File Photo by CM Life

The 1960s were a time of action, protest and tragedy. In one decade, the nation’s youngest elected president, John F. Kennedy and black rights advocates, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were assassinated.

On top of that, roughly 50,000 American soldiers died in the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon was caught in the Watergate scandal that scarred Americans trust in government.

At Central Michigan University, students protested the war along with other issues involving administrators under investigation, and on-campus racial issues.

Current CM Life Advisor Neil Hopp was editor in chief in spring 1966. He was the first editor after the paper moved into the basement of Anspach Hall from “the sheep sheds,” which were primarily temporary war barracks.

“It was pretty much a kind of watershed era. It was the era of Watergate. We were reporters during that time,” Hopp said. “I would say student government, student politics was much more of an issue in the ’60s, it was very active compared to today’s student government.”

The campus was regulated more than today, especially for women, Hopp said.

“It was a different era. That was the era of what we call ‘in loco parentis,’ the Latin term meaning, basically, the college takes the place of parents.”

Hopp and winter-spring 1965 managing editor Emory Daniels said one of the major stories during the decade was a state senate investigation involving the faculty and former University President Judson Foust.

The formal investigation began in May of 1965, and Hopp said he remembers going down to Lansing to cover the proceedings. He said despite the amount of effort put towards the investigation, not much came of it.

“As I recall, nobody lost their job,” he said. “The investigation pointed out a lot of issues involving faculty and administration.”

No one was fired, but Daniels recalled meeting the president after the ensuing story and an unflattering cartoon.

“I remember getting hauled into his office; (Foust) was red in the face,” he said. “I honestly thought I was going to get expelled.”

Daniels was not expelled, but the CM Life staff would later investigate an issue that had really never been brought to a forefront, involving racial discrimination in 1965 in off-campus housing.

“That story caused a ripple across campus,” Hopp said. “I know the administration wasn’t happy with it, but I think it did prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was discrimination in Mount Pleasant.”

Hopp said it was probably one of the first stories on discrimination CM Life ever reported on.

“It was a very gutsy journalistic endeavor by Tom Needels (managing editor at the time), and I think that did open up the flood gates to what was going on here,” he said.

Daniels and Hopp both said that even though CM Life has changed, the experience all CM Life staffers have had helped them pursue careers after college.

“My experience at CM Life was terrific,” Daniels said. “Between my editors and instructors, they really helped me hone my editing and writing skills.”

HEADLINES FROM THE 1960s

“Nazi leader Rockwell coming here”
May 23, 1966
Self-appointed Fuhrer of the American Nazi Party speaks in Warriner Auditorium.

“Draft law defers full-time students”
July 1967
New selective service law extends the basic draft system and makes it possible for certain students enrolled in an accredited college to not be drafted.

news@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: Mike Wayland