What was your role on campus at the time:

Undergraduate

During the school year 1969-70, where did you live:

Off-campus

Were you a member of any student organization on campus? If so, which one(s)?

No, although that doesn’t mean I wasn’t involved. I was just never the type of person to give my name to a group as the group often was not totally in sync with all of my views. 

During the weeks before the university closed, what was the most significant thing you observed?

Growing unrest. It was simmering but steadily getting to the boiling point. It seemed only a matter of time until confrontation [occurred] between the authorities and the students. [It was] very surreal once the National Guard was called in as you would, on the one hand, be going to classes, but you could actually smell the tear gas that would find its way into the classrooms. You’d leave the classroom and head toward the Oval, and there you would find a sea of students, sometimes in small pockets being dispersed by the National Guard troops. On more than one occasion, I would have to take a circuitous route from north campus before finally arriving at our house on south campus. I was young and wanted to be involved in the matters being pushed by the more active students, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to spend the night in jail.  

What were your impressions of campus during the time period?

[It was] not conducive to study, that’s for sure. There was too much “stuff” going on. You would get daily reports about another gathering of students on campus for some speech that would draw thousands of students (and many nonstudents, too). Everyone had a story about that day’s activities and what they saw and heard. 

Did you think the university should be closed? Why or why not?

[The campus] definitely should have been closed. The unrest reached a point where teaching and learning became secondary to the Vietnam war protests and various student rights activities. After Kent State, there was no chance of anything returning to normal. Had they not closed the campus, there would have almost certainly been similar confrontations at OSU. Looking back, it is hard for me to believe that what happened at Kent State didn’t happen at OSU first. I remember being with my friends one night on 15th Avenue. Again, trying to get back to our house on south campus. We were “hiding” from the police cars going up and down 15th Avenue. I recall a curfew was in effect, and we weren’t supposed to be out. This was the street with the fraternity and sorority houses. As one police car slowed down, someone next to me threw a brick towards the police car. It broke the side window of the police car. Immediately, the four doors of that police car opened, and the officers (I recall four of them, but there may have been more) inside bolted from the vehicle, I’m sure to get their hands on any students they could reach. I never ran so fast, and somehow I made it home that night, only to have the process start again the next morning. These were troubling times for a student. There was no way to try to stay out of the fray – if you were there you were involved, whether you wanted to be or not. We were learning new survival lessons that were not covered by the OSU brochure that described the classes that students could sign up for. 

What did you do during the two weeks the university was closed?

Approximately 30 days before Kent State, I met (on a blind date) a cute little [Sigma Delta Tau] sorority girl named Linda Bass. She, like me, was from the Cleveland area, although she was Jewish and I was Catholic. While back home in Cleveland, I got to meet her parents, and I recall spending more time with Linda and [I] really got to know her. We married in Cleveland on 12/23/1972 (six months after I graduated from OSU – also the day of the Franco Harris “Immaculate Reception”) and she and I will celebrate our 38th anniversary this December). It’s nice to know that I made at least one correct decision in my life. The closing of the OSU campus in Columbus probably didn’t have anything to do with our eventual marriage, but who knows or can say for sure what is pure happenstance and what is fate? 

Did you return to finish the quarter?

Yes

Looking back, what do you think are the lasting legacies of the student demonstrations?

The powers that be were made to finally listen and had to consider the voice of the students. Did we really have a significant effect on the changing of foreign policy, etc.? Probably, although not as much as we might think we did. I think those demonstrations may have had a greater effect on us than on the “stuff” we were trying to change. We grew up a little faster. We also came to see that one voice is sometimes difficult to hear, but a thousand voices can be heard and are difficult to ignore, regardless of the message.