Our reader: SU can learn from the past to creatively protest, now

Dear editor,

President Donald Trump said March 2 that he’ll sign an executive order mandating free speech at all colleges and universities if they wish to continue receiving federal funds. He said this at a conservative convention to address a complaint that some schools have banned conservative guest speakers after student protests.

There is a way to deal with this coercion, demonstrated at SU in 1967. I was one of the student organizers planning to deal with an appearance and speech by Alabama segregationist George Wallace at SU that April. Our event was entitled Walk Out on Wallace.

When Wallace appeared on stage in Manley Field House, hundreds — if not thousands — of students in attendance rose and left the building. This was a 1960s civil rights demonstration covered by CBS, NBC and ABC. There was no CNN or cable back then. Wallace’s free hate speech was unabridged. He simply wasn’t listened to, and was upstaged by the walkout event.

Here’s hoping that the SU student body can creatively expand upon this idea, and let other campuses know what you’re up to.

Roland Van Deusen

Class of 1967

Clayton, NY