Transcript
Index
00:00:00 - PG was Dean of Students at UW for over 17 years. This interview covers his
deanship and the context of the times in the 1950s and 1960s.
00:01:14 - PG arrived at UW in 1951. The most striking thing about the campus in the
1950s was the preponderance of veterans. They were eager to make up for lost
time, concentrating on "getting through and getting out." He was also
struck by the beginnings of the student power movement. Students were looking
for an environment that was not limited by "parental standards."
Conservative students, mostly members of the Young GOP, were the first to
question policies such as "women's hours," visitation, etc.
00:08:55 - PG restates his view that the student power movement really began in the
mid-1950s in residence halls and was led by young conservatives, who questioned
the validity and constitutionality of a number of rules and regulations. PG
became a house fellow in 1951 and a staff member of residence halls in 1953. He
explains how he became a house fellow. He discusses reasons for the success of
residence halls at UW. He talks about the policy of search and seizure, which
students challenged on principle.
00:14:28 - In campus residence halls in the 1950s and early 1960s, men's halls and
women's halls were two distinct operations. The situation was very controlled,
and the major sources of worry were panty raids and water fights. However,
everything was not perfect; there were signals of the upheavals to come.
00:18:25 - If the University had listened carefully to those questioning policies in the
1950s, some of the problems it faced by UW in the 1960s and early 1970s might
have been avoided. PG believes that this questioning was a UW phenomenon. The
young conservatives were very committed to libertarian ideas. In retrospect, if
UW had dealt with them on the philosophical issue of student involvement in the
governance of the University, much trouble might have been avoided.
00:22:49 - PG considers UW and the city of Madison itself to be basically conservative.
He believes their liberal reputation has been confused with openness,
toleration, and the encouragement of diversity.
00:26:06 - PG talks about the importance to UW of President E. B. Fred, whom he deeply
loved and respected. Fred was a "common man's president."
00:30:27 - PG talks more about Fred, whom he terms the "last apolitical
president" of UW, and the interaction between the Freds and
students.
00:33:37 - Martha Peterson, Dean of Women, brought a more modern approach with her to
UW. She strongly supported the idea of a Dean of Students Office rather than
separate Men's and Women's Offices and the movement toward student empowerment.
She became Dean of Students and then moved into System administration. PG
discusses the difficulties in changing UW into an integrated campus of men and
women. He talks about the restrictive visitation policies of the 1950s.
00:42:36 - Student affairs was going through significant changes. PG left the Division
of Residence Halls in 1966 to become an assistant vice chancellor for student
affairs. Kauffman was Dean of Students during the early anti-war movement, for
instance during the Dow riots in Commerce Hall. Then Chandler Young filled the
position, with the new title of vice chancellor for student affairs; PG became
his assistant vice chancellor.
00:44:30 - PG did not become Dean of Students until 1970, in the midst of the anti-war
protests. He talks about how and why this disciplinary position was created and
its opponents (ironically he was among them). Ultimately, it was expanded to
include counseling and educational work, becoming in short time the central
student affairs office.
00:50:35 - PG sees three stages in the history of student affairs from the 1950s to the
present: 1) primarily an administrative programming unit; 2) a direct service
provider, including crisis intervention and counseling; and 3) reversion to
traditional administrative services.
00:53:39 - PG considers a sit-down takeover of the administration building by anti-draft
demonstrators in 1962/63 to be the real beginning of the 1960s. Students figured
out that the University was reactive instead of proactive and that they had
power to influence it. PG witnessed the sit-in. In retrospect, he can see that
students in general were asking for equal participation and that black students
began to see protest could be effective. The students could have overwhelmed the
campus at any time.
01:01:04 - PG talks about the impact of the Kennedy assassinations. That of John F.
Kennedy had a broad impact on student life. "It's as if somebody had blown
a dream." He explains why Robert Kennedy's assassination did not have the
same impact.
01:04:45 - He discusses why the impact of Martin Luther King's assassination was much
more restricted, primarily to people of color and faculty and staff. Most people
did not understand King's importance and his impact on the black
community.
01:08:36 - PG talks about the war in Southeast Asia. Because the University had failed
to read the signs, it was caught off guard by the student protests. The war
became the issue taken up by rebels on campus. It transcended most divisions in
society. PG had many friends involved in the anti-war movement. Radicals were in
the minority. It took some time for those who had lived through WWII to
understand that this war was different; it was not a "good war." The
media fed anti-war sentiment.
01:16:25 - PG's different roles seemed contradictory. He was opposed to the war, a part
of the administration, involved with students, and he had connections with
campus police Chief Ralph Hanson. He also had sympathy for the students. In the
process of conflict, the University and students learned how to communicate.
Some leaders like Paul Soglin tried to broaden the philosophical context of the
anti-war protests.
01:22:35 - PG learned much during the anti-war years, including the "Dow
principle," which is that to maintain peace, the police need to show up in
advance at the scene of possible conflict. The students fought Hansen but
respected him. The administration was not anti-student, it was just under
pressure from many sides. The bombing of Sterling Hall was a vivid illustration
to students, for the first time, of the true meaning of violence.
Direct segment link:
https://ohms.library.wisc.edu%2Fviewer.php%3Fcachefile%3DGinsberg.P.341.xml#segment0
https://ohms.library.wisc.edu%2Fviewer.php%3Fcachefile%3DGinsberg.P.341.xml#segment0
