THE ROUTE TO DIVERSITY

Peter Jones ’69 graduated with honors from the College of Letters. Today he is president of the Tenebraex Corporation in Boston, Mass.

When we were students, there was a sense of social unrest in America. It wasn’t unrest in terms of avoiding responsibility; it was a sense that we could have a hand in changing the University, changing society, and in changing the world. A lot of those thoughts turned out to be naive in retrospect—the amount of change we could accomplish, for instance—but I think we did have some effect. 

   A good university provides not only facts and knowledge, but also moral guidance. A university education doesn’t come only from faculty and administration; it also comes from your fellow students. I was lucky to be here in a class of students who had a hand in forming and directing and teaching. Everyone could teach everyone else. And if people are not at the table when the agenda is set, much of their education is missing.

 We had that sense. At the time it differentiated Wesleyan from other institutions. Wesleyan said it would treat us as adults; we would be a part of the university community, not just the subjects of it.  There were students on committees that determined tenure; there were students on committees that set educational policy. I was a member of a committee that chose architects for five major buildings at Wesleyan. This was an education: becoming a full-fledged member of the larger community, taking part in it. This was part of the major lessons we learned.
 There was a strong honor code—the sense of honor that you wouldn’t cheat. You could take your exam away from the room, back to your dorm room if you wanted to. It was up to you. This sense of trust was part of growing up: Learning that you were a part, not just a subject, of an institution; that you could be honorable without someone looking over your shoulder.
  The transition from childhood to adulthood involves deciding what you are going to do with your life, what you should give back to the community; what contribution you should make. 
 For us as students, it may have been easier then because there was more of a wonderful sense of the possibility of change—however naive that may have been. But it was also more difficult because it was new, it was a new world for us, and new for the University.
 But that all being said, after some conversations I’ve had with current students, I’d like to emphasize one more point about this era: we were not heroes; we were not legendary figures of mythic proportion. 
 We were not the first.  Before we came to Wesleyan, other black students were here—not many, and they certainly were much more alone. 
 While we were attending Wesleyan, other black guys our age were living in the urban centers and in the South—with no future and no hope.
 While we were attending Wesleyan, other black guys our age (and younger) were serving in Vietnam, where they made up the majority of the forward combat units. In Middletown, Connecticut, there was no one shooting at us, there were no booby traps, there was no fragging; we were free to leave and go home any time we wanted. Being a black student in the Class of ’69 was wonderful, exciting, and life-changing; it was not “hard duty.”

Fall 1964 - Spring 1965

The year before the arrival of the Vanguard Class, articles and editorials in the Argus debated the Johnson-Goldwater election; the sexual revolution ("Does all pre-marital sex denigrate the woman?"); the merits of the recently passed Civil Rights Act; the rushing of fraternity pledges (Should it be held earlier?); the proposed invitation to George Lincoln Rockwell, Commander of the American Nazi Party, to speak on campus (he was never actually invited). Trinity College became the first dry men's college in New England. Tuition was raised from $1,500 to $1,700. The gamelan arrived in December.

In October, Dean of the College Mark Barlow and Provost Joseph Palamountain revealed plans for a Negro Summer School at Wesleyan, an academic enrichment program to "combat one of the evils of segregation." Unlike similar projects already initiated at several other New England colleges, this program was designed not for students but for black high-school teachers.

Edward "Mick" Rudd '66 reported in the paper on his experiences as a summer volunteer with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Greenwood, Miss., part of the Mississippi Summer Project.

The Rev. Ralph Abernathy, invited by John Maguire, spoke in the chapel on November 8: "A Voice from Behind the Cotton Curtain." On November 18, Maguire brought Marian Wright (now Edelman, Hon. '89), an NAACP attorney from Biloxi, to campus. She urged students to become involved in the civil rights movement.

And on December 15, the still-new dean of admissions spoke to an Argus reporter about his plans and new policies. "It is too early to guess how diverse the new class might be," Hoy said, "but we are looking for an enormous range of candidates. We are looking for socio-economic differences and personal value difference. We are looking for the able young man, the versatile, the adventuresome. We are looking for the independent young man who stands the best chance of accomplishing something in his lifetime as opposed to the dabbler . . . ." Questions about a candidate's religion were to be dropped from the application form.

Hoy then added the laconic remark: "In regards to the distribution of races in the incoming class, we seem to be tending towards a reverse prejudice in the matter of Negro applicants. We can't ignore this fact."

In February 1965, the Wesleyan Committee for Civil Rights (WCCR) hosted a Social Action Opportunities Conference, attended by representatives from other colleges and universities and from SNCC, SDS, NSM (Northern Student Movement), AFSC, CORE, SCLC, NAACP, and VISTA. Speakers included Tom Hayden and Staughton Lynd. That same weekend, the University sponsored a symposium on Vietnam.

In mid-March, a campus drive sought funds for Negro Youth Scholarships in Middletown ($2,330.55 was ultimately collected from the campus), and the WCCR established a Selma Fund.

Also in March, five seniors, black and white, (Brian Baxter, Tom Bell, Steve Price, Woody Sayre, Ron Young) participated in demonstrations in Selma, Alabama. On March 16, students organized a "sympathy with Selma" march in town; 150 undergraduates were joined by 300 Middletown residents.

Four professors (Dunham, DeBold, Ihab Hassan, and Winslow) and Margaret Martin, wife of Professor of Art John Martin, flew to join demonstrators in Montgomery.

An Ad Hoc Committee for Equal Rights, a faculty group headed by then-Assistant Professor of History Richard Buel Jr., organized to influence the character of the much-debated Voting Rights Act.

April 9: Wesleyan joined the Middletown Commission for Freedom in Mississippi to "adopt" the town of Belzoni, Mississippi, offering to send books, school and household supplies, and volunteers.

On April 23, Dean Hoy announced a 40 percent increase in the number of completed applications: 1,836 individuals had applied; 532 had been accepted, from which he expected a class of 380. The Argus noted: "This year also marks the appearance of an entirely new attitude toward the Negro student. Hoy said that out of 400 Negroes contacted as possible applicants, 60 did submit applications. From these, 27 were finally accepted." The previous year, Wesleyan had admitted three black students, and two had enrolled.

During this year before the arrival of the Vanguard Class, Hoy organized a series of informational sessions on black American culture for faculty and administrators, and some of the younger faculty were chosen as potential advisers for the newcomers.

Given its record of involvement with civil rights on and off the campus, and considering the level of concern and goodwill expressed, it is not surprising that the Wesleyan community felt ready to open its doors to a substantial African-American contingent. In many ways, the preparations were exemplary. The ways in which they fell short of what was actually needed did not become apparent for almost two years.