Getting Along

NC State Chancellor John Caldwell's speech at the 1969 convocation

"I understood them, and I wanted to persuade them that they didn't have to mess up the university in order to get things done." - John Caldwell, interview by NC State Special Collections, May 15, 1995 

The time of political protests and student activism began several years before the Kent State Shootings in May 1970, and it when it reached NC State, the Chancellor had a unique tough-love/cooperation approach to the possible chaos. Dr. Caldwell encouraged free speech amongst his students, as long as their actions did not interfere with others’ free speech or the normal conduct of business on campus. He asked that any demonstrations on campus be orderly and that students conduct themselves with the proper behavior for a member of NC State’s community.[1] The Gastonia Gazette lauded Caldwell on March 7^th following his 1969 convocation, by comparing his tolerant but heavy-handed stance on activists to the weak-willed actions of administrations at surrounding campuses such as Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill and believed his course of action to be the best option.

Two days earlier, Caldwell addressed the NC State student body at convocation about the new activism and militarism spreading on college campuses across the country. He asked the students “is it necessary that we crudely erupt?” and replied with a resounding no. Caldwell aligned himself with the students’ wants and needs, claiming that they all had work to do. He welcomed students’ involvement in decision-making processes on campus, but spoke vehemently against student militants’ self-righteousness. Ever the educator, Caldwell reminded students that “When you generate a loud cause without first getting the elemental relevant facts, you show yourselves to be irresponsible mischief-makers and you impugn your own credibility.” Reacting to the various movements across the country calling for equal rights, as well as those of youths against the war in Vietnam, he begged students to use their energy and insistence on new world values to work with the opposing side to help create a better world for everyone.[2] Although Caldwell personally agreed with activists' views on the US's involvement in Vietnam, as a university administrator, he put the university's continued operation and his students' education above all else. His remarks during the convocation showed that Caldwell believed that students should learn how to be thoughtful, civically-minded members of society while also getting a degree in their chosen field.