American Students And V-NAM

by John Harlow

What do Berkeley students think about Vietnam? I asked Dr. Mrak, Chancellor of the University of California, what has been the extent of demonstrations on Vietnam.

He told me the University of California had experienced some very strong demonstrations on Vietnam, but none had been as arrogant as the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley. They have been peaceful demonstrations. There have been Teach Ins. There have been speakers of various types arguing for and against. There have been people walking in the streets in large groups with posters.

"But a rather interesting thing. In the last six or eight months I sense that this tendency to demonstrate on the Vietnam matter has died down. Now whether it will flare up again or not I don't know. But it seems to have died down."

Dr. Mrak said there have been some counter-demonstrations in support of Government policy on Vietnam. "But they haven't received the notice. Our papers like to publicise the dramatic rather than the factual sometimes. And if we have a demonstration against Vietnam that makes great news. On the other hand if we have a demonstration for Vietnam it may be a little thing on the third page."

I brought the interview to a close by asking Dr. Mrak if he thought student demonstrations would continue at the University of California.

"They may," he said. "There is a change in the nature of students. We look at different generations of students. We call one generation the complacent generation. And another one 'this type' generation. Now some people call the present generation the 'political action group.' They're interested in the world. As long as we get young people who are more interested in things they will probably become more involved. How it will show itself I don't know."