Thursday, May 04, 2000
Miami averted bloodshed
President defused conflict
By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD — When four protesters were killed at Kent State University during an anti-war rally 30 years ago today, there was a feeling in this small college town that it could have happened here.
Three weeks earlier, clouds of tear gas floated over the otherwise pastoral campus of Miami University. Attack dogs broke their leashes. And police dragged 155 students off to jail to end a sit-in at the ROTC office.
All the while, more than 600 National Guardsmen stood by just 5 miles away, awaiting orders from a governor wanting to appear tough on protesters.
“There's no way of telling how close we came,” said former MU President Phillip Shriver.
Many credit his faith in students and a bravery that bordered on recklessness in avoiding a tragic end to a protest that began more like a party.
“We were the first to go that far (in Ohio), and it just ratcheted up from there,” said Alan Steytler, a student protester who was among the leaders of the sit-in at Rowan Hall, which housed the school's Reserve Officers Training Corps programs.
“I don't think anyone knew what we were getting into, but looking back ... it was all so juvenile.”
For then-President Shriver, the possibilities for escalation during those three days at Miami seemed endless.
He received death threats over the telephone and an unlit Molotov cocktail was left on his doorstep.
“That's the most tense situation I've ever been in my life; and if one or two things had deteriorated, there's no telling what could have happened.”
“ Then it got serious.”
On April 15, a sunny Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Shriver was looking forward to an anniversary dinner with his wife.
Throughout the day, students rallied outside the administration building, speak ing about the environmentVietnam and civil rights.
There had been similar rallies and students had administration approval.
Then, as things were winding down, Mr. Steytler grabbed the bullhorn.
“I remember I was irritated that this thing was nothing more than lollygagging around the quad on a nice spring day,” said Mr. Steytler, who said he had been in college since 1965, changing majors five times to stay in school and avoid the draft.
“So I said that if they really wanted to demonstrate their feelings about the war and the military, we should march over to the ROTC building.”
Wearing a vest made to look like an American flag, Mr. Steytler led about 400 students across campus and helped break down the door.
A band showed up. Food was delivered. A disc jockey broadcast from outside the building. The crowd grew.
"“Once we got into the building, nobody had any idea what to do with it. It wasn't like we had a plan.”
Dr. Shriver told administrators to maintain the peace. They asked students to move to the auditorium and gave several warnings. All but 155 students heeded.
After the last warning, Robert F. Etheridge, then vice president for student affairs, asked the Ohio State Highway Patrol to take the remaining students to jail.
“I guess they saw me as the ringleader,” said Mr. Steytler. He was bundled off with two other so-called “organizers.”
Dr. Shriver ordered campus officers to turn their backs when protesters were pulled from the building by police so they couldn't identify the students in court.
“These were grandfatherly types who would walk the coeds home or help jump start a car, and I didn't want any animosity to carry over,” said Dr. Shriver.
Things were calm until the police tried to drive off with the arrested students.
“Somebody had removed the distributor cap, and then a Mayday call went out,” Dr. Shriver said. “That's when the Butler County sheriff's deputies showed up, and then it got serious.”
Political police riot
News accounts say deputies used tear gas and attack dogs to disperse the crowd.
Many former students say the strong-arm tactics escalated tensions.
“If anything, that radicalized the crowd and the whole school,” said Ron Hall, who was student body president. “There were a lot of people on the fence and just watching, but when the police did that, they immediately became sympathizers.”
Bill Pinter, another student who was arrested, said the protest had been under control.
“Some guys wanted to trash the computer lab ... somebody said something about bringing in dynamite,” said Mr. Pinter. “But we were able to talk them out of it.”
After that, then-Gov. James A. Rhodes, who was in the midst of a campaign for the U.S. Senate, made it clear that further protests would not be tolerated.
Make talk, not war
Dr. Shriver told his faculty to ignore lesson plans and talk to students. He spent days and nights walking the campus, making himself available. A history professor and World War II veteran, Dr. Shriver disagreed with the protesters. But his efforts to find middle ground hit a sympathetic chord.
“He was incredibly moderate, which helped defuse a lot of things,” Mr. Steytler recalled.
Dr. Shriver ignored threats, even though some of the phone calls his wife took at their campus home were “indescribable.”
“Sure I had my doubts, but I had a conviction that an overwhelming majority of students could be trusted and reasoned with and were there to get an education,” Dr. Shriver said. “Yes, most of them favored change, but they weren't willing to bring down the university to do it.”
His patience — initially seen by those close to him as crazy or incredibly brave — prevailed. Two days after the ROTC protest, Dr. Shriver said the campus was stabilized. The National Guard pulled out without coming on campus.
“If anything had happened on the 16th or 17th, if we had any kind of flare-up, who knows?,” said Dr. Shriver, who retired as president in 1981 but taught until last year.
Flushing away tension
Close calls weren't over but the worst was past.
On April 20, students staged a “flush-in,” simultaneously flushing toilets, opening faucets and running showers.
The protest incapacitated the town's water system for two days but with an unintended effect. It helped “deradicalize” the students, Mr. Hall said.
“Everyone realized it went too far, and everyone was really inconvenienced,” said Mr. Hall. “It turned everyone against the protesters again and helped kill the tension.”
Two weeks later, news of Kent State swept the campus.
Memorials were held and Dr. Shriver met with students several times. But when protesters set several fires, the City Council warned that the flush-in had crippled Oxford's water system and ability to respond. Miami would burn if a major fire was set.
Dr. Shriver closed the campus.
There were tense meetings between students and administrators. “We held them off-campus at a fraternity house,” Mr. Hall said. “There were hard feelings on both sides; but one of the students baked cookies for the first meeting, and that kind of broke the ice.”
The administration made several concessions, including allowing students to either accept a letter grade or pass-fail grade for remaining classes.
Ten days later, the campus reopened. Of Ohio universities closed following Kent State, only Miami completed the semester.
Looking back, ahead
Mr. Steytler was the only protester to face felony charges and serve jail time. He was convicted of breaking and entering a military installation and was sentenced to four to six years. He served two months before being let out on probation.
“I feel vindicated in that (President) Nixon got his comeuppance and everyone now realizes the mistakes we made in Vietnam,” said Mr. Steytler, now a small-business owner in northern Ohio. “But now, I'll talk with anyone about anything but I only take care of my own. Trying to get others to do what's right only gets you in trouble.”
As for how close his call to arms came to violence, he said: “It kind of scares you when you think about (what happened later at) Kent State.”
Dr. Shriver says the scars of the ROTC incident and Kent State are still there, but he's gratified that he had a part in guiding Miami away from a similar fate.
“As a nation, we were as close to civil war as we ever had been since 1865 ... and we had our own part,” Dr. Shriver said. “For all the things that were out of our control, we were pretty lucky.”
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