‘You Had a Feeling That You Could Change the World’

I was a senior in May, 1970. As a Resident Assistant in Washington Hall I watched tear gas drift over campus while surveillance helicopters illuminated students running across campus and through my dorm. For many of us, this was a moment when we discovered the lives of the Cleavers in "Leave it to Beaver" were gone. Naivete ended during those days as we watched the activists and joined in the march on Washington. Perhaps the same thoughts have come to graduates in 2020.

As a U of Md alumni and a founding member of the Democratic Radical Union of Maryland (DRUM) I appreciate the University looking at that era of some 50 years ago. There are too many uncomfortable parallels between those days and today. These events shaped our life stories; often more than our classroom experiences. At that time 2/3 of the students dropped out;many to learn first hand the lessons of Viet Nam. Many returning combat veterans like SGA president Jones , whose photo you see, desperately tried to move an unbelieving campus. Thank you all who helped me learn at the University of Maryland. Gordon Glaser class of 1971