3

“such groups as the Student Peace
_ Union, Student. Sane, and. Tocsin,





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ON on rt repent ene ety

SAPERE AUDE-



~ VOLUME 1, NUMBER 2

BRYN MAWR, PENNSYLVANIA

“APRIL 11, 1962



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“The ‘student peace movement as
it has developed ‘in the past.-sev-
eral years is an expression of the
new student political awareness of
the 1960s as compared with the
corresponding apathy of the fifties.
On campuses across the nation
there has ‘developed a widespread
and growing concern: with the issues
of war and peace. In general, stu-

~ dent -peace groups have become in-

creasingly influential, and have dis-
played a sincere desire to explore
the problems of peace and disarm-
ment. In this desire, however, cer-
tain of these groups have’ been
more successful than others.
Through a critical evaluation of

fudent

established: ‘conclusions. Indeed,
many students do agree with the
SPU policies, however, members
who might not concur are till faced
with the responsibility’ of ‘sup-
porting national SPU: policies
through action and publicity. Why
should students belong to an or-
ganization obligating them to sup-
port policies which they do not
understand or platforms with which
they disagree? A great many stu-
dents join because they are vital-
ly concerned with the issues in-
volved, and, as on the Bryn Mawr
campus, no other opportunity is
offered for organized study of the
problems of war_ and peace.



and such movements ‘as. the
Swarthmore Disarmament confer-

ence, this article shall attempt to
partially assess the development. of | m

the student peace movement and
to evaluate Bryn Mawr. participa-
tion in it. on

Student Poare .
mae 5: nion

Thus far, The Student —
Union isthe only student organi-
zation active on the Bryn Mawr

campus which has devoted its pri-

mary attention to a study of the}
problems of war and peace. There
are, however, a considerable num-
ber of students on this campus
who are vitally concerned with
these problems, and yet ‘who do
not belong to: SPU. In fact, of. the
Bryn Mawr students who. partici-
pated in the Washington Peace
March of February 16 and 17,
students obviously. and actively
concerned with the issues of war
and peace, more than % were not

members of the Student ‘ Peace
~ Union. :
As stated in its constitution,

“The Student Peace Union is an

organization of young people who}.
believe that war can no longer be.

successfully used to settle interna-

; tional disputes and. that neither

human” freedom: nor. the human
race itself can endure in a world
committeed td militarism. Without
committing any member to a pre-
cise statement of policy, the SPU
draws together young people for

/ a study of alternatives. to war and

engages in education and action. to
end the present arms race.” Theo-

_retically,. then, the— individual stu-

dent is- urged to weigh for him-
self the issues involved, without
being limited to a -fixed national
SPU policy to which he ‘must ad-
here. In reality, however, the Stu-
dent Peaée: Union does take stands

- on specific issues, and a fixed na-

tional policy does evolve. It thus

' becomes, the* responsibility of the

local__ chapters .. to . support’ this
policy with appropriate “action.

Too. often a local chapter merely.

adopts the national policy without
an adequate and critical study of
the issues involved. Thus the SPU
policies often become fixed and pre-

‘|primarily on east coast campuses,

: Student SAN Ss

Another student group which
has been active in the peace move-
ent is the student branch of the
Committee for a Sane Nuclear Pol-
icy, whose - basic aims~ are to
achieve both cessation of testing
and complete arms control, with
each stage monitored and conclud-
ed before the méxt begins. Active

Student-Sane’s* major funetion~has
been to publicize the problems of
war and peace by letter-writing
campaigns, lectures, and protest’
demonstrations.

—This- group has~ been™ at lesat
temporarily disbanded because of
serious disagyeements with its par-
ent group, the Adult Committee for-
a Sane Nuclear Policy. These dis-
agreements were caused by a lack
of adequate representation in the
local groups of the national policy,
and an assertion of alleged “Com-
munist infiltration” into, Student
Sane. Here, as in SPU, the exist-
ence of a national policy made it
impossible for the group to con-
duct-an open-minded study of the
problems-of-war-and-peace.

‘Tocsin

The -Tocsin. group. at: Harvard
has. thus: far avoided some of the
problems which have plagued both
Sane and-SPU. A year and a half
‘ago; fifteen Harvard and Radcliffe
students, dissatisfied with existing:
peace organizations, joined toge-
ther .for the purpose of studying
the. problems of war and peace.
For about one year, the group lim-
ited itself strictly to study—invi-
ted speakers, formed a library, con-
ducted research projects, and_par-
ticipated in discussion groups. Any
results or temporary conclusions at
which “they. had arrived were sub-
sequently published. In the year
and a half since it began, Tocsin
has expanded. The members Have
‘divided: into seminar groups, each
of which engaged in‘ the study. of
the problems of war and peace in
relation to a- particular; segment
of society. One. seminar, for ex-
ample, is _working with labor
groups,, another with college stu-
dents,’

The suecess of Toesin has. beeri



due to the fact that its research



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Wendy

llene Winkler.



~_ "AKOUE”. Staff... eee sess
April u, ae

‘Editor-in- Chief Sore ae
Writirig Committee : Kathy Boudin, Vivien .Brodkin, Ellen
Corcoran, Meg Porter, Ellen Silberblatt.

Brodkin, Ann. Coats, Ellen. Corcoran, Susan Krato, Helen
_ Levering, Meg Porter, Gail Sanger,

oo

dewacon eter rages

q 962° :
Ellen Silberblatt

Acker,... Kathy. Boudin, Vivien.
Ellen Silberblatt,

r terest,



-eace -

has been openciiindad at Tai not
been paralyzed by the existence of
pre-established policies. Instead, it
has demonstrated a sincere desire
to stimulate extensive study of
the problems of disarmament as an
essential. prerequisite for any sub-
sequent. and responsible conelu-
sions that might be reached.

Washington .
Peace March

The Washington Peace March
of February 16-17 was_ initiated
by Toesin-and-represented a coali-
tion of: Tocsin, Student Sane, the

~}Student--Peace--Union,-and.. other. Se
| peace organizations throughout. the

nation, into a united Turn Towards

Peace. The platform on which the

Peace March was based demonstra-
ted the remarkable ability of these
various groups to weld their diver-
gent views into a compromise
statement of policy.

On Friday, February 16, a re-
ported: 1400- students: appeared ‘in
Washington, D. C. from points as
far distant ‘as’ Seattle, Washing-
ton. Friday's -activities:-consisted
primarily of -interviews that had
been prearranged wth individual
Congressmen. Despite the comment
of Rep» Chet Holafield’ that -the
students were-“filled with baloney”,
the interviews were conducted with

enthusiastic competence if not re-

sounding. success. The students,
however, seemed disappointed in
the Congressmen’s- general lack. of
interest and familiarity with the
basic problems of disarmament.

Saturday morning marked a tre-
mendous influx of enthusiastic stu-
dent demonstrators, bringing the
total number f participants up to
a‘reported eight thousand students.
The group staged a long and sym-
bolically silent: march (in itself a
feat in group..discipline) to the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and
culminated with an impressive ral-
ly at’the foot. of the Washington
Monument. ©

Official reaction to the weekend’s
activities was respectful, if not
sympathetic. President. Kennedy
sent:a ‘pot of coffee out to the stu-
dents picketing - in front of - the
White House as,a symbol of his
recognition of the Turn Toward
Peace crusade. The New York
Times editorial of Sunday, Febru-
ary 18 was typical of the general
press reaction. Although unable to
advocate the specific student re-
commendations condemning — both
civil defense and the resumption
of nuclear testing, it voiced its

admiration«for the ardent concern,

and orderliness of the demonstra-
tors.

Thdedashington Turn Towards |
Peace_offers several important and
relevant conclusions. Although un-
successful in achieving active gov-
ernment response. to its sugges-
tions, the students demonstrated
to the nation their profound and
urgent concern with the problems
of peace and disarmament. The
Washington Peace March, more-

Jover, exhibited. the -possibility of

co-ordinating varied bases of stu-|
dent support into a viable and or-
derly demonstration’ of student in-
awareness, responsibility,
and even strength. .
The Bryn Mawr campus“ pro-
duéed a measure of enthusiasm
for the~ project. Despite competi-
tion from Freshman Show on this
campus, about thirty Bryn Mawr





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students appeared in Washington

oe ne east mae ae AR at prmerenlcd eee SPO Rt ERE

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disarmament needs





oy +t ake part in “the ioe nk ac-
iit Due to an unfortunate
schedulin slip-up, the Swarthmore

Conference on Disarmament was
planned for the same weekend.
However, the students who as-
sembled at Swarthmore felt strong-
ly that the Disarmament Confer-
énée and the Peace March were not
rival. movements, but rather were
complementary and mutually sym-
pathetic statements of a vital and
growing student concern with the
crucial issues of peace and disarm-

ament.
FICDAC

collegiate Conference on-Disarma-
ment.and Arms Control (FICDAC)
attracted approximately 350 stu-
dents from 150° colleges to~ the
Swarthmore College campus. Also
assembled to give lectures and
lead seminars were 25 experts in
the “field” of The ‘Problems of
War and Peace. The purpose of
FICDAC was neither to convert
those present toa particular view,

nor to supply them ‘with @ grab-|
bag of shallow’ ‘analyses designed
to solve the intricate problems in-
volved; but rather to increase stu-
dent interest and awareness of
some of the military, economic,
legal, historic, and® psychological
considerations which the problem
of disarmament presents. No stu-
dent went to the conference expect-
ing to discover the panacea of the

disarmament problem; instead they’

went hoping to gain both breadth
and depth in their conceptualiza-
tion of ‘tthe problem.

Since it would be ‘both ridiculous
and impossible to try to cover. the
whole conference in a single ar-
ticle of this length, it would seem

rmore sensible to mention just a’

few of the major themes that re-
curred throughout the conference,
themes important for any. poten-
tial student of the problem to bear
in mind,

One point that seems to have

been. lost in the excitement of the|

recent crises is that disarmament

is.not an end in itself. Oftentimes

sincere agitators for peace base
their conduct and demands on the
premise that once we disarm (ei-
ther unilaterally or bilaterally),
every problem will. have been
solved.. Disarmament is. not, nor
should it ever be, an end. It is a
means. to-the end of international
peace. If one overemphasizes the
importance of disarmament, one is,
‘quite likely. to finish by devoting
all time and effort to perfecting
the mechanics of disarmament. But
3 more. than.
mechanical perfection, it needs a

solid basis so that itcah act asa
valid means for keeping the peace.

What is that solid basis? The
general consensus at the confer-
ence .was that the mechanics of
disarmament cetld never be viable
until the nineteenth century con-
cept of national sovereignty had
vanished. Earlier in history~ the

nation was able to serve as, the.

largest possible unit of collective

protection. _Now, however, with the}

advent ‘of modern transportation,
communication, and technology, in
general, it is no longer. realistic to
see the nation as the largest’ viable
community,.. ie fact, the nation in
itself has} nig, impotent in its
most vital, ay. “that of” self-
protection. yo that a nation can-
not single-handedly protect its

people, now that a nation cannot!

~Phe- -weekend-bong” -First~-Inter=|

ovements _

a, Sean

remain aloat -_ dated ian A

stop pretending that the nation is
the ultimate community. It is time
to transcend the national sover-
eignty concept. Only when we can
do this, will we have a. so}id” basis
for an honestly international dis-
armamerit | agreement,

One other concept. that merits
mention is the tacit admission of
impotent. naivete. As we see them,
the problems with which modern
war presents us are ultimate ones.
Perhaps the advent of gunpowder

‘pect that exceeds human imagina-
tion--or comprehension. There has

|mever been anything like it before,

rest of the world, it \is. time to.

created a similar forboding of ab-. _
solute destruction, but to us the —
-threat—of—nuclear—-war—is—a ee

NS Prt ne Seng “Ng re.

poner



and consequently we cannot hope
to rely on studies and analyses
made in the past. What is needed
is the ‘establishment of a whole
new subject. Just as the field of
economics was born out-of neces-
sity two hundred years ago, so
now the field of “Studies of the

be born. What we have to cope
with is. new, and we need new
thinking and new methods to. cope
with the new subject matter. In the.
past the -academic community has
been the birthplace of original

assume that, with its_leisure—and
resources, it cannot. fulfill this
function in the present. But ori-
ginal thinking and problem ana-
lysis is not going to be produced
‘without hard work, intensive study,
and intelligent. interest. As mem-
bers of the academic community,
we all ought to feel an obligation
to shoulder some of the burden. no
‘matter - what” our field: Science,

Politics, Art, Humanities, Litera- °

ture — none of these fields can, any

longer, claim. immunity from. the
problems of war and peace. Both
student. and iteacher have an obli-
gation to be more than social pro-

spond?

Study Group -

The answer would seem to be a
vigorous’ affirmative. A . combina-
tion of student. initiative and -fac-
ulty interest has resulted in prep-
arations for a Bryn Mawr confer-
ence entitled “Cafi Man Survive?”
On Wednesday, April 11 at 7:30
P.M. in Goodhart, an initial key-

thinking, and there is no reason to:

testors. Is Bryn Mawr going to re-

note address will be delivered by- .

Louis Henken, a professor atthe .

University ‘of Pennsylvania Law
School currently conducting the
Bryn Mawr course in Internationa]
Relations. During successive weeks
beth faculty and students will join
ajin evening panel discussions. to ex-
amine. some of the issues of policy
and_ survival.

Along with the need to recogiiize
the potential for positive actions
within the areas of peace and _-dis-
armament isthe equally important
necessity. of recognizing. the scope

and complexities. of the issues jn- .

volved. Student peace movements
in the past have been often guilty

of.embracing. premature. 1) (oY

Lamas St em

sions without sufficient and com-

prehensive.__explorations.of _ the %

relevant questions. On the basis of
considerable thought and research.
Akoue would, therefore, advocate
the establishment of an active dis-
armament study group- within. the
Bryn Mawr College community.



s Continned on: Pas 4, Col. 3 |
Pg '

A

Without limiting participants © to

Problems of War and Peace” must;