Oregon daily emerald., January 27, 1978, Page 8, Image 8

Protest
From the EMU, to Johnson, to jail
The group of 20 students lounged on the
orange carpet in the Chancellor’s office eat
ing carrots and cheese. In the background,
someone yelled to a radio station, “They
won’t accept our simple demands....”
Hand-painted protest signs surrounded the
secretary, who alone among the
Chancellor’s staff remained in the office.
She sat at her desk, still trying to carry on
her business.
“We re trying to decide what the deal is,”
John Lanier told reporters. “They say we ll
be arrested if we don’t leave by five
o’clock." Some of the students present had
never been in a demonstration before. They
had gathered with others on the EMU ter
race hours earlier to protest state board
ownership of apartheid-connected stocks.
They had marched to Johnson Hall with
hopes of meeting with Chancellor Roy
Lieuallen, but, finding him absent, they had
taken over his office. Now the question was
what to do with it.
"The board is trying to weasle out of its
obligation,” foreign student Ismet Guchan
said. “They are stalling, we know this.”
Almost half the original protestors left
when they found the Chancellor was gone.
Few of the students that remained knew
whatto expect. Some were trembling. Char
lie Lynch had joined the march spontane
ously, after spotting it on the EMU terrace.
“I spent time in Vietnam, I know what
death is about. Each day we hold onto that
stock, more people are dying.
University Pres. William Boyd and ASUO
Pres. Gary Feldman had tried talking to the
protestors earlier in the day.
After exchanging small talk, Feldman
confided in the protesters, “I can’t support
students getting arrested.”
Lanier noticed a policeman in the comer.
“Looks like a man in"blue is here for the first
time,"commented Lanier, shaking. “We
might have a little intimidation.”
“What do you want from me?” asked
Vice Chancellor Freeman Holmer after the
office had been occupied for five hours. It
was to be the last exchange before the ar
rest.
‘‘The board has made its decision to di
vest,” he said, standing with his arms
folded. "Due process will take its course.
The board’s decision still stands."
The protesters demanded to have the
divestment issue put on the agenda for
Friday’s board meeting. At first Holmer ag
reed to intervene on the protester’s behalf
and left to telephone a board member. He
returned shortly, saying he’d thought it over
and decided intervention would be inap
propriate. Talk was over.
Those protesters not wishing to be ar
rested left the room. Propriety was shat
tered. Demonstrators, both inside and out
side the office began chanting. Lynch and
Guchan both decided to join the group out
side.
“I’d lose my Gl benefits,” said Lynch.
One foreign student, afraid she would be
deported, also left. She was later arrested
for kicking an officer.
Guchan jumped about outside the office
banging on the chancellor’s window.
“The people united will never be de
feated! The people united will never be de
feated!”
Detective Jack Cater tried to throw
Guchan out. “I am with the press,” shouted
Guchan, as Cater picked him up by the
lapels. “I’ll sue!” cried Guchan. “I'll sue!”
More than two hours of waiting followed
The remaining protesters clustered in a
corner of the office, eating food that had
been raised to the second floor office with a
cord from the window blinds.
Finally, at 9 p.m., eight hours after the
protest began, came the arrests. Fifteen
officers — a pair to each protester —
frisked and photographed them.
The protesters were taken one at a time
down the stairs and to waiting police vans
chanting all the way. Outside, a group of 50
or so more demonstrators joined the ar
rested with chants.
“You can arrest us tonight, but we ll be
back by the hundreds tomorrow,” shouted
Guchan as he was taken from the carpeted
hall to the cold night air.
Cater laughed, “Sure you will."
Vice-chancellor Freeman Holmer (upper left) confronts John Lanier (upper right) and
other protesters with his decision not to attempt to put the issue on today’s State Board
the dau9hter of a demonstrator, 14-month-old Phoenix,
nhntnnrxnhoH h °°d suppl'es Later, 23 of the protesters were booked and
photographed by the Eugene Police, including Ismet Buchan, (lower right,.
Story by Jock Hatfield Photos by Becky Young
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