NOTRE DAME — It's been 40 years since a protest movement at Notre Dame helped change the face of the Vietnam War. Wednesday, some of the protesters who later became known as the "Notre Dame 10" were back on campus to mark a solemn anniversary.
The event--now dubbed the "CIA-DOW" protest of November 18, 1969--drew national attention after 10 of the nearly 100 students who took part were suspended or expelled from Notre Dame. Wednesday, 40 years to the day after the "sit in," two of the original "Notre Dame 10" were back on campus to relive their experience and reflect on what their efforts have meant over the last four decades.
A SOLEMN ANNIVERSARY
"It's a lot of mixed feelings and emotions," said John Eckenrode, one of the original 10. "We're here as a bit of a reunion, but more of a remembrance of what we think is an important part of Notre Dame history that doesn't always get told. We're here to give some voice to a turning point, not only in our lives, but also in the life of this institution."
For Eckenrode and Mark Mahoney, another member of the "10," memories of the event in the Notre Dame Main Building are fading. But, somehow, being under the famous golden dome brought many of the most vivid moments back to life.
"It's very vivid now," said Mahoney, now an attorney in Buffalo, NY. "I remember when I got the letter that night telling me I had been suspended from Notre Dame. That's a pretty horrific experience for a Notre Dame student. Then, I had to think--what am I going to tell my parents?"
Mahoney wasn't alone.
40 years ago, what was an empty corridor Wednesday directly under the dome, was flooded with students protesting Notre Dame's decision to allow job interviews from the Central Intelligence Agency and Dow Chemical Corporation.
"Dow Chemical made this horrific product Napalm and Agent Orange, a herbicide used in Vietnam," said Mahoney. "These were being used on innocent civilians."
But, while the students there did have issues with the use of the chemicals, and the CIA's involvement in the war, Mahoney says the "sit in" was organized to send a message to somewhere else: Notre Dame administrators.
AN INEVITABLE CLASH
The university's student Senate passed a resolution in late 1969 requiring recruiters from private companies and the government to meet with students for "question and answer sessions" if enough students petitioned Notre Dame administrators to do so, Eckenrode said.
"And some were willing to do that," said Eckenrode, now a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. "A petition actually had been signed by a significant number of students and presented to the university. But, [administrators] chose not to follow."
Eckenrode says, from that point on, a clash was inevitable.
"i think the stage was set on both sides. We felt we had run out of options, in a way. I think the university was, in hindsight, more than willing to have this escalate into a conflict that was great enough invoke the 15 minute rule," Eckenrode said.
Eight months earlier, then Notre Dame President Rev. Theodore Hesburgh wrote a letter to students and faculty, warning that anyone who engaged in protests that "infringed on the rights of others" would be given 15 minutes to "reflect, cease and desist."
“We cannot allow a small minority to impose their will on the majority who have spoken regarding the university’s style of life,” the letter read, in part.
The 15-minute rule was necessary to deal with the challenges of that era, Hesburgh, 92 told The South Bend Tribune earlier this year.
"It was obvious the university world was coming apart at the seams," Hesburgh said. "I decided it was high time to really lay out the situation and put down the lines of how far one could go in protesting without destroying the institution itself."
At least 10 of the students at the protest, including Mahoney and Eckenrode, refused to leave after their 15 minutes were up.
"The biggest reason for us was the university's refusal to confront its own moral dilemma of allowing, without question, these organizations to come onto campus to recruit students, and insulating them from scrutiny from students," Mahoney said. "Part of a Catholic education ought to be a challenge on Catholic grounds of what is happening."
Mahoney is convinced administrators were ready for a showdown.
"They wanted to, quote, set an example. So, we were the scapegoats--the sacrificial victims for this," he said.
The 15-minute rule was never invoked again.
A MORAL DEFENSE
40 years later, much has changed on the Notre Dame campus, and for the "Notre Dame 10." But, some still question whether the role of a Catholic university has changed during times of war.
Wednesday night, the group attempted to find an answer during a panel discussion with two former professors who came to their aide at the cost of their jobs.
Dr. Carl Estabrook had just arrived on Notre Dame's campus 3 months earlier as a young history professor when he became an adviser to the 10 suspended and expelled students.
His teaching contract was cancelled a year later.
"I turned up the afternoon of the demonstration simply because I was pleased to see there was such a thing going on. I was happy to be associated with it," Estabrook said, a button bearing the phrase "U.S. Troops Out Of The Middle East" on his jacket.
"This demonstration was essentially performed by the university. It was precipitated, and indeed, directly caused by the University of Notre Dame," Estabrook continued.
Another outspoken critic of the university's response to the incident was the Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, a 1962 Notre Dame graduate who had signed on as Director of the university's "Program for the Study and Practice of Non-Violent Conflict Resolution."
"This was a program that I had founded with Father Ted [Hesburgh]. I was not there during the event, but they came to me after the event--I suspect because I'm an attorney--and we had long and serious discussions about whether to defend this thing in terms of civil court or to bring it as a moral issue to the university," McCarthy said.
"We decided the real issue here was the University of Notre Dame and it's Catholicity and Christianity. This was just not consistent with the teaching of the Gospel. It was not consistent with Catholic just-war teaching. There was something radically wrong with the university, morally at that point," McCarthy continued.
McCarthy went on to craft the legal defense the students based their suspension appeal on. He resigned his faculty position in protest of the university's treatment of the "Notre Dame 10."
LESSONS FROM THE PAST
Much has changed about Notre Dame, and the world in 40 years, the group agreed. But, what had changed about a Catholic university's role in war?
"Nothing," replied Rev. McCarthy.
"I disagree completely," Estabrook fought back.
"I think what has changed is that civilian casualties are just simply accepted [now]," said Mahoney. "It's accepted now as simply part and parcel of this effort to track down the Taliban. And there are no moral teachings that justify it."
Still, there was no doubt the event changed them and every war protest, and likely war since.
"A survey taken shortly after the Notre Dame 10 event by the Foreign Policy Institute in Chicago showed 70% of Americans thought the war in Vietnam was a crime, not a mistake. It was a moral wrong, not simply a policy error. And that was a result of the sort of actions that these gentlemen took," Estabrook said.
LOOKING FORWARD
When asked if they had any regrets about their involvement in the sit-in, all four didn't hesitate to shake their heads.
"I certainly have no regrets," said Eckenrode. "This was a learning experience."
"Knowing what I know now, I would absolutely do the same things again," agreed Estabrook.
So, it seems would Hesburgh.
The group met in private with the former University President to celebrate mass and talk about the legacy that day has left behind. No apologies were made, Eckenrode said, but both sides acknowledged a "mutual respect."
7 of the 10 students, including Mahoney and Eckenrode, did return to Notre Dame after their suspensions and graduate.
"Everything that's happened in the intervening years has only reinforced the fact that every generation of students that comes through these kinds of institutions are going to have to confront the same kinds of issues," Eckenrode said. "I hope our legacy will be some guidance."
South Bend Tribune Staff Writer Margaret Fosmoe contributed to this report.
