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e Kentucky ECemnel
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UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, LEXINGTON

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Vol.

lxi,

no. i:r

Day o( Protest Ends in Destruction

AFROTC Building Burns; Student Charged
students would present

By HON HAWKINS

Kernel Staff Writer
A lire destroying the Air force
H( )TC buildingon Luclid Avenue
ended a day of uneasy confrontation Itetween the students and the

administration.
Sue Ann Salmon, 21, of Hopkins County, was arrest eel in connection with the fire and charged
with arson.
The day Ijegan with typical
UK parts time protests. Around
1
p.m. students Leathered around
the fountain by the Office Tower
to protest the Kent State incident
in which four students died, I S
involvement in Camljodia and
firearms on campus.
After a period of light ac tivity
the rally picked up tempo as
outlined the
Spud Thomas
group's plans. He said the group
would attend that afternoon's
Hoard of Trustees meeting w hich
was open to the public.
As Thomas spoke it was
learned that only 70 seats were in
the room and 60 were already occupiedvery few by students. In
addition, only those students
with seats were to be allowed in
the room because of the building's fire regulations.
Bright Presents Proposal
It was finally decided that
Student Covernment President
Steve Blight would present the
student's proposals.
Dialogue continued until 1:4.3
p.m. when it appeared that the
entire group of demonstrators
tried to enter the Office Tower.
A large number traveled up IS
flights of stairs w hile still another
substantial number took elevators.
After alxmt 175 students were
on the eighteenth floor the police blocked the elevators and
closed off the stairwell preventing an more students from entering the eighteenth floor. I he
police contended that additional

a fire

hazard.

elevator came
up to the floor, but each time
a
campus policeman ordered it back down. Students already on the eighteenth
floor chanted "Let them out!"
'Move or go to Jail'
The Hoard of Trustees meeting began as a topical meeting,
although a eruianent committee was set up to hear complaints aljout the student code.
Steve bright delivered the students' recommendations, but no
action was taken.
I' niv ersity administrators
threatened the students with proposals of "move or go to jail"
several times as the students impatiently waited in the hallways
chanting slogans.
The Trustees concluded business and left with only one incident marring the meeting.
!. lev. ttor after

club-wieldin- g

A

H.

"Happy"

to President Nixon speaking out
against the Cambodian affair but
that he had not finished it. He
said he would not support today 's
proposed lxycott of classes, althe
bright endorsed
though
st rike.
March Covers Campus
The meeting broke up, and
students picked up handouts telling of a rally and march to be
held later at night.
The march covered the UK
campus. As it moved through
the Complex several students
could be heard shouting at the
marchers.
The marchers, carrying four
caskets for the four students killed

at Kent State University Monday,
marched on passing the Donovan-Haggiarea and stopping traffic.
At the comer of Luclid and Limestone the marchers became somewhat divided. Some wanted to
inarch downtown and others
wanted to proceed on to Barker
Hall, the HOTC building. Finally, they all sat down in the mide
dle of the
intersection. But local police halted
traffic back at the Short Street
intersection and the group moved
on to the HOTC building, Huell
Armory.
Confusion Reigns
Once there, rhetoric filled the
air. Most of talk was not talk,
n

Euclid-Limeston-

but yells attempts to get points
across or to solidify further plans.
Of the estimated 300 present
a large number spoke at one
time or another. Many called
Please Turn To Page 2
A rally was scheduled for 4:30
p.m. Wednesday at the ROTC
Building. This was apparently a
test of President Singletary's order prohibiting student meetings
after 5 p.m.
The rally was announced at
the end of a meeting attended
by about 2,500 students in the
Student Center.

Chandler,

former baseball
commissioner
and tw ice governor of Kentucky,
struck a student after the student
reportedly provoked ("handler.
Singletary Speaks
The students remained and demanded to be heard. After much
debate 10 students were allowed
to meet w ith L'K President Otis
A. Singletary and Albert ('lay,
temporary chairman of the Hoard
of Trustees.
After the closed meeting with
the 10, Singletary spoke to the
students and responded to questions. .Singletary said he was told
it was advisable to talk to the
students.
There was "no sizable interest by the Ijoard" to ban fire arms
on campus Singletary told the
students. He added that the only
thing he was persuaded of was
that students "dislike" arms on
campus.
Singletary also commented
that he was working on a letter

.;f

if

-

Lexington firemen shoot a stream of water toward the flaming Euclid
Avenue Ptiiilding, formerly the Air Force ROTC building, after an
arsonist set the building on fire to culminate Tuesday's day of protest. The fire also damaged several rooms in nearby lllaer Hall,
foiling some women students to search for temporary housing in
other dormitories. A UK student, Sue Ann Salmon, 21, of Madison-vilie- ,
has been charged in the burning.
K,rill, photo Hy Duk Wan-

Iwtli Bums

deplorable Aels of

Violence"

Student Meetings After 5
Prohibited By Singletary
UK President Otis A. Singletary, has "prohibited" any student meetings after 5 p.m.
Wednesday.

f

In

a

statement released

Wednesday at noon, Singletary
said, "It is our intention to keep
the University open for those
students who were not involved
in the demonstration and who
want to complete their semes-

ter's work."

Singletary

condemned

the

burning of the Air Force HOTC'
building Tuesday night, saying,
"The deplorable acts of violence
committed last night on the University of Kentucky campus were

irrational and meaningless, and
am personally grieved at the
senseless destruction that hasoc-curre1

Kernel Fhoto by Ken Weaver

"In addition to the loss of
physical property, the lives of
more than a hundred students
weie threatened when fire spread

to their living quarters."
Singletary characterized the
situation here as a "state of limited emergency" and said local
and state police will remain on
campus "to deal w ith any further
incident which threatens violence
to persons or property.''
Cov.
Earlier Wednesday,
Louie Nunn issued a statement
be
saing the violence would nothas
"tolerated". Cov. Nunn
placed the State Police and the
National Cuard on "alert".
Singletary said assistance was
requested from the local and State
Police "after observing the commission of unlawful acts and determining that property and life
w ere threatened and that the campus security force could not contain the crowd."
Singletary said five students
were arrested on various charges.
The president said an investiga

tion of the incident was being
conducted but Stuart Forth, acting vice president for student affairs, said it was too early to determine whether disciplinary action would be taken against any

students.
Forth said

he was "extremely
depressed by the emotional and
irrational response to a complex
problem," and added, "If I were
to believe the rhetoric, I would
say they were looking for a con-

frontation."

Mobilization
Student
The
Committee, meanwhile, "urged
ev ery one to look beyond the mere
burning of a worthless building"
and see the cause of the incident as being an "illegal aggressive war that has cost 50.0(H)
American lives. We strongly feel
that all the buildings on this
campus are not worth one of those

lives."

*