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| Photo of Arnold Ross From The Ohio State University Math Department |
So far this blog has been focused on events in South Carolina, but I am gong to use this post and maybe another one to talk something else: Arnold Ross's role in increasing African Americans' access to higher education.
Arnold Ross was a mathematician and educator who was an influential Department Chair at the University of Notre Dame in the 1940s and 1950s and at The Ohio State University in the 1960s and 70s. Many of the mathematician readers of this blog probably know about Ross as the founder and long-serving director of the Ross Young Scholars Program. Less well-known is the support Ross provided to African Americans students. In this post, I will talk about Ross and African American student protestors at Ohio State in 1970.
Arnold Ross was a mathematician and educator who was an influential Department Chair at the University of Notre Dame in the 1940s and 1950s and at The Ohio State University in the 1960s and 70s. Many of the mathematician readers of this blog probably know about Ross as the founder and long-serving director of the Ross Young Scholars Program. Less well-known is the support Ross provided to African Americans students. In this post, I will talk about Ross and African American student protestors at Ohio State in 1970.
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| African American students blocking Denney Hall entrance From The Ohio State University Library |
Like essentially every major US university, The Ohio State University saw major student unrest in 1970. In revisiting this history, I was surprised that it's difficult to find a good account of what happened and the narrative isn't what I expected. Most universities saw student protests break out on April 30 when President Nixon announced that the US was invading Cambodia. The protests then exploded on May 4 when the four students were shot at Kent State University by the National Guard.
Unlike many schools, the protests at Ohio State did not start with anti-war protests after the invasion of Cambodia. They started earlier in the year and had their origins in demands from an African American student association, the Afro-Am Society. On March 9, the society presented a series of demands to the university administration. The students met with administrators over the course of the week, but with few results. The main outcome was that the students became increasingly frustrated and on the 13th about fifty of them occupied administrative offices and generally caused disruptions. School officials called in the State Highway Patrol to restore order, and the tensions temporarily died down as it was the end of the academic quarter.
At the start of the next quarter, the protests expanded. The Afro-Am Society was joined in protest by new student groups like students in the School of Social Work. The new protestors both expressed solidarity with the Afro-Am Society and began protesting against new issues like the lack of student participation in university governance and the presence of military recruiters on campus. Events developed as before: students met administrators, became frustrated, and then began escalating their protests. In response, administrators increased the police presence on campus.
The protests reached a turning point on April 29. A group of students and faculty, the Ad Hoc Committee, called for a university-wide strike, and in response, the Governor called out the Ohio National Guard shortly before midnight. The next day National Guard troops marched on students to break up demonstrations. The troops remained on campus to try to maintain order, but with mixed success. On May 6, the University President, at the recommendation of the Governor, closed the university because of the danger of violence and disorder. The university remained closed for 13 days, until May 19. This is the longest closure in the university's history.
Student protests seem to have slowly died down after university reopened. Guardsmen remained on campus, a curfew was put into effect, and students continued to protest, although with less intensity than before. The administration began to make limited concessions to students. For example, they agreed to create a Black Studies program and hire more African American police officers, but they did not sever ties with the military.
May 30 is a natural date for the end of the protests as this is when the National Guard was withdrawn from campus. However, many students and administrators would have been embroiled in legal actions stemming from the protests for months, if not years. The protests cost the university millions of dollars. Riot control measures (funds for the National Guard, the police, etc) alone cost over $1.5 millions (with inflation, this would be roughly $10 million in 2020), and of course, the physical and emotional cost to the university community is impossible to calculate.
Unlike many schools, the protests at Ohio State did not start with anti-war protests after the invasion of Cambodia. They started earlier in the year and had their origins in demands from an African American student association, the Afro-Am Society. On March 9, the society presented a series of demands to the university administration. The students met with administrators over the course of the week, but with few results. The main outcome was that the students became increasingly frustrated and on the 13th about fifty of them occupied administrative offices and generally caused disruptions. School officials called in the State Highway Patrol to restore order, and the tensions temporarily died down as it was the end of the academic quarter.
At the start of the next quarter, the protests expanded. The Afro-Am Society was joined in protest by new student groups like students in the School of Social Work. The new protestors both expressed solidarity with the Afro-Am Society and began protesting against new issues like the lack of student participation in university governance and the presence of military recruiters on campus. Events developed as before: students met administrators, became frustrated, and then began escalating their protests. In response, administrators increased the police presence on campus.
The protests reached a turning point on April 29. A group of students and faculty, the Ad Hoc Committee, called for a university-wide strike, and in response, the Governor called out the Ohio National Guard shortly before midnight. The next day National Guard troops marched on students to break up demonstrations. The troops remained on campus to try to maintain order, but with mixed success. On May 6, the University President, at the recommendation of the Governor, closed the university because of the danger of violence and disorder. The university remained closed for 13 days, until May 19. This is the longest closure in the university's history.
Student protests seem to have slowly died down after university reopened. Guardsmen remained on campus, a curfew was put into effect, and students continued to protest, although with less intensity than before. The administration began to make limited concessions to students. For example, they agreed to create a Black Studies program and hire more African American police officers, but they did not sever ties with the military.
May 30 is a natural date for the end of the protests as this is when the National Guard was withdrawn from campus. However, many students and administrators would have been embroiled in legal actions stemming from the protests for months, if not years. The protests cost the university millions of dollars. Riot control measures (funds for the National Guard, the police, etc) alone cost over $1.5 millions (with inflation, this would be roughly $10 million in 2020), and of course, the physical and emotional cost to the university community is impossible to calculate.
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| An OSU Student confronts National Guard From The Ohio State University Library |
Where was Ross in all this? You can read him talk about his experience in a 2001 interview. Ross knew some of the African American student leaders through an educational program for inner city youth (I think this was the New Careers program). Ross was sympathetic to the students' complaints, but felt rioting was the wrong thing to do. He met with students and offered to help them meet with administrators who could address their complaints. When the National Guardsman arrived on campus in May, Ross was part of a group of faculty that tried to act as a "buffer" between the strikers and the police and Guardsmen. (In the interview, Ross and the faculty are described as wearing red armbands to signify their status, though in another account, the faculty group is called the Green Ribbon Commission).
Its unclear how large a role Ross played. I haven't seen Ross's name appear in documentation about the protests, but I haven't looked very hard, and in any case, there doesn't seem to be any comprehensive account of the event.
Regardless of his role, Ross was appreciated by students in 1970. In 2001(?), I had the privilege to see Norfolk State University Professor Howard Marks Simon Richard talk about his experience and relation with Ross. Richard was an OSU Ph.D. student in 1970 and was involved in the Afro-Am Society protests. He explained how Ross had put himself in danger to protect students and expressed gratitude to him for keeping the rioting from getting worse ("Let's give it up for Dr. Ross", I recall him saying.)
(Thanks to Keith Conrad for catching some errors in an earlier draft of this blog.)
Its unclear how large a role Ross played. I haven't seen Ross's name appear in documentation about the protests, but I haven't looked very hard, and in any case, there doesn't seem to be any comprehensive account of the event.
Regardless of his role, Ross was appreciated by students in 1970. In 2001(?), I had the privilege to see Norfolk State University Professor Howard Marks Simon Richard talk about his experience and relation with Ross. Richard was an OSU Ph.D. student in 1970 and was involved in the Afro-Am Society protests. He explained how Ross had put himself in danger to protect students and expressed gratitude to him for keeping the rioting from getting worse ("Let's give it up for Dr. Ross", I recall him saying.)
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| Acknowledgments from H. Marks Richard's thesis From The Ohio State Mathematica Department |
Ross's involvement in the 1970 student protest is more-or-less well known by his colleagues and students at Ohio State. They are one of the many great stories circulating on campus about him. Less well known is Ross's role in desegregating Saint Louis University in the 1940s. I will talk about that in another blogpost.
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| Police clear Neil Avenue From The Ohio State Library |
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