Letters: Jul. 13, 1970

Say It Ain't So

Sir: I don't believe it! You mean to tell me that Tommy the Traveler [June 22] was a pig? I remember in April when he came to Keuka. We were having an anti-Administration sit-in in the hallway outside the President's office. He popped up, said he was from S.D.S., and showed us a film right there in the hall about the Berkeley riots. We acknowledged the presence of this outsider probably because he was cute and Keuka's an all-girls school! He kept saying that we'd never get our list of demands met if we didn't use violence. He was probably right, but being girls, we were scared of flying bricks and burning buildings. If there had been more guys on campus he could easily have started a riot at Keuka. Instead, the only thing that happened was that he upset several girls by the movie, and he broke a table in the hallway when he sat on it. What will the cops do next to make us not trust them?

SUSAN JEWELL

Averill Park, N.Y.

Sir: I believe that there is a point concerning the Hobart College incidents in Geneva, N.Y. that was not mentioned in your article about "Tommy the Traveler."

Following the "on-campus marijuana bust" that you report, several groups of Hobart College students exited from their dorms and captured a police car and police officers who were involved in arresting several students found to be in possession of marijuana. The police and students then came to a mutual agreement whereby the arrested students would be allowed to go free if the police car and police officers were returned. The exchange of prisoners took place, and peace returned to Geneva.

There are many people in Geneva who are not students at Hobart College, but individuals known as residents, taxpayers, voters, etc. As a person raised in Geneva, I was taught by its schools and in our home that capturing police cars and police officers were no-nos and that there were things called laws against that sort of thing. I wonder how many of the some 17,000 people who choose to make their home in Geneva wonder if there isn't a separate group of laws applying to Hobart College?

RICHARD MASON

White Plains, N.Y.

The Students' Need

Sir: Thank you for "Thoughts on a Troubled El Dorado" [June 22]. I am a 17-year-old girl graduating from high school today with a peace symbol on my cap. I appreciate the opportunity you have provided for those mentally distant masses labeled the "Silent Majority" to catch some glimmer of understanding into the puzzle of my fellow protesters and students. The political and social extremists in America today may never be able to accept or condone each other's actions, but they must begin to listen and try at least to understand. Hopefully, listening will eventually lead to a desire on the part of the majority — as well as on the part of the minority — to correct injustices and change traditions, thus eliminating the need for a student like me, who has campaigned within the system and demonstrated peacefully, to turn to destruction of property, rock throwing and animalistic violence out of sheer frustration and despair.

SHERRILL COHEN

Los Angeles

Sir: "Thoughts on a Troubled El Dorado" slighted consideration of the following: