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Student Strike / A Chancellor Reflects When the Class of 1969 returned to UNC-G in May for its tenth reunion, some of them cast a nostalgic look at the activism of their years on campus. It was a period of drastic change in social regulations and curricular requirements, but the undisputed highlight of the decade was the student strike in behalf of ARA food service employees. The recollections of Dr. James Ferguson, Chancellor of the University at the time, are reported on these pages. The events as recalled by Randi Bryant Strutton, president of the Student Government Association in 1968-69, follow on page 5. I am often asked if UNC-G had any great troubles during the period of student activism during the 1960s and 1970s. My reply has been that we had some anxious moments, some periods of crisis, but never any violence. As a matter of fact, when crises arose, we were able, usually, to bring about a settlement of disagreements by bringing together the disputants and involved faculty and students and administration in the solution. The greatest moment of anxiety that I can recall in this area came on the night of March 31, 1969, and it was in connection with the cafeteria strike on this campus. There had been cafeteria strikes earlier at the University at Chapel Hill and at A & T State University across town. Our food service — ARA — was also the firm that served A & T State University at that time, and, of course, the one against whom the strike at A & T had been directed. It was also true that many of the cafeteria workers on our campus were students al A & T. A strike here after those at the other institutions was, I suppose, inevitable, and one was initiated the latter part of March, 1969. The workers quickly formed an organization and submitted a lengthy list of demands to ARA similar to the demands that had been presented at A & T. Indeed, the leadership of the strike was the same here as at A & T. The Student Government Association on the UNC-G campus threw its support behind the workers even to the point of utilizing money from student activity fees to hire an attorney to represent the group. The students supported the strike in a number of ways: They conducted demonstrations, noisy but never out-of-line. They also attempted to boycott the cafeteria. Actually, a boycott worked to ARA's advantage because they had anticipated the strike and had laid in a supply of pre-packaged food. It was possible for them to use administrative staff and supply the food to students who came to the cafeteria. Obviously, if there was a boycott, there would be fewer people to serve and ARA would be fulfilling its contract which required them to supply food to the students who had food contracts with them. Seeing the futility of the boycott, the students changed their strategy and shifted to an "eat-in." That is, everyone was encouraged to go over to the cafeteria at the same time and to request as much food as would be given them. They went back for seconds, thirds, fourths; indeed, there was a great deal of wasted food. This tactic did not succeed either in preventing ARA from meeting its obligations. The most effective thing the students did in support of a strike was the hiring of a lawyer, Henry C. Frye, who was then and is currently a member of the state legislature. He met with the students and eventually with members of the administration to inaugurate discussions with regard to the strike. It should be pointed out that the strike was not against the University but against the caterers; yet, there was no way that the University could fail to be affected. It was our students who had contracted with ARA. The effort of the administration was directed first towards seeing that food service was provided, and secondly, toward supplying our good offices to speed negotiations. We tried to provide space for meetings and enter into communication that would facilitate the arrangement of these. In other words, we tried to be the brokers that would produce a settlement of the strike. Initially, the strike was not a black and white issue, but in time an element of race conflict was involved because most of the workers were blacks. As matters developed, it seemed clear that the black workers were not enthusiastic about accepting white leadership either among the students or within the administration. The administration did make it clear that students and workers had the right of freedom of assembly but not the right to obstruct or disrupt activities in the cafeteria through excessive noise. There was only one instance in which there seemed to be a direct violation of the ground rules that had been set up^on this: It was by a student from A & T State University, Nelson Johnson, who at that time was vice president of student government at A & T. At noon on Monday, March 31, Mr. Johnson used a microphone to address a number of the students who were in the cafeteria and to assemble the demonstrators. A black student who was sympathetic with the strike recognized that this was in violation of the ground rules governing the use of the cafeteria for assemblies and not only confronted Nelson Johnson but also took the microphone from his hands. This brought a tense moment but after a few minutes, matters did quiet down. Oi *? '£
Object Description
Title | Student strike - a chancellor reflects |
Date | 1979 |
Creator | Ferguson, James Sharbrough |
Subject headings | University of North Carolina at Greensboro |
Topics | Food service workers' strike, 1969 |
Place | Greensboro (N.C.) |
Description | This article from the Fall, 1979, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) Alumni News contains reminiscences by James Sharbrough Fergsuon, former chancellor of UNCG, about the cafeteria workers' strike of 1969. Ferguson discusses the sequence of events surrounding the strike as well as student reactions and support for striking workers and the tension that ensued. |
Type | text |
Original format | clippings |
Original dimensions | 8.5" x 11" |
Original publisher | Greensboro, N.C. : The University of North Carolina at Greensboro |
Language | en |
Contributing institution | Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries |
Source collection | UA108.2 University Archives Subject Files |
Rights statement | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ |
Additional rights information | NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES. This item has been determined to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. The user is responsible for determining actual copyright status for any reuse of the material. |
Object ID | UA108CRG.0346 |
Digital publisher | The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5305 -- http://library.uncg.edu/ |
Sponsor | LSTA grant administered by the North Carolina State Library -- http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ld/grants/lsta.html |
OCLC number | 884368584 |
Page/Item Description
Title | Page 1 |
Full text | Student Strike / A Chancellor Reflects When the Class of 1969 returned to UNC-G in May for its tenth reunion, some of them cast a nostalgic look at the activism of their years on campus. It was a period of drastic change in social regulations and curricular requirements, but the undisputed highlight of the decade was the student strike in behalf of ARA food service employees. The recollections of Dr. James Ferguson, Chancellor of the University at the time, are reported on these pages. The events as recalled by Randi Bryant Strutton, president of the Student Government Association in 1968-69, follow on page 5. I am often asked if UNC-G had any great troubles during the period of student activism during the 1960s and 1970s. My reply has been that we had some anxious moments, some periods of crisis, but never any violence. As a matter of fact, when crises arose, we were able, usually, to bring about a settlement of disagreements by bringing together the disputants and involved faculty and students and administration in the solution. The greatest moment of anxiety that I can recall in this area came on the night of March 31, 1969, and it was in connection with the cafeteria strike on this campus. There had been cafeteria strikes earlier at the University at Chapel Hill and at A & T State University across town. Our food service — ARA — was also the firm that served A & T State University at that time, and, of course, the one against whom the strike at A & T had been directed. It was also true that many of the cafeteria workers on our campus were students al A & T. A strike here after those at the other institutions was, I suppose, inevitable, and one was initiated the latter part of March, 1969. The workers quickly formed an organization and submitted a lengthy list of demands to ARA similar to the demands that had been presented at A & T. Indeed, the leadership of the strike was the same here as at A & T. The Student Government Association on the UNC-G campus threw its support behind the workers even to the point of utilizing money from student activity fees to hire an attorney to represent the group. The students supported the strike in a number of ways: They conducted demonstrations, noisy but never out-of-line. They also attempted to boycott the cafeteria. Actually, a boycott worked to ARA's advantage because they had anticipated the strike and had laid in a supply of pre-packaged food. It was possible for them to use administrative staff and supply the food to students who came to the cafeteria. Obviously, if there was a boycott, there would be fewer people to serve and ARA would be fulfilling its contract which required them to supply food to the students who had food contracts with them. Seeing the futility of the boycott, the students changed their strategy and shifted to an "eat-in." That is, everyone was encouraged to go over to the cafeteria at the same time and to request as much food as would be given them. They went back for seconds, thirds, fourths; indeed, there was a great deal of wasted food. This tactic did not succeed either in preventing ARA from meeting its obligations. The most effective thing the students did in support of a strike was the hiring of a lawyer, Henry C. Frye, who was then and is currently a member of the state legislature. He met with the students and eventually with members of the administration to inaugurate discussions with regard to the strike. It should be pointed out that the strike was not against the University but against the caterers; yet, there was no way that the University could fail to be affected. It was our students who had contracted with ARA. The effort of the administration was directed first towards seeing that food service was provided, and secondly, toward supplying our good offices to speed negotiations. We tried to provide space for meetings and enter into communication that would facilitate the arrangement of these. In other words, we tried to be the brokers that would produce a settlement of the strike. Initially, the strike was not a black and white issue, but in time an element of race conflict was involved because most of the workers were blacks. As matters developed, it seemed clear that the black workers were not enthusiastic about accepting white leadership either among the students or within the administration. The administration did make it clear that students and workers had the right of freedom of assembly but not the right to obstruct or disrupt activities in the cafeteria through excessive noise. There was only one instance in which there seemed to be a direct violation of the ground rules that had been set up^on this: It was by a student from A & T State University, Nelson Johnson, who at that time was vice president of student government at A & T. At noon on Monday, March 31, Mr. Johnson used a microphone to address a number of the students who were in the cafeteria and to assemble the demonstrators. A black student who was sympathetic with the strike recognized that this was in violation of the ground rules governing the use of the cafeteria for assemblies and not only confronted Nelson Johnson but also took the microphone from his hands. This brought a tense moment but after a few minutes, matters did quiet down. Oi *? '£ |