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These protests engage Heather -- good, as they engage other things vital to us all.
Universities differed long ago, as when I entered the University of Michigan in 1965. Harlan Hatcher was its president back then.
As both a zoologist and novelist, he typified American higher education. All during its rise, from the Justin Morrill land grant legislation in 1862 to the Powell memo in 1971, all university presidents were writers, scholars.
The Powell memo changed all that. Money and the billionaire c…
I was at the University of Michigan from 1968-72. The protests there made me evolve from a sheltered suburban girl to someone much more aware and politically active. My parents were old school (aka not crazy) Republicans but from 1968 on I have been a Democrat. Some of the demonstrations were incredibly moving -- such as when dozens and dozens and dozens of white crosses were planted in the grass around the Diag (a diagonal path that ran through campus - one for each Michigan soldier killed in Vietnam. I've never forgotten it.
Back at MSU in 1971 after my USMC stint, I was one of the lucky ones who actually took advantage of the GI Bill. Kent State was still a raw wound: I had watched on AFVN from Phu Bai as National Guard troops violated every rule in the DoD manual I had used to teach riot control to my Marine company in my previous duty post. Murder by stupidity, but murder nonetheless. Now I hear some Republicans calling for the Guard to be brought in for these protests: a bigger mistake I can't imagine.