“During the weeks of May 7 to May 19, 1970, I was a 21-year-old prospective optometry student driving with my parents to interview for a spot in the College of Optometry for the fall semester. On the way, my parents and I were anxiously listening to the car radio about the unrest at university campuses in Ohio and the governor’s decision to close some campuses in the state. I had already been accepted in the College of Optometry, but needed to complete the interview to secure my acceptance. Several times during the 10-hour trip we had seriously considered running back to Wisconsin, but decided to see how things developed. Remember, this was way before cell phones, Internet, or even all-day [cable] news TV, so we were in the dark about the details of the University’s closing.

As we finally approached Ohio State’s campus we saw hundreds of National Guardsman and military vehicles of all kinds surrounding the entire university. Not knowing what to expect, we simply approached one of the entrances to campus and talked to an officer who listened to my story. Somehow, the officer got a hold of Dr. Herb Mote, who was a member of the admissions staff at the optometry college at that time. Dr. Mote was supposed to conduct my interview that day, and he convinced the guards to let us pass through onto the campus. It was an eerie scene on campus with no students, no traffic; nothing but a military presence.

Well, I eventually met with Dr. Mote, and the rest, as they say, is history. I attended the University next fall and graduated with my OD degree in 1974 and have been a practicing optometrist for the last 36 years. However, of all my many trips to my alma mater, I will never forget that spring trip of 1970.

As a side note, I later learned that a lot of the third- and fourth-year optometry students who had left after the campus shut down migrated to the beaches in Florida for an unexpected spring break. Unfortunately, these were the same students needed to run the optometry clinics, and when the campus reopened on May 19 there was an acute shortage of student clinicians. Again, this was before cell phones, and the college did not know many of its students were gone to Florida. Eventually, of course, they all returned. Even though the campus closing was very disruptive to most, some students found a way to make the best of it.”

-David P. Smits