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Show WINTER 2013 UHQ pp 4-90_UHQ Stories/pp.4-68 12/5/12 9:38 AM Page 85 STudENT POLITICAL ACTIVISM counted the next week, Walton and Ferguson won by 350 votes.132 In congratulating Walton, Wilkinson pointed out “that there were only 7,048 votes cast, or about 30 percent of the student body, and that [Walton] received only 38 percent of the votes cast, or [the support of only] about 13 percent of the student body.”133 Wilkinson’s letter initiated an exchange that continued throughout Walton’s term. When Wilkinson introduced an unscheduled political speaker at a student assembly, Walton complained in behalf of ASBYU’s Executive Council. When Wilkinson announced his intent to hold students to increasingly strict dress standards, Walton wrote: “If the introduction of these arbitrary specifics is an attempt to remove ‘radical’ elements from campus, I think that it is ill-founded.” Walton thought the school should “treat students with due respect.”134 In fall 1970, Walton created a President’s Commission on Student Affairs with subcommittees on “Student Government,” “Student Rights,” and “Legal Research.” The Student Rights Subcommittee reviewed “inconsistencies or arbitrary application of university policy to the detriment of students.” The Legal Research Subcommittee investigated student rights in contractual agreements with the university, specifically student housing contracts. When Walton delivered an address to students toward the end of October calling for increased sensitivity on racial issues, he announced the creation of a committee to study the recruiting of black students.135 BYU religion professor Rodney Turner responded: “The Negro issue is a most sensitive one; it should be dealt with by the inspired servants of God; it should not be the subject of a campus-wide forum.” Colleague Reid Bankhead urged BYU’s returned missionaries to run for office so that it could be “hissed abroad that returned missionaries run the BYU campus, and not intellectuals, disciples of Plato and Rousseau, eggheads, whiz kids, rationalistic sharpies, et cetera.”136 At about the same time, Wilkinson issued a one-page flyer entitled “Men of BYU–A Message from the President,” encouraging enrollment in ROTC. Twelve students, including Walton and Ferguson, countered with five hundred copies of “An Important Message to the Men of BYU,” identifying alternatives to military service, which they distributed at special 132 “ASBYU vs. Brian Walton,” 18, Perry Special Collections; “No Candidate Cut,” Daily Universe, May 8, 1970. “Vote Today or Tomorrow,” Daily Universe, May 14, 1970; “Walton Wins,” Daily Universe, May 18, 1970 133 Wilkinson, Letter to Walton, May 18, 1970, Perry Special Collections. 134 Walton, Memoranda to Wilkinson, October 30, May 28, 1970, Perry Special Collections. 135 “Student Commission Details Released,” Daily Universe, October 26, 1970; “Group Study Begins,” Daily Universe, December 15, 1970. Walton, “BYU and Race: Where We Are Now,” October 28, 1970, Perry Special Collections; “Racial Tensions Aired,” Daily Universe, October 29, 1970. 136 Rodney Turner, Letter, Daily Universe, October 27, 1970; “Prof Asks Returned Missionaries to Lead,” Daily Universe, October 28, 1970. 85 |
