Interview with Ellie Connolly

Partial Transcript: Good morning. My name is Hanz Olson and I am here with Ellie Connolly for the Dow 50 story gathering project.

Partial Transcript: I came to campus about a year before the Dow Demonstration.

Segment Synopsis: Question: Tell us your story? Answer: Ellie was a student at UW from a politically active family. She discusses the student takeover of the Peterson Building. Her sister and future husband Evan Stark were involved in the protest movement. She discusses the San Francisco Mime Troupe's performance the night before the demonstrations.

Keywords: Evan Stark; Peterson Building; San Francisco Mime Troupe; political activism

Partial Transcript: But anyway, so I went down there and I was a little late.

Segment Synopsis: Ellie arrived late to the protest; her sister was inside the building. All of a sudden, the police forces entered the relatively peaceful building. She recalls the bloody nature of the police beatings. She recalls protests becoming more and more chaotic and reactionary. The students dispersed when officers started using tear gas.

Keywords: police violence

Partial Transcript: So - it was really kind of horrible and nobody could quite believe what had happened, except that we were angry and felt that our campus had been invaded.

Segment Synopsis: Ellie discusses the shock students who felt that their campus had been "invaded." She was radicalized by the aftermath of the protests and believes that the campus protest movement continued to grow until the Sterling Hall Bombings. She says that Dow made her a lifelong activist.

Keywords: Sterling Hall Bombing; campus protest; social activism