Portland State Magazine Spring 2010

Hylton, "came rogether against the violence at the tent. It was the single most unifying force of the protests." Later, a Multnomah County grand jury found evidence to support allegations of excessive use of force against the dem– onstrators by police, Hylton found. No police officers were charged, however, and in the end, the case was closed. Choosing to resist Ruch Moreland '74 was a 17-year-old PSU freshman in May 1970. Her mother, Margaret Moreland '70, MBA '74, was also a student on campus, as was her brother Everett '73, a Vietnam veteran. Until the day of the confrontation, Moreland had stayed on the sidelines. But as the police riot control platoon advanced with barons, she grew increasingly distraught. "I was incredulous that our mayor and our police officers thought chat it was so important to physically remove these students from one small area of the Park Blocks," says Moreland, "chat they were going to assault the students." While her mother left the scene to go to class, Moreland slipped through the crowd, linked arms with ocher protesrors and was struck when police advanced. he still bears a lump from the impact of a baton on her head. And she's still proud of her actions. "I had grown up watching TV news where the police in the South would assault peaceful protesters for civil rights; Martin Luther King was a hero in our house," Moreland says. "I couldn't just watch or run away. I thought chat would some– how support what the mayor and police were doing." A clash of viewpoints Tom Webb '71, a Vietnam veteran who was opposed to the war, counts himself among the students and faculty who wanted to talk rather than strike. After the Park Blocks violence, Webb joined a cadre of students and administrators who met with community groups to discuss the events. Emo– tions still ran high, and Webb himself was caught up in the currents at a community meeting in Gresham. "One of the parents of a girl who was beaten by the police stated that she deserved the beating, and they should have hit her more to try to beat some sense into her," Webb says of chat meeting. "I was outraged and went after this guy. I screamed in his face as to why he could wish that on his own daughter, and how stupid he was." Ochers calmed Webb, and the meeting continued. "We explained that the students have every right to strike and that they had permission from the mayor's office to have the first aid tent. The information sessions did a lot of good, and I think saved the reputation of Portland State, because (before the sessions) everyone in the community thought chat Portland State was a hotbed of radicals." ■ Melissa Steineger, a Portlandfreelance writer, wrote the article "Homecoming" in the winter 2010 Portland State Magazine. Read more alumni memories at pdx.edu/magazine. SPRING 2010 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 11