I WAS A FIRST-YEAR GRADUATE student in physics , crossing Revelle Plaza on my way to the student office complex . It was a Sunday and not many people were in the plaza . I arrived just after the flames had been extinguished . The badly burned young man was yelling at the police , something like , “ Kill me ! Kill me !” I was angry at him for the futility of his act and for the pain he caused his family .
James Raymond , MS ’ 71 , PhD ’ 76 Scripps Institution of Oceanography
COLLEGE IS MOST ALWAYS a pivotal experience in life — embarking from home ; freedom to develop , explore , fail and find passion .
For those of us at UCSD in 1969 , the experience was complicated by the sadness of coming to question our country and the resulting estrangement from our parents ’ generation .
Your article about George Winne reopened agony long asleep — the profound dejection and confusion I felt those 50 years ago that yet another life had been wasted , and that I was powerless to help .
Perhaps we weren ’ t as powerless as we felt .
Perhaps even those of us who weren ’ t militant activists or leaders have effected change in at least our local worlds by letting the sad awareness born during those difficult times blossom from us in lives and deeds colored with compassion .
All of us who have attended UCSD are among the luckiest of people in the world , residing for a while in an unmatched citadel of learning above the sea , from which the world opens in every direction .
May we honor the opportunity well , no matter the trials of our particular time .
Marie Eisen Davis ’ 71 Muir College
I RECEIVED MY ISSUE of Triton ’ s “ Echoes of 1969 ”— to be honest , I expected “ fluff .” Instead , you captured the spirit of the first five years of UCSD : the controversy , the excitement , the challenging thought and debate . Thanks for a great job on bringing those early years back to life .
Greg Goodwyn ’ 69 Revelle College
IN 1975 , THE ANTI-CIA COALITION was formed on campus , when the student body learned that the CIA was recruiting women , blacks and Chicanos ( using the terms from that era ) at UCSD . This was right after Senator Frank Church ’ s Select Committee investigated and revealed excesses of the CIA , including assassination plots against national leaders .
An angry crowd with picket signs gathered in November to confront UC President David Saxon right outside the gym . They were chanting “ CIA off campus !” and “ Here they recruit ! Abroad they shoot !” The students questioned Saxon and he was evasive at first . Then someone yelled , “ Are you going to get the CIA off this campus ?” Saxon replied , “ No , I refuse !” A near riot followed . Ten students were later subjected to disciplinary charges .
In 1976 – 77 , there was another coalition to pressure UC / UCSD to divest from companies doing business with South Africa , to protest apartheid . This second coalition had major internal tensions between two factions : the independent leftists — including members of Groundwork Books — against the Young Socialist Alliance ( YSA ).
In one incident , the YSA tried to divert members of the other group in a different direction during a protest march on campus , claiming the other group was going to “ trash ” an administrative office . The other side denied there was such a plan . Each side made accusations against each other and the YSA was eventually kicked out . A number of African-American students also left , disgusted with the conflict .
John D . Wagner ’ 77 Third College
THANK YOU FOR THE PIECE about George Winne and the reprint of Roger DeLaix ’ s 1970 memorial . I was a little acquainted with George , and thought that if his family or friends were still around , they might like to know that someone remembers him .
I had known George for some time because he and I , like many others , spent long hours at Harold Darling ’ s Unicorn art cinema and bookstore in La Jolla . I remember George had a distinctive , lugubrious speaking style . He was not stylish in the disheveled manner of the era , presenting himself tidily enough to be misperceived as an engineering student or the like . I think we hangers-on at the bookstore perceived him as a bit of an odd duck — overly earnest , or perhaps a bit depressed — but he was alert to irony and able to laugh . We ’ d all have long discussions together when the store wasn ’ t too busy . I was quite active with various anti-war efforts at UCSD , and don ’ t recall George taking part . But we were young and upset in an upsetting moment ; things felt cataclysmic and our inability to alter the nation ’ s disastrous course so frustrating . I remember George as smart , intellectually curious , but extremely pessimistic . He was a familiar figure at the bookstore , part of the casual nighttime scene .
On the morning of May 10 , I crossed the quad just after George had been taken to the hospital , and saw ashes lying on the pavers . I was entirely shocked to learn he had taken so drastic an action . It remains an indelible memory . And for decades I have felt guilty that I did not try to get to know George better in those bookstore evenings .
Naomi Schiff ’ 70 Muir College
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