July 16, 2020 by Philip Lewenstein

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of My University of Minnesota Degree: Striking Similarities between 1970 and 2020

In spring 1970, 50 years ago, I completed my bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and was ready to embark on graduate education and a career. Now, in spring 2020, I am a stay-at-home senior citizen respecting the coronavirus and reflecting on the two milestone years—1970 and 2020. Many changes have occurred in half a century, but disappointingly, despite some progress, much work remains to strengthen equality and opportunity for all citizens.

Although campuses and the country look much different demographically today than they did 50 years ago and revolutionary advances in technology and the explosion of knowledge have affected all aspects of our lives, striking similarities exist between 1970 and 2020; three prominent examples are social unrest, failure of national leadership, and environmental threats.

Amid the turmoil, there was still a place for sports in 1970. The Vikings and Twins led the sports news in 1970, as they do today. However, women’s sports did not exist 50 years ago. (see “Sports Played Important Role in Both 1970 and 2020,” www.philsfocus.com)  

Living on campus, I loved my four years at the University of Minnesota: classes, professors, friends, and work at the Minnesota Daily as a sports reporter, assistant sports editor, and sports editor. But events on campus in spring 1970 had the biggest impact on my college education.

In both May 1970 and 2020, major social unrest was rampant in the country with protests on college campuses and in the cities. Fifty years ago, the major spark was opposition to the Vietnam War ignited by the killing of four students at Kent State University in Ohio; this year, the major spark has been a focus on racism and police brutality ignited by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

My years at the University were a time of campus activism as fervor on campuses had been building for several years. Colleges throughout the country were affected by the civil-rights movement, the women’s movement, and the anti-war movement. These movements were marked by a growing challenge to authority and expansion of a counterculture that I began to feel a part of. This activism peaked in May 1970 after the Nixon administration’s announcement of the U.S. invasion of Cambodia.

My eyes had begun to open to the world in 1968. That spring, change began to occur nationally with the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. That summer, riots erupted in Los Angeles, Detroit, Newark, and other cities as well as during the Democratic national convention in Chicago. Richard Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey to win the presidency in November. As a form of consolation, Humphrey taught classes at both the University and Macalester, lecturing in some of my history and political-science classes

Walter Mondale, former vice president of the United States and former U.S. senator from Minnesota, recalls arriving in Washington, D.C., in the 1960s “when millions of Americans organized, protested, endured the sting of oppression, and voted in new government officials to pass reform” (“The civil-rights fight: A continuing journey,” Star Tribune, June 7, 2020).

“The result was historic: a surge of programs supported by Democrats and Republicans that started to open up America to all of its citizens regardless of skin color, gender and, eventually, sexual orientation,” Mondale said.

Before 1970, on the Twin Cities campus, the demonstration that created the strongest legacy and clearest outcome was the January 14-15, 1969, 24-hour occupation of Morrill Hall—the administration building—by African American students who had formed, with community representatives, the Afro-American Action Committee. That demonstration led directly to the creation of the Department of Afro-American and African Studies and, indirectly, to American Indian studies and Chicano studies. Course offerings were available by fall 1969.

By 1970, the major focus was on opposing the Vietnam War. About two-thirds of Americans believed the United States had erred by sending troops to fight in Vietnam. A wave of protests swept the country in reaction to the invasion of Cambodia.

My last quarter at the University in 1970 was nothing like my relatively quiet first quarter four years earlier. The quarter was marked by campus-wide protests including a strike of the University by students and faculty members. The protests included teach-ins, a day of reflection, mass picketing, a suspension of classes, a rally, and a huge march to the Capitol. Participating in the march to the State Capitol with tens of thousands of people was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life.

The weekend after the April 30 announcement of the invasion of Cambodia, National Guard protesters opened fire at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four students. Ten days later, two students died and a dozen were wounded at Jackson State, a mainly black college in Mississippi. In Madison, Wisconsin, a university building alleged to house defense research was wrecked by a bomb explosion; one person died.

The day after Nixon’s televised speech, a group of University students and faculty met to plan a campus-wide protest, recalled Stanford Lehmberg and Ann M. Pflaum in their history of the University of Minnesota (The University of Minnesota 1945-2000, 2001). On Monday, May 4, 1970, 5,000 students and faculty members voted to strike the University in opposition to the U.S. offensive in Cambodia and the possible resumption of bombing in North Vietnam. They asked the University Senate to endorse the strike as a “necessary and legitimate” means of protest.

The next day, about 4,500 people attended a memorial service for the Kent State students. Several hundred strikers then occupied Morrill Hall but relinquished it when President Malcolm Moos agreed to speak to the crowd outside. He indirectly spoke in favor of the protest and that night issued a statement proposing the following Friday as “a day of reflection and contemplation” for the campus. Classes could be held, but attendance would not be required.

Teach-ins on U.S. foreign policy, the military and the war, and corporate responsibility were held on Wednesday. On Thursday, mass picketing occurred at most campus buildings. The Twin Cities Campus Assembly approved the proposal to suspend classes on Friday and, if faculty and students desired, on one day each week for the rest of the academic year.

On Friday, May 8, about 6,000 people joined a rally on the steps of Northrop Auditorium. Lehmberg and Pflaum note that the strike was supported by a cross-section of students and faculty that included radicals, liberals, and moderates.

The movement culminated Saturday, May 9, when a large crowd of students, faculty, citizens, veterans, and clergy marched from the University to the State                                                                            Capitol; we were joined by student groups from Augsburg, Macalester, St. Thomas, Hamline, St Catherine’s, and Concordia when we passed their campuses. Estimates of the crowd size at the Capitol varied from 20,000 to 50,000.  

On May 16, 1970, during the student strike, protesters presented five demands to President Moos: remove ROTC from campus, stop war-related research, sell stock in companies providing munitions, commit to a no-reprisal policy, and close down the university as a protest against the war, according to Lehmberg and Pflaum.

“May 20, 26, and June 3, 1970, were designated ‘days of reflection’ on the national crisis,” the authors note. “Significantly, there was no violence. At the high point of the strike, informal counts showed that class attendance had declined by 10 percent and close to six thousand students had accepted the special grading arrangement that allowed them to be evaluated on a pass/fail basis rather than through letter grades.”

Lehmberg and Pflaum point out that at Minnesota, activism did not lead to the same level of violence, loss of community, or loss of hope for institutional change that occurred at other universities.

“Arguably, this was not because Minnesota activists were less passionate and energetic than their counterparts on other campuses, but, rather, because they met with greater sympathy from faculty members and administrators, from public officials, and from corporate leaders,” Lehmberg and Pflaum wrote. “The social fabric may have been more resilient in Minnesota because students and activists knew, or knew of, both local and national political leaders. These leaders, moreover, themselves were noted reformers.”

Fast-forward 50 years to Minneapolis; on Memorial Day, a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd in south Minneapolis while three other officers stood by. This tragedy set off protests, and some rioting and looting, not on campuses but in cities across America. Protests might have been held on campuses, but most colleges were devoid of students owing to the coronavirus.

Continuing for days, most of the protests have been peaceful. Protesters are advocating for systemic reforms in criminal justice to ensure justice and fairness and to end racism. Protesters also acknowledge the need to close underlying gaps in education, housing, economic opportunity, and health care by racial/ethnic groups.

Exacerbating social unrest in 1970 and 2020 has been the lack of national leadership by presidents Nixon and Trump. In spring 1970, Nixon was in the second year of his presidency. Nixon had fashioned an appeal to socially conservative Americans who disliked the counter-culture and anti-war demonstrations. Nixon saw himself as the law-and-order candidate and leader of what he termed “the silent majority.” He pledged to bring a divided nation together, but his actions belied his pledge. Clearly, Nixon was unpopular on campuses.

After his landslide victory over Senator George McGovern in 1972, Nixon’s presidency was headed for trouble with the Watergate scandal—the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration’s attempt to cover up its involvement.

The House of Representatives initiated impeachment proceedings against Nixon, but impeachment proceedings became moot when Nixon resigned August 9, 1974, before the full House could vote on articles of impeachment. Nixon was the first American president to resign from office.

Trump’s tenure as president has had many similarities to Nixon’s presidency. In 2020, Trump has portrayed himself as the law-and-order leader, supporting federal force against mostly peaceful protesters and denying the existence of systemic racism. Trump has sought to divide the country despite proclamations to the contrary.

Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 18, 2019, on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice; however, he was acquitted by the Senate on February 5, 2020.

Another common issue in both 1970 and 2020 was the environment. Environmentalism was a growing issue in the 1960s, culminating in several milestones in 1970, including the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and passage of major environmental laws like the Clean Water Act. The EPA was to coordinate and enforce environmental policy.

I recall the first Earth Day celebration on campus on April 22, 1970. Earth Day has been celebrated around the world to show support for environmental protection with events in hundreds of schools, colleges, and communities. There have been peaceful demonstrations for environmental reform. The 50^th Earth Day was celebrated in April 2020.

Environmentalism remains an overarching issue in 2020 with the focus on climate change. Much of the debate among potential Democratic presidential candidates in fall 2019 focused on climate change as the existential issue of our time.

Unfortunately, Trump has denied the science of climate change, most notably announcing in November 2019 that he was beginning the year-long process of withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord, abandoning the global effort to combat climate change. Moreover, Trump has favored weakening environmental laws.

While social unrest, weak national leadership, and environmentalism are three striking similarities between 1970 and 2020,  key differences in demography and technology between the years also have impressed me, not to speak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recession this year.

A major difference over 50 years has been the changes in demographics. Little diversity existed in 1970. In 1970, 1.8 percent of Minnesota’s population were people of color, 11.4 percent in the United States. By 2010, 16.8 percent of Minnesota’s population were people of color, 36.1 percent in the United States. In Minnesota today, people of color make up about 20 percent of the total population, about 40 percent nationally.

In a growing number of U.S. counties, Hispanic and Black Americans are the majority, reflecting changing demographic and shifting migration patterns. In 151 counties, Hispanic and Black or indigenous people are the majority race or ethnicity.

When I came to the University in 1966, I saw few minority students, except for football and basketball players. In Minnesota today, students of color comprise about 25 percent of total enrollment, according to the Office of Higher Education. Enrollment of female students has increased every year since 1982, and females make up about 55 percent of total enrollment.

Increased diversity has enhanced the educational experience; yet significant gaps remain in access to higher education and in achievement for students of diverse backgrounds at all levels.

Another major difference over 50 years has been advances in technology, including revolutionary changes in communications, dramatically affecting all aspects of our lives. My journalism studies in 1970 focused on print and broadcasting. The development of television was significant 50 years ago as, for the first time, the bloodshed of the Vietnam War and protests in the streets could be viewed in Americans’ living rooms.

In 2020, the power of cellphones and social-media platforms has transformed communications. Sadly, newspapers are dying off, and anyone can say and show almost anything unfiltered via social media. What if cellphones existed during the turbulent 1960s?

My undergraduate years at the University were invaluable, particularly as a journalism student, and worth celebrating 50 years later. I learned the importance of seeking the facts, of making independent conclusions rather than blindly accepting the pronouncements of authority. I have observed and experienced change, feeling frustrated often by its slow pace but learning the importance of patience, persistence, and process.

Yet it is disappointing that despite progress in half a century, the country still faces disparities among sectors of the population in education, law enforcement, economic opportunity, health care, and housing. These gaps are driving today’s protests for systemic change in the country’s institutions.

Walter Mondale reflected on the continuing fight for equality.

“All of those breakthroughs (in 1960s’ legislation) were hard to imagine when I started to work on civil rights,” Mondale said. “It is also true that America remains scarred by unacceptable disparities. But the work and sacrifice of so many have put America in a position to understand the problem: what universal human rights and equity should look like.

“We have won an agreement on a simple and profound idea proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence: All people are created equal. The battle for civil rights is a journey, not an end point. Each generation is tasked with the hard work of serving in the great fight for justice. Our neighbors who took to the streets over the past few weeks have joined a great cause. I thank them.”

Educational institutions like the University of Minnesota in 1970 and 2020 have a major role in helping resolve these basic issues of our society. I am grateful for my opportunities and experiences at the University of Minnesota 50 years ago.