The year was 1964 and the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. White students from nearly every major university in the nation were streaming into the south and witnessing first hand the repression of black people by the Southern Establishment. One of those white students who had just returned from the South was a kid named Mario Savio from the University of California Berkeley. Mario wanted to advocate for the Civil Rights Movement and protest against the Vietnam War on the Berkeley campus. Clark Kerr, the Berkeley Chancellor, at first refused to allow any political activities on the Berkeley campus. In response Mario and more than 800 students staged a peaceful sit in on the steps of Sproul Hall. Chancellor Kerr responded with police wielding batons and mass student arrests.
On the sidelines was a washed up movie actor and McCarthy Era “witness” named Ronald Reagan. By the mid 1960s Reagan had surrounded himself with some of the wealthiest and most reactionary businessmen in California. Among Reagan's advisors were the notorious department store heir Alfred Bloomingdale, beer baron Joseph Coors, and auto huckster Holmes Tuttle. Reagan and his kitchen cabinet openly criticized Kerr for being too lenient on student protesters. Together they decided to run Reagan for California Governor. In 1966 the California Republican Party nominated Reagan for Governor. Reagan's campaign emphasized two main themes: "to send the welfare bums back to work," and, in reference to burgeoning anti-war and anti-establishment student protests at the University of California at Berkeley, "to clean up the mess at Berkeley."
After defeating two-term Democratic Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, Reagan insisted on two things upon taking office. One was the scalp of Clark Kerr, president of the University of California. The second was the imposition of tuition on UC and Cal-State students. Kerr was soon gone and, in violation of the university's long history of tuition-free public education, the Regents of the University of California agreed to impose for the first time a tuition on the university's students.
By 1970, the year Reagan would run for a second term as California Governor, Reagan’s attempts to squash dissent on the campuses of the University of California and the California State Colleges was in utter shambles. Tuition at the University of California had reached $600.00 per year or 364 minimum wage hours. Tuition at the California State Colleges was $140.00 per year or 85 minimum wage hours. Reagan’s pro Vietnam War stance and his tuition hikes made the Governor so unpopular on every UC and State College campus that it became impossible for him to visit any campus with one exception: Cal-State Fullerton (CSF), “...the closest college in the world to Disneyland” in the heart of Reagan Country and, with icing on the cake, the CSF mascot was the Republican Party Elephant!
During the Spring of 1969 Reagan rammed through the legislature Penal Code 415.5. Penal Code 415.5 made it a crime to disrupt any “Academic Convection” and assured the prosecution of hecklers. With Penal Code 415.5 in hand Governor Reagan went to California State College Fullerton on February 9, 1970 to make a blatant political speech in his campaign for re-election. Reagan had Cal-State President William B. Langsdorf advertise the Governor’s speech as an Academic Convection. Reagan would make his speech in the gym.
In his introductory remarks President Langsdorf warned the students, “...not to interfere with or disrupt the meeting, and promised immediate expulsion to anyone who attempted to do so.” Then Reagan stepped before the microphone to begin his speech. Within moments a shouted “Fuck you!” was heard throughout the gym. Caught in mid-vowel, Reagan composed himself and started all over. Again more boos and fuck yous and get fucked coming from different parts of the gym. Finally calm was restored and the Governor finished his speech. As Reagan was about to leave, he surveyed all the students then he leaned into the microphone and bellowed, “Shut up!” Reagan immediately left the gym followed by his retinue of hanger-on's.
On February 16, 1970 Reagan hecklers David Mackowiac and Bruce Church were charged by CSF administrators with “...disrupting an academic assembly and using abusive language to a member of the college community.” The following day Fullerton police arrested MacKowiac and Church charging them under Penal Code 415.5.
On February 25th students occupy President Langsdorf ‘s office. Langsdorf called in the shotgun armed Fullerton Tactical Squad to clear out the students. The next day students occupied the entire administration building. Langsdorf then obtained a restraining order against seven named students and 500 John Does. The Tac Squad was again called in to clear the building.
On March 3rd student angered by what they consider the closed “Kangaroo Court” trial of MacKowiac and Church demand the trial be opened to the public. The trial was quickly canceled. The Fullerton Tac Squad along with Tac Squads from nearby cities were then brought onto the CSF campus. Several thousand students assembled in the Quad confronting the 90 member reinforced Tac Squad. The Tac Squad then began it’s advance into the Quad clubbing students, videotaping students, and eventually arresting 19 students. Video types were used to later identify and arrest ten more students over the next few days. Meanwhile to prevent further bloodshed Anthropology Professor Dr. Hans Leder declares the Quad an open air classroom and named it Anthro 069.
Throughout March and April student unrest at CSF ebbed and flowed following events around the country. At the end of March activist students published a photo history of the previous two months. The book was named “The People vs. Ronald Reagan.” The inside of the book’s dust cover was a photo of the 29 students who had be arrested. All the students were standing in front of gargantuan American flag and all the students were buck naked. In the corner of the dust cover it said Fuck You!! Ronald Reagan!
In April Governor Reagan displayed his militancy describing his thoughts on higher education by saying loudly, “If it takes a bloodbath, let’s get it over with.” That was like turning up the heat on the simmering pot of student activism at CSF. Again the campus erupted with renewed student demonstrations.
At the end of April 1970 President Nixon decided to widen the Vietnam War by invading Cambodia. In response students at Kent State University in Ohio protested the invasion. On May 4, 1970 Ohio National Guard troops open fire on student protesters. Nine unarmed students were wounded and four students killed. Fearing the invasion and shootings would provoke further student demonstration, Governor Reagan ordered all the UCs and Cal-States temporarily closed. Five hundred student activist at CSF responded to Reagan’s closure order by occupying and barricading the Music Speech and Drama Building.
By the end of May 1970 all protests and student activism had come to end on the CSF campus. More than 7,000 students had participated in the protests. Because of the demonstrations, sit-down strikes, building occupations, and classroom boycotts, President Langsdorf ordered all students to be given passing grades for the semester ending the academic year early. President Langsdorf later that same year was promoted by Governor Reagan becoming Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for the California State University.
Today it cost more than $14,000 in tuition and fees to attend a UC or about 1795 minimum wage hours per year. That is a 500 percent increase over 1966. In 1966 The University of California was regarded as the number one public university in the United States. Today the UC is ranked #21.
T.C. Borelli
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