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1968 OUTSIDE LIBRARY


Read reminiscences of 1960s grads

 

Click on some images for further information
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dille

Roland Dille, ca. 1966-67 (read about Roland Dille's first years as president of MSC)
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Joe Bernick 

Joe Bernick, who persuaded MSC to recognize an SDS chapter on the campus in 1966.  The campus SDS drew on materials from other anti-war movements in its first year  (click on photograph for a 1967 example).  Bernick later served in the Student Senate and sparked controversy as editor of the Mistic newspaper.
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1967 choir to europe

1967 -- MSC Choir
leaves for Europe
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CA 1967

Center for the Arts, winter 1967

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Byron Murray mid 60s
Dr. Byron Murray  retired from MSC in 1967.  In edition to teaching English at the college for forty-one years, Murray wrote most of the editorials for the Moorhead Daily News for over two decades.

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End of MSC Dragon yearbooks
1968 -- With interest in "traditional" yearbooks waning, the staff of the 1968 Dragon yearbook posed for this photograph, noting that "this is the final yearbook for this college . . . we recorded the year as we saw it."

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Dille and neumaier
John Neumaier and Roland Dille (seated), with the MSC administration heads.  In the late 1960s, Neumaier and Dille worked long hours to maintain peace between conservative and liberal wings in the faculty and the student body.  When Neumaier resigned in 1968, Dille was chosen as the new president -- after promising the state's coordinator of Higher Education he would not take a stand for one side or the other.

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convivio
The 1969 (and final) issue of the Convivio literary magazine ignited a controversy over obscenity and censorship, culminating in the confiscation of an issue of the Mistic and suspension of the student newspaper.  No official newspaper existed for almost two years, while students published several  independent issues off-campus.

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Mystic 1969
Click image to read the stories on the Mistic suspension (Adobe format)

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TIMELINE    (**some linked documents require Adobe software to read)

 

January, 1966 -- The MSC College Administration develops plans for facilities and programs based on the estimate that 7500 students will be enrolled annually in classes within ten years.

January, 1966 -- The staff of the Mistic reprints a column from the student newspaper of the University of Cincinnati; the column advocates the right of students to "have a voice in evaluating their professors" through an independent system of ratings and comments. 

February, 1966 -- Male students are informed that "Selective Service Officials" of the Federal Selective Service system have decided to use "a testing system" to employ "a testing system as a guide for local draft boards in granting student deferments."  State directors of the Selective Service expect to have 35,000 students take the achievement test in the coming weeks, so that "students with low grades will know that they might be drafted in the coming summer." Over 200,000 US military personnel are now stationed in Vietnam; the majority are draftees.

February-March, 1966 -- Two major debates are argued on campus -- should MSC require more PhDs from its faculty; should the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) be granted a charter as a recognized student organization.  Opinions are divided among faculty and students.  But virtually everyone agrees -- MSC needs more parking!

April, 1966 -- Maurice Townsend, dean of MSC, accepts a position in California.  Roland Dille, associate dean of the college, is named dean.

April, 1966 -- After much debate, SDS is granted a charter as a student organization (see president's letter of recognition).  SDS hosts "Bitch-In" soon after to call for formal student evaluations of faculty, and the right of "two consenting adults to live together" even if it violates local law.

May, 1966 -- Cal Olson, reporter for the Fargo Forum, speaks on campus of his four week visit to Vietnam, reports that most Minnesota-North Dakota soldiers he talked to in Vietnam favor the US presence there.

June, 1966 -- As construction of the new student union continues, 377 students graduate.

September, 1966 -- Enrollment now exceeds 3800.  Dr. Neumaier addresses 1200 students at the opening academic convocation, stressing that a major focus in the coming year should be on "respect for the dignity of individual human beings regardless of color, place of birth, economic position, cultural origin or spiritual commitment."  In the next several months, MSC officials begin designing a plan for providing scholarships to recruit more minority students at MSC.

September, 1966 -- MSC music department announces that the college choir will undertake "for the first time" a performance tour in Europe.  Recordings of the choir's on-campus performances will be sold to help pay tour expenses.

October, 1966 -- MSC faculty now numbers a record high of 63 professors, representing almost all of the fifty US states, and eleven foreign countries.  Increasing numbers of faculty hold PhDs, one has been a Rhodes scholar and four others -- including Dr. Philip Seitz, chair of Art, -- have taught abroad as Fulbright scholars. 

November, 1966 -- Clarence "Soc" Glasrud (class of 1934 and faculty in English) is named "Alumni King" by MSC Alumni Association.  Glasrud is happy to accept the award "so long as there is no committee work involved."

November, 1966 -- MSC football team completes season with 6-3 record, new records for offensive yards and scoring, and its first Northern Intercollegiate Conference title since 1952.

December, 1966 -- 34 MSC students are named to Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.

December, 1966 -- Dr. Otto Snarr, former president of Moorhead State Teachers College (1940-55) dies in his native West Virginia, at age 80.

December, 1966 -- International students presently taking classes at MSC are profiled in the Mistic. Most are from Western European nations, with a small number from Asia and Africa.  One student praises quality of classes but feels her native Canada has more freedom -- "drinking is not prohibited at dances at home."

January, 1967 -- Robert Short, author of the best-selling "Gospel According to Peanuts," speaks at Performing Arts program.

January, 1967 -- Because the US Congress has reduced funding for the National Defense Student Loan Program, financial aid officer David Anderson warns that money for summer school classes may be "tight."

February, 1967 -- A busy month, that includes Peace Corps recruitment on campus and the announcement that Roland Dille is assuming the duties of Dean of the College, concludes when the Center for the Arts is dedicated on the campus.

Spring, 1967 -- Concerned about the small number of minority students enrolled at MSC, President John Neumaier begins discussions with citizens' groups, the Urban League and the United Negro College Fund for the purpose of creating a special effort to recruit students of color. The plan will tentatively be called "Project E-Quality."

April, 1967 -- With work on the student union (attached to Kise Dining Hall) nearing completion, the building will be dedicated as the "Comstock Memorial Union," in honor of the Comstock family, whose members had donated the land for the college in 1887.

April, 1967 -- The April Fools issue of the "MSC Misfit" runs plan for the new "low-hole" dorm, an eighty-foot deep, "simple hole in the ground."  The dorm's main features -- easy to cool in winter, and, in case of fire, "just open a hydrant and the building will fill with water."  Total cost of construction, "less than $1000, if dogs help with the digging."

May, 1967 -- Two weeks after the Mistic suggests protestors should be expelled (see editorial), MSC student Linda McDonnell urges students to attend speech by US Vice-president Hubert Humphrey to "demonstrate our opposition to US policies in Vietnam."

June, 1967 -- Over 425 seniors graduate at commencement exercises.

September, 1967 -- Enrollment now passes 4000.  Clay County Sheriff's department states that their deputies will begin "increased monitoring" of "keg parties;" says one deputy, "I don't like to raid kids' parties because I was a kid too once. But if I get a call from some angry farmer saying there's a bunch of kids out in his field whooping it up, I have to protect his rights." Local law enforcement is also increasingly concerned about use of illegal drugs.

October, 1967 -- "The Browser Bookshop" opens in Moorhead, featuring paperback books and the community's first large collection of "psychedelic prints and posters."

October, 1967 -- Of those who respond to a nation-wide poll, forty-six percent express "doubt" that the US military can achieve a "major victory" in Vietnam.  A Mistic editorial that same week believes the recent protest held at the Pentagon "threatens" the nation's "international stature."

November, 1967 -- SDS campus organization requests that Marine Corps recruiters be banned from campus, and professors sponsor a panel discussion on Vietnam.  A far larger audience attends the "Psychedelic Fashion" show at the Student Union.

November, 1967 -- Eugene McCarthy, US Senator for Minnesota, says that he will challenge President Lyndon Johnson for the Democratic Party nomination; he plans to make withdrawal from Vietnam the central point of his campaign.  Johnson has recently been told by US military commanders that, despite the presence of over 500,000 US troops in Vietnam, an "indefinite" stalemate is likely.

January, 1968 -- At MSC, President John Neumaier submits his resignation, to accept a job in New York.  In Vietnam, the Tet Offensive increases opposition to the US presence in Vietnam.

January 1968 -- After considerable debate, the Council on Student Affairs votes to reject a resolution to ban military and other Federal government recruiters from campus.  The resolution was offered by Dr. Edward Estes (Political Science) in response to a proposal by the US Selective Service to draft anti-war "students because of their political views."

February, 1968 -- Political and social difference emerge during the Student Senate elections; one candidate denies having suggested that "John Neumaier and [Joe] Bernick are members of a subversive Jewish organization," or saying that Bernick "hates all Christians."  Bernick is defeated in the subsequent election.

April, 1968 --  When Martin Luther King is assassinated in Memphis, black students on campus vow to "fight [King's] fight" for social and racial justice.  President Neumaier, in one of his last speeches before departing for New York, calls for an end to "apartheid in America, which is practiced even by some of us at Moorhead State College."  Neumaier leaves MSC for a college presidency in New York; enrollment under his tenure grew from 1100 to just over 5000 in 1968.

April-May, 1968 -- Roland Dille becomes the eighth president of Moorhead State.  Presidential candidates McCarthy, Robert Kennedy and Richard Nixon campaign in Fargo-Moorhead.  Commencement closes out a tumultuous academic year.

June-August, 1968 -- Robert Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles; MSC students witness upheavals in Chicago as Hubert Humphrey is nominated by the Democratic Party for the presidency.

September, 1968 -- Classes begin; Joe Bernick takes position as the editor of the Mistic.  Roland Dille admonishes the newspaper for quoting obscenities  used by student protestors and police at the Chicago Democratic Party convention.

September, 1968 -- Project E-Quality begins when 50 minority students enroll for classes (read about Project E-Q).

October, 1968 -- Student poll shows slim majority for Nixon as next president.  The Student Senate asks the Registrar's office to stop sending grades and other information to local draft boards.

November, 1968 -- As Nixon wins in a close election, a candidate for Student Senate stirs debate by claiming that students who do not seek to "place limits" on college authority are "subservient."

January, 1969 -- By a unanimous vote, the Student Senate recommends abolishing curfews on women students (only those juniors and seniors age 21 or older were exempt from late-night curfews).  The Senate deadlocks on a resolution to name the newest dorm "Malcolm X Hall."

February, 1969 -- Mistic mockingly congratulates Concordia College for permitting dances on campus after a two-year campaign by Concordia students; paper also chides president and Faculty Senate for interfering with "press freedom." Complaining that the newspaper "does not represent the majority of students," Iota Alpha fraternity burns copies of the Mistic in protest.

March, 1969 -- Students learn that state government may mandate an increase in tuition and dormitory expenses for 1969-70.

April, 1969 -- Students from all local colleges turn out to stack sandbags as Red River floods following a cold, wet winter.

April-May 1969 -- School year ends amidst controversies: an incident between white students and black students threatens Project E-Quality (see E-Quality page); Mistic publication is suspended over censorship; and "Zip to Zap" makes national news.

September-October, 1969 -- Enrollment now tops 5200.  The new fall quarter begins with planting of the reconciliation "Tree of Life," a committee is established to review ROTC presence on campus, and publication of the "Independent Mystic" (off campus).  The Tri-College University agreement permits students of MSC, Concordia, and NDSU to enroll at classes in the three institutions without paying extra tuition costs.

December, 1969 -- Community members meet in Moorhead to sign the "Articles of Incorporation" for the Moorhead State College Foundation, the purpose of which to raise funds from private donors "for the benefit of Moorhead State College." In coming years the Foundation will help fund scholarships, arts events, and the building of the Regional Science Center.

 

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