The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 14, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 12, 1968 Page: 8 of 10
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Roberson & Cullum
Office Supply
Serving the Village
since 1948
2523 Quenby (off Kirby)
JA 2-3296
Times
Barber Shop
Haircuts—$1.75
with student ID
2434 Times — JA 8-9440
Pikeville dispute is reverse ideological conflict
By JOHN ZEH
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (CPS)—Like
most institutions of higher
learning, the administration of 0
Pikeville College faces opposi-
tion from among its students.
The issues are the same as else-
where. But at this school in the
heart of Appalachia the admin-
istration is liberal, and the stu-
dent "revolt" is a conservative
one.
This unique twist to campus
rebellion lias brought national
publicity and smiles among the Dr. Johns, but he still meets in- any mini-skirted hippies or
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nation's educators. But Pike-
ville's revolt in reverse is ac-
tually more than it seems.
The conservative-liberal split
is only part of the conflict. The
real issues and the sincere op-
position to change have been
clouded by rumors, misunder-
standing, ignorance, stubborn-
ness, emotionalism, and fear of
the unknown — all traits not
lacking in this region.
Issues are the same
But an outsider can see that
this tiny hilltop campus with a
student body of 1200 is a micro-
cosm of what's happening at
many supposedly more progres-
sive and sophisticated institu-
tions. Free speech, interracial
dating, the school's involvement
in social problems, the relevance
of education, student involve-
ment in decision-making-, free-
dom of the classroom, student
dress and behavior, a college's
response to change—these are
the issues.
The people on opposite sides
of the ideological fence insist
that "liberal" and "conserva-
tive" labels are unfair, but their
views defy any other easy de-
scription.
The ultimate personification
of orderly change and liberal-
ism is Dr. Thomas Johns, at 37
one of the nation's youngest
college presidents. Because of
his divinity degree, he jokingly
calls himself "minister of main-
tenance," but he has been re-
ferred to as "director of wild
life" on campus.
More precisely, Dr. Johns is
an innovator. His ideas about
education are refreshing., in a
, v season of repression by college
administrators. "We're experi-
encing (at the College) progres-
sive education in its truest sense
that I can't even sell to other
educators. How can you expect
anything but reaction from the
community?" he asks in frus-
tration.
Sociology emphasis
Since he came to Pikeville 19
months ago, Dr. Johns has re-
placed some 30 old professors,
stressed sociology and psycho-
logy, funded anti-poverty work
and new campus buildings with
federal grants, expanded field
study, put students on faculty-
trustee committees, and changed
chapel services to a forum on
contemporary, controversial is-
sues. He has urged students to
get involved in community ac-
tion on such local problems as
strip mining, illiteracy and pol-
lution.
Dr. Johns' detractors claim he
has hirgd Marxists and Com-
munist fellow-travelers who are
against the Vietnam war and
that he has linked the school
with such "subversive" groups
as Appalachian Volunteers and
Vista workers; in the hills of
Eastern Kentucky, that's giv-
ing aid and comfort to the
enemy.
Reactionary opposition
Pikeville College's board of
trustees has consistently backed
tense opposition from students
and townspeople. The "fire" on
campus grew out of concern of
students who "legitimately feel
that involvement with any or-
ganization or activity—which is
condemned by a large segment
of the community" is wrong,
Dr. Johns said in an interview.
"Any time you hold hands with,
condone, or don't denounce what
they want denounced, you are
going to have some enemies."
The president considers the
resistance healthy. His big aim
is "development of dialogue,"
which he feels is impossible if
everyone agrees. He says he
understands the reasons for re-
sistance, and is sympathetic.
"When you have to think
through what you feel and
someone challenges it—if it's
been a basic tenet of your life
and all of a sudden it's critic-
ized for the first time—it's a
traumatic experience for you.
The womb is a nice place to be."
Dr. Johns wants his students
to "do their own thing," but
he won't make them. He wants
to "create a self-initiating man"
who is truly human and can
shape his own destiny. "That's
what education is all about.
We haven't done that. We've
created a herded animal."
Anti-VISTA
Student leaders opposed to
Dr. Johns and his policies say
they are not objecting to gen-
eral change nor calling anyone
Communists. Bob Ford, student
council president, is critical of
the college's "linking up" with
the Appalachian Volunteers
(AV's) and Vista because their
work is considered "bad."
He condem n s professors'
membership i n "Communist
fronts" and encouragement of
draft resistance. "If this is what
we're changing to, we're not for
this kind of change," he said.
Steve Powers^ .a member of
the campus newspaper staff,
feels that Dr. Johns' dialogue-
producing disagreement has led
to instability and emotionalism.
He sa^'s students are not quali-
fied to solve community prob-
lems.
Besides being drawn along
political-ideological lines, the
differences at Pikeville have
precipitated a sort of town-
gown split and north-south ri-
valry.
Ford says the college's repu-
tation has suffered and com-
munity support has been vir-
tually destroyed. Townspeople
generally don't understand
what's happening on campus
and the "creekers" up the hol-
lows in Pike County probably
believe the innuendos about the
new administration.
LAGNAF
Students who commute from
off-campus, like Ford and Pow-
ers resent the appearances and
attitudes of some of the out-of-
state students from the north,
some of who believe in "Yankee
Power" and play on an intra-
mural basketball team called
LAGNAF ("Let's All Go North
and Fuck.") "Before this year,"
says Powers, "we didn't have
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405 Travis • CA 2-9033
This Entitles the Student with this
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long-haired filthy people, but
now we do have some who run
around campus like slobs."
John Mays, editor of the col-
lege's "Record" newspaper pre-
dicts a "riot" by conservatives.
His paper runs a quote from
California Gov. Ronald Reagan
on its nameplate, but Mays says
he has refrained from espousing
the conservative view to the
point of criticizing the Johns
administration too strongly be-
cause of "personal pressure."
Most are apathetic
May does allow presentation
of the liberal viewpoint in the
"Record." His managing editor
is Marvin Rudnick, a junior
from New York who is one of the
campus' most vocal "liberals."
He's considered a radical by
some, but says he would be a
moderate on most other cam-
puses. Eudnick discounts Ford's
and Mays' estimates of a con-
servative majority on campus,
saying both factions are in the
minority. Most of the students
are in "the big apathetic mid-
dle," he feels.
"If you don't move, you never
get going," says Prof. Richard
O. Comfort, who teaches a new
course called Sociology of Ap-
palachia.
Dr. Johns is moving; he wants
to run the best college possible
and make an impact on an edu-
cational system that he feels
is as antiquated as the Middle
Ages. "I just think it's about
time we did something," he
says. "People have been talking
about it, now let's do it. Let's
take the risks."
Dr. Johns finds comfort in
the words of Machiavelli. "It
must be considered that there
is nothing more difficult to car-
ry out, no more doubtful of
success, no more dangerous to
handle than to initiate a new
order of things ..."
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the rice thresher, december 12, 1968—page 8
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Bahler, Dennis. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 14, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 12, 1968, newspaper, December 12, 1968; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245043/m1/8/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.