1970:  a time of turmoil on campus
     The images shown here were among hundreds taken of the campus demonstrations in 1970 by Daily Titan and Iconoclast magazine photographers, especially Bruce Bagnoli, Pat Hague, Paula Macias and Mike O'Hollaren.  They offer a glimpse of the unrest that led to the complete shutdown of Cal State Fullerton (and other campuses) shortly before the end of spring semester in 1970.
     Colleges nationwide experienced huge protests after four students were killed by national guardsmen during a demonstration at Kent State University in Ohio.  Gov. Ronald Reagan responded by ordering all UC and CSU campuses to close on a Wednesday for an extended weekend--or perhaps longer.  Even the Daily Titan staff was ordered out of its office and typesetting facility, forcing the staff to publish a very abbreviated edition (see below).
     At one point professors were told to assign grades based on work completed up to that time instead of attempting to finish their courses.  Some profs said that was unfair or simply impossible and gave nothing but "A" grades as a protest!  Eventually the campus was reopened and some final exams were held as scheduled.

This is what greeted students in the McCarthy Hall breezeway more than once in Spring, 1970. 
 

Probably the thing that led to the worst confrontations at Cal State Fullerton was an appearance at an academic convocation by Gov. Ronald Reagan on Feb. 9, 1970.  His talk was disrupted repeatedly by hecklers, including a child in the bleachers who made a famous gesture of contempt.  Disciplinary actions resulting from that event triggered a semester of campus protests. 
 

As the unrest reached a climax, there were law enforcement sweeps to clear the campus of thousands of students (and faculty) who were protesting not only out of concern for the larger issues of the day but also about alleged abuses of their rights during previous campus demonstrations, including the protest of Reagan's visit. 
 

At times the violent confrontations between police and students were recorded by photographers from the upper balconies of the Humanities Building.  If anything like this were to happen in the Quad today, it would not be possible to take a photo like this for two reasons:  the trees have grown so large that this planter area is mostly invisible from the balconies, and the upper balconies have been enclosed with grid structures to prevent suicides. 
 
 

At least 40 students and two faculty members were arrested on campus during the unrest in 1970.  Many other students and faculty members received what appeared to be unduly rough handling by police. The chant, "pigs off campus," was heard often. 
 

In one of the more colorful instances of student activism, a protester dumps a half gallon of milk on Russ Keely, director of campus security. 
 
 

...But it DID happen at Cal State Fullerton in 1970!  And the Daily Titan tried to cover the news objectively--thereby offending partisans on both sides. 

Faced with an order to leave their office and on-campus typesetting shop, Daily Titan staffers managed to produce a highly unusual 8 1/2" x 14" two page newspaper that was printed at a local copy shop.  Normally, the Daily Titan, then in its first year of daily publication, was a standard-size 4-8 page newspaper.
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