrations and marches all over campus.

"There were some protests where they actually marched through buildings and tried to tell students to come out of class and join them," Lieberman said. "So there were some disruptive activities."

To help prevent riots and unruly demonstrations from occurring again, the administration imposed an "Interim Demonstration Policy" that has remained in tact since September 1970. The SIUC Administration also formed what is known as the "Free Forum Area," located south of Anthony Hall.

The free forum area allowed SIUC students to protest by using amplification equipment without any prior notice. Anyone wanting to demonstrate or protest anywhere other than the Free Forum Area had to notify the Office of Student Activities.

A free forum area was something completely new to a student body that was used to being allowed to protest and demonstrate anywhere on campus.

After imposing the new demonstration policy and free forum area, the area in front of Morris Library, which was a popular place for student demonstrations, was no longer open for rallies and demonstrations without approval from the Chancellor.

"Students used to have big protests in front of the library, for example," Lieberman said. "You could march all over campus and say what you wanted to say and basically have free speech. Then at some point, someone decided to make that impossible."

According to Nancy Hunter Pei, assistant to the vice chancellor of Student Affairs, students in the 1970s helped develop the policy and she does not believe it has changed substantially throughout the years.

"With 24 hours notification, you, in essence, can request to do a demonstration any place on campus," Pei said. "And as long as it's not disrupting a class or the normal flow of traffic or blocking doorways and that kind of thing, you can do that.

"You only have to be out here [the free forum area] if you're using amplification, and if you wish to schedule a specific space so that you're not interfering with whatever else is going on campus."

According to Pei, one reason the free forum area was set up in front of Anthony Hall is because it is outside of the central administration building on campus. Most student demonstrations deal with internal campus issues, and before the closing of the bridge, she said there was an "enormous amount of foot traffic" in that location.

"Mostly, what students want to demonstrate about is not about something external to the University, but it tends to be something internal to the University," Pei said. "So where you want to get your point across is obviously to the primary people who reside in this facility."