Mountain Madness: Student activists who occupied Central Hall, Warriner Mall return to Mount Pleasant
In May 1970, student activists at Central Michigan University took a stand the City of Mount Pleasant hadn't seen before and has not seen since.
With war raging on in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and the Ohio National Guard shooting dead four Kent State University student protesters, CMU students flooded the ROTC building — Central Hall (built in 1909 and demolished in 1974) — for five days of protest beginning May 4, 1970.
They renamed the building, the remaining red bricks of which are placed into the greek circle in Warriner Mall, "Freedom Hall." Protesters also occupied Warriner Mall for 11 days, pitching tents and renaming it "People's Park."
They had five demands: A vote by CMU students on whether to continue the ROTC program. Banning military recruiters from the campus. That the university provide office space and supplies to student organizations. An official statement from administrators condemning the US invasion of Laos and Cambodia and of the shootings that left four students dead at Kent State University. Amnesty for all students involved in the occupation of the building.
What happened in Mount Pleasant during the late 1960s and early 70s wasn't uncommon in college towns, but it was uncommon for it to happen at a small state school like CMU, said Bryan Whitledge, reformatting and imaging manager at CMU's Clarke Historical Library.
"(CMU's activists) would go to a rally at a Big Ten institution and say, 'We're from Central Michigan,' and people would say, 'What on Earth are you doing here?" Whitledge said. "They were expecting the big schools. CMU was doing things and pushing the envelope in a way other small schools weren't. Regional state universities weren't doing this at this time."
Unlike his predecessor Judson Foust, who embodied a loco parentis role as president — requiring female students to return to the dorms by midnight and male students to return by 2 a.m. — President William Boyd gave power to the students, Whitledge said.
"President Boyd comes in the same time students are starting to become active. People are getting active across the country," he said. "He is coming in with a wave of students who are embracing that. Rather than having tear gas and cops come out, (students) were allowed to express themselves.”
The occupation, which resulted in an estimated $625 of damages to Central Hall according to a CM Life story on the student occupation, was resolved without violence largely due to then Boyd's willingness to negotiate with students.
Born in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Boyd, whose daughter Marcie was a student activist at CMU during the 70s, urged Michigan Governor William Milliken and the Mount Pleasant City Commission to not extract the students by force.
"(Boyd) was more worried about the reaction to the people occupying Central Hall than he was the ones actually occupying it," Whitledge said. "He knew they weren't going to destroy the building. He was more worried about the people downstairs who wanted to kill them."
Clarke Historical Library archivist Marian Matyn said the records of Boyd's correspondence with the city commission couldn't be found in the city's minutes, but Boyd warned against creating another Kent State. He encouraged making a peaceable connection with students.
CM Life reported on Monday, May 11, 1970, "After Boyd and the students engaged in discussion for over a half an hour, both sides apparently came to understand the others' position somewhat."
Former students who occupied Central Hall, Warriner Mall and participated in other social activism during the time at CMU reunited on May 20-21 for the "Mountain Madness No Class Reunion at the Comfort Inn Hotel in Mount Pleasant."
The group of more than 100 people planted a ceremonial tree in Island Park on Friday and went to Clarke Historical Library on Saturday to help the library document what those years in Mount Pleasant looked like.
“They’ve all gone their separate ways — some have become teachers, some have become further activists who founded organizations, some run companies. They’re all over," Whitledge said. "We said, ‘hey, they’re getting up there in age — 65 to 70 — let’s get them back together."
Whitledge said the Mountain Madness No Class Reunion was likely the last time the former students would be able to come together to give an oral history of the activist groups, movements and protests at CMU.
The Clarke has a lot of the official documentation, he said, but doesn't have much first-hand testimonies.
"They see our gaps, know what we have and don’t have and we can try to fill those gaps," Whitledge said. "They see an institution like the Clarke wants to see what they have to round out the history, giving us another perspective other than the official perspective."
Berkley native and former CMU student activist Cathy Courtney said the group is in the preliminary stages of establishing a scholarship for CMU students pursuing an education in museum studies or conflict management.
