56 years and what's changed?
Students come, alums go and we still remember the protests
Present-day photo of William Gaston Science Building.
Protesting is in Belmont Abbey College's blood and history.
It's a fact that can't be ignored, no matter what the college likes to think. Students are at the heart of change on public and private campuses, regardless of local and national college administrators' beliefs.
Welcome to our annual memorial to The 1969 Belmont Abbey College Science Building takeover. It's only been 56 years, and we've been working on redress for quite some time now. Hey, college and surviving protesters, why don't you get together and hug it out? Do a few public reconciliations.
Shoot, you don't have to prop up a fancy new pope, abbot, president, or bishop even. We ask many questions here (maybe too many), but more students, parents, and alumni should ask these questions, too.
But first, parents, you should skip the following paragraph and go to the next.
New ideas, diverse perspectives, and developing a strong sense of idealism are why college campuses are great for students. They are natural spaces for learning, activism, and dissent. We, the Conscious Alums of BAC, stand by this.
Why do we stand by this? It's because we're rooted in change and protest. Go look it up.
Why are we here today?
Belmont Abbey College shares that April week of protests in 1969 with the likes of Harvard, Tufts, and Vorhees (Denmark, S.C) universities. Tiny ol' Belmont Abbey College (second photo above with Gaston County Police taking away Dr. Howard Fuller) was among the nation's premiere educational institutions during that time, speaking up for change. The schools protested to bring attention to both the Vietnam War conflict and the need for civil rights.
Protesting is in the Abbey's blood. Let's take a quick look at the school's alumni, those rabble-rousers. Yes, today is about the 1969 Science Building protest. They disrupted classes that day so long ago. You can follow the links here, here, here, and maybe here if you aren't exhausted.
Now, let's count what's been happening at the college lately. First, we have the Abbot Vincent Taylor Library, which features books by Black authors yearly. Yay! Second is a feeble social mention of what Martin Luther King did on that day in January. Third, some individual Abbey team tributes could be posted on social media in February. Fourth, the Abbey education department is reading books for Black Children's Book Week and Gaston's African-American Museum of History. Ok, now what else? Are there any black professors? Tributes to Black leaders? Let us know.
We know that the Science Building takeover was such a catastrophic event that some current administrators who were not alive that day will never get over it. The event was so powerful that it has kept college records guarded and locked up for decades. Meanwhile, JFK assassination record dumps happen almost every 4-5 years. Need a crowbar for that lock on the second floor of the Music Building? We're good for it if the old lock won't turn and there's a legal means to do it.
More than the Science Building
Over the years, college students fought hard for their fellow students. According to local media archives, Abbey students had particular vim and vigor when protesting.
According to local media, when the college kicked out one student in the 1950s for stealing money from a college payphone, his fellow students spoke up and protested.
Another 1972 incident rallied Abbey students when a student's marijuana possession led to expulsion. (Psst, we don’t advocate the burning of campus buildings, btw.)
In the late 1980s, The Charlotte Observer recounted a protest involving students complaining about the lack of heating in their dorms. The other part of that coverage involved the Abbey's vice president of student affairs, Fr. Mauricio West. Rumors that college president John Dempsey fired the priest, who later became the chancellor of The Diocese of Charlotte, may have been the impetus of the protest. (It wasn't until 2019 that West's acts may have come to light.)
Another protest involving students came in 2000 with a party that got out of hand in the Cuthbert Allen apartments. Campus police and students got into a fracas that led to charges. Abbey students showed their displeasure, staging a sit-in outside Stowe and St. Leo halls during classes. The college administration let the students protest with The Gaston Gazette writing about the event with no arrests that day.
Yes, the annual staged March for Life is something that school administration and students choose to participate in as both tradition and representation (among the nationwide Catholic colleges).
Student protestors line up on campus on Oct. 7, 2024 courtesy Belmont Abbey College
Also, closer to home, the students partake in the Chain for Life that, strangely, occurs during some homecoming celebrations. We know the students are suitable for those pictures and Catholic media coverage. But what else do you got?
What would it take now?
But what about now? What would fill up that big tent bolted to the ground outside the William Gaston Science Building right now? Look at all of the current higher education protests.
Would Abbey students speak up to the administration if recruiters came to Drexel Court to check on the draft statuses of students amid war? Ask an alum from the 1960s during Alumni Weekend to see how that worked.
Would students rise to protect an Abbey undergrad whose legal status was questioned, like at Tufts?
Would an Abbey frosh bring attention to the thousands of Gazans caught in a no-win situation? Ukraine? That's got to be more than a social media flag sticker, right?
What if the administration cut DEI programs despite ambiguous federal threats, and the school newspaper urged students to rise and complain?
What would make an Abbeyite throw down their lunch and stand on a table to implore other students to take action? What would make an Abbey posse of cars block the school's two entrances?
We don't know. You probably have answers that we don't have. But we'd like to think the students would have their fellow students' backs.
Students like the late John Farrell and Robert Kelly stood up amid the panic in the 1960s. Who are our go-to, loud-mouth Yankee-loving students who'd fight? Are Southern natives from the Carolinas willing to do what's right? Maybe even the international students?
If the college knew about such a rebellious student, would they turn that person in? Who knows?
With final exams on the horizon, it may be too late to do this, but maybe a few student clubs on campus would take up the fight for this next school year.
What would the Abbey students do now? We want to think they'd wear out some shoes getting a 1,000-signature petition together. Fly a banner over an interstate bridge asking for social media followers for this cause? Some letters to the board once they fly back from the Belmont House in D.C.? Crash a Made True event with some poignant questions? Ask college president and Abbey board member James Crawford to intercede. Press coverage?
There's no clear roadmap amid this stalemate. We must thank the students who stood up and protested over the years.
They would be with us in spirit.