Georgian Final Edition Wednesday, April 3, 1980 
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Wednesday, April 3, 1980 Georgian Final EditionThe Day the Georgian went black |
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By Alan Morantz Intensity. Confrontation. Nadir. Peak. Prophetic. What words do justice to the year 1969, when the axe crushed Sir George's computers and the community's innocence? It was the most traumatic year for the Georgian during the most traumatic period in the university's existence. If it is true the worst that could happen to a newspaper is to become the object of news itself, then the worst happened to the Georgian. But there was also an acute sense of urgency, intensity, at the Georgian unparalleled in the paper's history. Nineteen-sixty-nine was a year of tension at Sir George, with a decided air of confrontation. The Black Power movement was at its height, and all the frustration and hostilities were vented at Sir George by an incident which started in April, 1968 when six black students accused a biology professor of racial discrimination. The problem was allowed to fester until the beginning of December, when, after the Black Writers' Congress was held at McGill and representatives of the Black Panthers spoke at Sir George, a group of black students, few of whom were the original complainants, demanded the biology professor be fired. Mainly through a lack of communication, the dispute increasingly took on bitter and ugly overtones. It set off a chain of events which led first to the occupation of the computer center by some 100 students, then, in the early afternoon on Feb. 11, to the destruction of the centre. More than 100 Montreal firefighters battled the three-alarm blaze as 97 students were arrested, hands against the wall, legs spread. Estimated damage: $2 million and the psychic lives of many. To follow the course of the academic year is to get a sense of a celestial being, call it Fate, guiding the paper first to the centre of the storm, then to self-destruction, then to resurrection with an altogether different philosophy. What else, but Fate, would explain the prophetic articles and editorials that dot the first three months of the Georgian in 1968-69, that would have been more appropriate after the computer riot. The pressure was on Dave Bowman that year as editor of the Georgian, since he had a tough act to follow. The year before, the editor, Frank Brayton, had raised the standard of student journalism a few notches with his philosophy of ''Impregnating people's minds with ideas", as one staff member would later remember. That year's Georgian W85 voted the best student newspaper in the country by Canadian University Press and was generally very well regarded. With this new standard to live up to, Bowman devoted the entire first page of the first issue (Aug.27. 1968) to defining his philosophy on the student press. After saying that readers use the media to consolidate their own biases and that a "responsible-"newspaper would not be supported by readers wanting only "reassurances, Bowman wrote "To be responsible the press must fight the apathy and prejudice of its readers; it must serve them by doing everything they don't want it to do even at the risk of endangering its financial stability." Bowman and the Georgian remained true to this ideal. Throughout the year the paper was in the vanguard of all sorts of anti-war and anti-hunger rallies, and often published articles on violence in Mexico, the Southern appeal of George Wallace and "Tricky Dicky's rhetorical bullshit". The semester was only a few weeks old when an editorial, by the now defunct Canadian Union of Students, predicted. "this year in Canada ...we may see students demanding changes in their university and using their power to see that they occur. But we need see no violence, unless administrators decide to use police against student action." A Sept. 27 editorial said. "Students requests for representation in policy-making bodies have been met with token concessions, if anything at all. However, tokenism is no longer acceptable ... Until students and faculty are given the right to determine the direction of the university, administrators will be faced with unrest manifesting itself increasingly in militant opposition and protest." A Bowman editorial Nov. I addressed itself to the methods which blacks must use to effect changes. "Protest marches and sit-ins have been tried and they have-failed to achieve the desired results. The options available to the black man have been steadily eroded until. now, only one remains. Whether or not it will have to be used depends upon those who are in authority, and they have never been black." |
News of the events leading up to the computer riot first appeared in the Georgian Jan. 7, just after Christmas break, with the headline, "Racism charges face Biology Professor." In the weeks that followed, the Georgian gravitated toward the centre of the storm, and became an issue itself with its strident editorials supporting the black students' cause.
"The long-range repercussions of the mishandling of the entire affair will be felt for some time." one editorial said. "Blacks are becoming increasingly conscious of racial problems that exist in this country and white Canadians must awaken to the fact that black people in this country have no intention of passively accepting discrimination in any form." The climax of the computer riot for the Georgian was not the destruction of the computers on Feb. 11, but the publication of the so-called "Black Georgian" of Jan. 28. The entire issue was produced by the Black Students' Association because, as Bowman put it, "The black students have the right to inform the university populace of their side of the story and of the disgraceful tactics employed by the university in dealing with the Anderson affair." The black students used their platform well, presenting their account of the affair and exposing security meeting minutes purportedly showing how the administration would deal with the students if the problem got out of hand. There was a dramatic, stark, cover in black. with a picture of part of a face. There was an article listing organization supporting the demonstrating students with quotes of encouragement. There were poems. The Black Georgian was on the stands only a short while before being removed and the staff found the doors of their offices locked and guarded by a member of the RCMP. Everything inside was to be used as evidence, they were told. The Georgian managed to published one more issue, two days later, coolly describing the events of the occupation. And if there was any doubt as to where Georgian sympathies lay, they were disspelled by Bowman's final editorial. "The managing board of The Georgian wholeheartedly endorses the position of this university's black students regarding the partiality of the administration Hearing Committee. We also support the measures the black students have taken to dramatize their quest for justice and the five demands they have presented as prerequisites for any form of dialogue with the administration." Using hindsight, one would say unhesitatingly that under no circumstances should an editor hand over editorial control of the paper to any group editorial. But how does one, in 1980 fully appreciate the chaos of more than a decade previous? Bowman's actions were fully consistent with his philosophy as expounded on the first page of the first issue. The black students had to get their point of view across somewhere and. in the atmosphere of the time, conventional journalism was thought not to be the best way to make that view public. Today, Bowman does not regret his actions of 11 years ago. When the dust of the riot cleared, Bowman was ousted by the students' association for "financial and journalistic incompetence", and an interim editor was selected. But the final chapter had not yet been written. The students' association. which had been nervously eyeing The Georgian all year, withdrew the news paper from Canadian University Press found no grounds for Bowman's dismissal. CUP threatened to kick the new Georgian out of the organization if Bowman was not reinstated. " Mr. Bowman violated the implicit code of trust which must exist between a newspaper and its readers if the paper is to be a viable social force in the community," wrote interim editor Norman Lazare. This statement illustrates the startling contrast in philosophy on the role of a free press between Bowman and the students' association. When the post-riot Georgian announced its withdrawal from CUP, it lashed out at the organization and Bowman, but the editors forgot to mention the findings of the CUP investigation. In condemning CUP Bowman and their brand of one-sided journalism. they were condemning themselves. As a fitting conclusion to the bizarre year, an article appeared two weeks after the riot describing. "The Computer: New Mode of Dialogue." |
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