Spring20_Mag_Combined_WEB_single_pages

16 All year long, tension had been building at Portland State as student activists marched against the escalating war and blocked military recruiters on campus. “The war was like a giant cloud hanging over your head every single day,” Wyrick says. After the Ohio National Guard shot to death four unarmed protesters at Kent State, she and hundreds of other PSU students joined a national strike. They boycotted classes and barricaded the streets entering the Park Blocks—still open to traffic in those days—to create a loud and lively “liberated zone” where they camped out with tents, tarps and even TVs connected by long extension cords to neighboring apartments. The strike deeply divided faculty and students at PSU, which was still growing into its new status as a full university, achieved just a year before. Under pressure, protesters agreed to take it all down on May 11 and started to disperse when Mayor Terry Schrunk’s Tactical Operations Platoon or “Tac Squad” came in with batons to push them out faster, beating protesters who refused to give way. Twenty-seven strikers and four officers ended up in the hospital. The clash thrust PSU into the national spotlight and shaped the campus in ways still seen and felt 50 years later. It was the most visible event in what was a pivotal year in PSU history, thanks to students who raised their voices together at the right time and place. They helped transform the campus from a quiet commuter school into a hot spot for social change and academic opportunity. “There was a tremendous energy,” says Joe Bernt, who edited the Vanguard student newspaper from 1969 to 70. “There was always a protest. There was always something going on. It was a very exciting time to be at Portland State.” He remembers being bombarded with requests for coverage for one cause or another, from mothers demanding child care to the first Earth Day and recycling efforts on campus. Others pushed for more student housing and better access for students with disabilities. JANUARY 12 Faculty Senate approves new Black Studies certificate program, the first such program in the Pacific Northwest. MAY 6 During an opening rally for a student boycott of classes, a car hits a striker, breaking his leg. Strikers construct barricades from park benches to stop traffic entering the Park Blocks. MARCH Masters student Art Honeyman helps teach “Relations with the Physically Handicapped” class to raise awareness of how difficult it is for students in wheelchairs to navigate campus. MAY 11 Classes resume and barricades are disassembled. Only a medical tent is left. About 5:40 p.m., a police special forces unit orders students to disperse and then attacks, sending 27 to the hospital. APRIL 15 President Gregory Wolfe holds a student and faculty referendum on military recruiting after continuing unrest over their access to campus. A majority supports allowing recruiters. MAY 12 Roughly 3,500 people march from the Park Blocks to City Hall to demand an investigation of the police action. Mayor Schrunk refuses to address the protestors. APRIL 20-24 First Earth Week (later Earth Day) takes place. The yearbook dedicates eight pages to landscape photos in honor of this “environmental teach-in.” JUNE 22 Classes begin at a new educational center—part of PSU’s new Black Studies program—in the Albina neighborhood. Year of Action