04 Broadcaster Press October 7, 2014 www.broadcasteronline.com Celebrate Dakota Days: Part II A voice of the student body resonates By Alan Dale alan.dale@plaintalk.net Enough has been written over the decades about Elvis and Rock N’ Roll and the British Invasion led by the Beattles. Music was becoming a force of nature throughout the nation and the world. A world plagued by wars Cold and in Vietnam. An era steeped in young people standing up for what they believed in. The times of spend, spend, spend, and the great 80s. During those times it is noted that from 19641988 the University of South Dakota student went from fear to outspokenness to all out times of glee. Could it have been the most emotional vexing quarter century in 100 years of Dakota Days celebrations and years well spent by USD students? It very well could have been. A time of patriotism and wars unknown John F. Kennedy was assassinated, a Cold War – specifically a dance of avoidance and passive aggression between the Soviet Union and the United States – loomed and would do so until the fall of the U.S.S.R. and the Berlin Wall, and Vietnam ensnared a nation of young men. It was the 60s and once music ushered in the decade with a resounding rock style the world came crashing down on Americans, in particular, USD students like a comet. Ted Muenster, who was USD’s president from 1998-2007 was the director of the school’s Institute of Public Affairs in the late 60s. “When I first started working here I had to sign a loyalty pledge saying I wasn’t out to overthrow the government,” he said. “I signed it and thinking at myself that if I was out to throw the government and was that sinister I wouldn’t hesitate to sign the darn thing. So I didn’t know what they were trying to do there except maybe affirm your patriotism.” It was said that after the JFK murder the school, which began its second century of existence in 1962, was under the blanket of discontent. “I filled the front page with research and a lengthy account of what the campus and country was feeling,” Jane Shanard, the Volante’s editor and Class of 1965 member, told the Sioux City Journal later. “It was a confusing and heartwrenching time.” The school’s newspaper editor couldn’t have pegged it better. Issues of America against communism and racial tensions were in the forefront and Vietnam loomed. In the meantime, students protested the creation of a new student union and how the monies to build it would be gathered. Many took exception to the idea of $350,000 in student collection fees going toward the project and not having had a voice in the matter. Ultimately after going through legal channels, they would. So one victory of having the students’ voice heard only led to more powerful shouts later. Vietnam would slowly begin to make an impact in the modern minds’ eye in the late part of the decade and would become a dividing force of epic proportions. A military draft can do that. “It was frenetic time,” current USD president James Abbott and 1970 USD graduate recalled. “I remember sitting in a room with guys as they would draw the numbers for the draft. So you know if your birthday was No. 1 and they drew No. 1 you were going. So there was a lot of soul searching. I did a lot of soul searching, ‘What can I live with, what can’t I live with?’ A lot of guys could not live with idea of going to Vietnam and some didn’t. Some fled to Canada others joined the National Guard. “Here it was pretty civil. We had marches, and they didn’t get out of hand.” Of course with the 1970 shooting of a Kent State student war protestor, the USD campus was put on alert with its own issues. “The reaction to the Kent State shooting was The last cover of the last USD yearbook in 1986. (Courtesy Photo) over a dispute if the flag should be put at half-staff for the students that got shot,” Muenster said. “That led to the occupation to what was the new armory, which is now the new art center. It happened 3-4 days after the shooting. School president Richard Bowen – who handled it very well - sent a few of us over to the occupation to try to talk these students down. It turned into a party with a purpose.” A false bomb threat cleared the building as Bowen allowed the protestors to sit in the football field while a search for the alleged destructive device was held. The president promised students that if no bomb was held they could come back to the building and continue where they left off. “He had enough credibility that they did what he asked,” Muenster said. “I helped looked for GUBBELS SALVAGE Wanted: • Old Cars • RV Motorhomes • Farm Machinery • Irrigation Systems • Any Type of Scrap Iron • Grain Bin Removal Paying Top Dollar Will Pick Up a bomb and we searched the building and didn’t find anything so we opened the doors back up and they continued on with their hootenanny. That’s the kind of kids we have here. They weren’t destructive like that ones in Wisconsin or at Columbia where they blew up buildings.” Ultimately the kids went back to class when they realized they had more important personal matters to attend to. “They were hippies with long hair and we still have some now,” Muenster said. “They look like antiques now.” Abbott, like many others, were scared of the war in Vietnam and what it could mean for a young person’s future. “Sure, I didn’t want to go,” Abbott admitted. “I had mixed emotions where I felt I should do my duty, but It was hard for me to support that particular war. The real unfortunate part was why people in my generation couldn’t have honored the soldiers and still disagree with the war. That’s a real disappointment to me when I think back. “We should have honored them more - the ones who decided to go or were drafted.” Outspoken as the 70s roll in One great improvement on the USD campus as well as across the nation has been the increased respect for women’s role in society. “If you look at my graduation picture from law school in 1974, there was not a single woman in the picture and in business school there were barely any women,” Abbott said. “Now in medical school or law school it’s about 50-50, which is good…it’s the way it should be.” Back then in between all the racial tension and wars across the globe, women continued to fight for their rightful place in American society. n USD, Page 08 Boots & Shoes Towing Service & Skid Loader Work. 1-402-640-6335 Coleridge, NE Waterproof FREE SOCKS With Boots Boston 3rd • Yankton • to Boots Shoes 665-9092 312 W. ATTENTION CONTRACTORS, BUSINESS OWNERS, DEVELOPERS & INVESTORS! YANKTON COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE AT AUCTION Wednesday Oct. 22nd 9:30 am Ribbon utti g Ribbon Cutting Ribbon Cutting bbo ting Ce ebration! Celebration! Celebration! ebration! ration! Vermillion Area Chamber & Development Company held a ribbon cutting ceremony and celebration on October 2, 2014, to open up the streets to Bliss Pointe. Bliss Pointe is a new housing development on the west side of Vermillion. The Vermillion Area Chamber & Development Company is located at 116 Market St., Ste. 103, Vermillion. They can be reached at 605-624-5571, fax 605-624-0094. You can visit their website at www.livevermillion.com or email Executive Director Nate Welch at nate@vermillionchamber.com. Their hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT AUCTION TO FOLLOW Located: 2011 Green Street, Yankton, SD (1 block South of the Yankton Mall). The real estate consists of a Butler 40’x110’ steel constructed building with 2 of?ces, 2 bathrooms, coffee room with kitchenette, elec heat and central AC. Shop area is approximately 40’x84’ plus parts room and loft. Shop area has (3) 12x12 overhead doors. The shop is insulated and heated with natural gas and wood, fully concreted. There is also a wood constructed building 30’x95’ that has full loft for storage. Real Estate is zoned highway business. For viewing or more information call Kent at 605-665-3450 or 605-661-3450. Legal: North 226.7’ of Block 2, paralleling the RR property on the West Side; plus 455.3’ along the North Side of the Property & North 209’ of Block 2 parallel to the East side of Green Street; Plus South Side of North 226.7’ and the south Side of the North 209’ of Block 2; all in Joe Goeden Addition, City of Yankton, SD. Taxes are $2,783.52. TERMS: 10% Non-refundable earnest money deposit the day of auction with the balance due on closing. Yankton County Title Company, Closing Agent. Taxes prorated to the day of closing. Title Insurance & Closing Costs split 50/50 between the buyer and seller. Closing on Nov 24th, 2014. Possession on closing. Auctioneer’s are acting as agents for the seller. Goeden Construction, Owner Kent Goeden (605) 665-3450 or (605) 661-3450 605-267-2421 866-531-6186 Marv Girard, BA #12399; Ken Girard, CAI, AARE Broker #10183; Mike Girard, CAI, BA #13549; Scott Moore Auctioneer 5#11031; Mike Manning BA #11607 www.GirardAuction.com