TRAIN OF THOUGHT
Professor Herbert Marcuse ( left ) was a controversial thinker of the time , while his graduate student , Angela Davis , MA ’ 69 , would inspire further generations to seek change .
Legacy of Inspiration :
WHO WAS HERBERT MARCUSE ?
BY SAVANNAH MUNOZ ’ 20
MANY EARLY UC SAN DIEGO professors were lured from institutions of the east with the promise of sun and sand , but paradise wasn ’ t prepared for one philosopher .
Herbert Marcuse was a notable name even when he first arrived on campus in 1965 . But his years at UC San Diego would make Marcuse an icon for countercultural youth on a campus swiftly radicalizing along with colleges across the nation .
He didn ’ t look like a revolutionary — the elderly German national wore a wool suit and tie most days — but his ideology was far from the norm . Marcuse was dubbed “ Father of the New Left ,” a movement steeped in Marxist ideals and readied for revolution . “ His fame was the ability to push great thinkers one more step beyond where they comfortably went ,” says Barry Shapiro ’ 69 . “ Marcuse questioned and critiqued the philosophies of Marx , Hegel , and Freud , and he finished what they started .” In his book , One Dimensional Man , for instance , he harshly criticizes Western capitalism as totalitarian , preventing people from tapping into other dimensions of their humanity .
Anne-Marie Feenberg , PhD ’ 76 , remembers Marcuse being on her doctoral committee for a PhD in literature . “ He had no idea ,” Feenberg recalls . “ He was so surprised that everybody saw him as a guru of the movement .” But Marcuse was known to walk the walk — joining students on marches and regularly taking the podium at protests , from supporting students of color as they advocated for Third College , to the pervasive anti-war demonstrations .
Desks were often full for his lectures , with people standing in the back , eager to learn from this philosophical pop star . Philosophy major Charles McCurdy ’ 70 remembers taking Marcuse ’ s “ Theories of Society ” class five times —“ following successful petitions showing how each course was very different .”
Yet for all the attention Marcuse drew from admiring students , others took notice as well . There was typically uproar when his teaching contract came up for renewal every year , facing calls for his resignation from the UC Board of Regents as well as then-governor Ronald Reagan . The American Legion even offered then-Chancellor McGill $ 20,000 to buy out his teaching contract , to which he commented , “ They must think Marcuse is a football player .”
Oppositions such as these seemed civil compared to other affronts Marcuse faced . On top of receiving anonymous death threats at his house , he was targeted by the Ku Klux Klan with threatening letters . Yet this only activated students even more — a few even acted as bodyguards when Marcuse walked to school . The academic support for Marcuse also combated outside criticism . Amidst the furor over his appointment , the Academic Senate released a statement of
the Committee on Academic Freedom , with Chairman Walter Munk , PhD ’ 47 saying , “ I do not agree with Professor Marcuse ’ s views , but that is not the point at issue here . A colleague is under attack by people outside the university . … We are unable to halt such criticisms , but we must never yield to outside pressures on academic matters .”
When Marcuse ultimately became a professor emeritus , the uproar over his position faded and he spent less time on campus and more time on the international lecture circuit . He passed away at the age of 81 , just before he was scheduled to speak in his home country . But he truly inspired a revolutionary cohort on this campus — former student Lowell Bergman , now a leading investigative journalist , recalls , “ I met people I am still in touch with today and share the experience of being in the presence of someone who could truly think in a ‘ radical ’ fashion , who examined the world and ideas by finding their root .”
And of course , some of his students would become thought leaders and icons in their own right ...
22 TRITON | SPRING 2019