Description of the video:

Scarpino: I read an article that you wrote in a book called What Works for Me: Sixteen CEOs Talk about Their Careers and Commitments that came out in 1986. And you said in there that “The most critical internal affair during those years was the student revolution. It looked to me as though the whole establishment was going up in smoke.” How did you go about exercising leadership during the student revolution of the late sixties?

Hesburgh: Well, it was a national phenomenon that grew out of the dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War and the students, of course, were in a privileged position. They didn’t have to go to war. They all were exempted during their time in college or graduate school. They really kicked up their heels and they got so unruly that at one point in time over 250 of my colleagues—presidents of colleges and universities—had to resign or had been fired and the whole country seemed to be up for grabs. So, at that point I decided that someone had to say halt. And I wrote a letter to our students. I managed to write it at Easter time when they’d all be home and their parents would get a chance to read it too. I told them that there was a very simple rule for peace at the university and that was they could protest the war all they wanted and I would join them in that. I wasn’t afraid of having marches or demonstrations or I had noticed articles in the student paper against the war. But, at the same time, they had to respect the nature of the university. I said if anybody deliberately obstructs the work of the university, the work of faculty and the teachers and other administrators running residence halls and the rest of that, that I would give them six minutes to reconsider and if they were in the middle of a protest that was preventing other students from going to class or having peace in the classroom, they would be given six minutes to cease and desist. If they didn’t cease and desist in the six minutes they’re going to be out for the rest of the semester.

Scarpino: Did you enforce that?

Hesburgh: Well, I knew that once I laid the challenge out there, given the radicalism of the time, it would be challenged. So one day or one night—I used to have to work late at nights because that’s when the students were up and around—and my office lights were always on and my door was open. I was doing a lot of work in different parts of the country but at the same time when I was home I was in the office and I was there until two and three on the morning. I remember one night about 2:30 in the morning, knocked on the door, in comes a student. He said I am the head of or chairman of our protest committee of about 12 people and we’ve been trying to stop students from applying for jobs at the Center for Employment where seniors would go in and talk to representatives of different corporations. Whoever was in charge of scheduling those people did what I thought was kind of a crazy thing. He had both the CIA and the company that was producing Napalm in for interviews on the same three days. The students, led by this gentleman, the chairman that came in to see me were, decided to make their point. So, they lay down in front of the door going into the employment office and prevented students from going in to interview for jobs. They had been walking up and down with signs for two days in a three-day protest and no one was paying much attention to their signs because the students obviously were interested in setting themselves up for good jobs after graduation. So, after two days of walking up and down with signs in front of the office, about a dozen of them, they decided to do something more stringent, if you will. He came in to inform me that the next day they were going to lie down in front of the door—that anybody going in to see the CIA or the companies making Napalm would have to walk over their bodies. I said, come on now, no one’s disturbed you protesting. You can protest till the cows come home but if you lay down in front of the—lie down in front of the door, you’re obstructing other students for doing what’s their right to prepare for jobs in the future. I don’t particularly like the idea of the two particular job offers that are going on at the moment but they’re legitimate and they’re legal in our country and you have no right to keep the students, if they’re interested, from seeking employment there. So, he said, well tomorrow at eight o’clock we’re going to lie down in front of the office door. Well, I said, no student’s going to walk on human bodies to go in to get a job. You know that. That means that you’re obstructing their rights and I’m in charge of the rights of everybody here and if you do that you’re going to be confronted with what I had in my letter to you—that your parents know about and everybody else knows about. The letter was so timely it was carried in full, even though it was about five pages long, in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal which says something about the anxiety at the time.

Scarpino: Right.

Hesburgh: So everybody knew about it. I assume the country was watching us because they also knew this was going on and sure enough, I said, if you do that you’re going to get time to reconsider as I said in my letter. If you’re still there at the end of ten minutes you’re going to be told to go home for the rest of the semester and you’re going to be given five more minutes to get up and leave. If you’re still there in defiance of the law after that ten minutes, you’re out for good. You’ll never graduate from Notre Dame. Well, as might be imagined, the next day they’re lying down in front of the door and the students aren’t going in. So the Director of Discipline here walked up to them and said look, you read Father Ted’s letter. You know exactly what the results are. I’m telling you now to get up and leave and if you don’t you’re going to be out for the rest of the semester. And they didn’t move. They just stood there glaring at him so he said well I’m going to get lost for ten minutes. Actually, he stayed away about 15 minutes to give them more time. And he said when I come back if you’re still here blocking the entrance, you’re out for good. That’s what the letter says and you’ve had time to think about it. But as for now, he said, I want your ID cards and you’re out for the rest of the semester unless you get up and leave right now. Well they wouldn’t move. So he picked up their ID cards and walked away and came back about 15 minutes later and they’re all gone. So, they were all out for the semester but when they left, you can image where they left for. They all came up to my office and they said you can’t possibly toss us out of school because our legitimate protest. I said look, you know the rules of the game. They’re clearly outlined in the letter I sent every student at Easter time and you’re toothless tigers. You want to be fierce but when things get tough you expect me to cover for you and let you off the hook. I said I’m not going to that. You’ve broken the law and you knew the law and you were given time to obey it and you didn’t, so you’re out for the semester. I said, I thank God you finally got up after that warning and your cards were picked up because if you were still there ten minutes later you’d have been out of the university for good. And so they growled a bit but they had no choice and they all went home but they all returned and they all graduated to my knowledge.

Scarpino: Do you think that your actions prevented the kind of violence that took place on other campuses?

Hesburgh: Well, I think it was a clear cut thing. Over 250 of my fellow presidents had retired or resigned or had been fired. One of them actually died during one of those confrontations at night in his office. He died of a heart attack and that was—shows you how serious the thing was. But that was the turning point in the student revolution in America because, of course, the word of that got out immediately in all the newspapers and somehow the other presidents stiffened up their rules and that was the end of the student revolution at least during that period.

Description of the video:

Scarpino: I read an article that you wrote in a book called What Works for Me: Sixteen CEOs Talk about Their Careers and Commitments that came out in 1986. And you said in there that “The most critical internal affair during those years was the student revolution. It looked to me as though the whole establishment was going up in smoke.” How did you go about exercising leadership during the student revolution of the late sixties?

Hesburgh: Well, it was a national phenomenon that grew out of the dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War and the students, of course, were in a privileged position. They didn’t have to go to war. They all were exempted during their time in college or graduate school. They really kicked up their heels and they got so unruly that at one point in time over 250 of my colleagues—presidents of colleges and universities—had to resign or had been fired and the whole country seemed to be up for grabs. So, at that point I decided that someone had to say halt. And I wrote a letter to our students. I managed to write it at Easter time when they’d all be home and their parents would get a chance to read it too. I told them that there was a very simple rule for peace at the university and that was they could protest the war all they wanted and I would join them in that. I wasn’t afraid of having marches or demonstrations or I had noticed articles in the student paper against the war. But, at the same time, they had to respect the nature of the university. I said if anybody deliberately obstructs the work of the university, the work of faculty and the teachers and other administrators running residence halls and the rest of that, that I would give them six minutes to reconsider and if they were in the middle of a protest that was preventing other students from going to class or having peace in the classroom, they would be given six minutes to cease and desist. If they didn’t cease and desist in the six minutes they’re going to be out for the rest of the semester.

Scarpino: Did you enforce that?

Hesburgh: Well, I knew that once I laid the challenge out there, given the radicalism of the time, it would be challenged. So one day or one night—I used to have to work late at nights because that’s when the students were up and around—and my office lights were always on and my door was open. I was doing a lot of work in different parts of the country but at the same time when I was home I was in the office and I was there until two and three on the morning. I remember one night about 2:30 in the morning, knocked on the door, in comes a student. He said I am the head of or chairman of our protest committee of about 12 people and we’ve been trying to stop students from applying for jobs at the Center for Employment where seniors would go in and talk to representatives of different corporations. Whoever was in charge of scheduling those people did what I thought was kind of a crazy thing. He had both the CIA and the company that was producing Napalm in for interviews on the same three days. The students, led by this gentleman, the chairman that came in to see me were, decided to make their point. So, they lay down in front of the door going into the employment office and prevented students from going in to interview for jobs. They had been walking up and down with signs for two days in a three-day protest and no one was paying much attention to their signs because the students obviously were interested in setting themselves up for good jobs after graduation. So, after two days of walking up and down with signs in front of the office, about a dozen of them, they decided to do something more stringent, if you will. He came in to inform me that the next day they were going to lie down in front of the door—that anybody going in to see the CIA or the companies making Napalm would have to walk over their bodies. I said, come on now, no one’s disturbed you protesting. You can protest till the cows come home but if you lay down in front of the—lie down in front of the door, you’re obstructing other students for doing what’s their right to prepare for jobs in the future. I don’t particularly like the idea of the two particular job offers that are going on at the moment but they’re legitimate and they’re legal in our country and you have no right to keep the students, if they’re interested, from seeking employment there. So, he said, well tomorrow at eight o’clock we’re going to lie down in front of the office door. Well, I said, no student’s going to walk on human bodies to go in to get a job. You know that. That means that you’re obstructing their rights and I’m in charge of the rights of everybody here and if you do that you’re going to be confronted with what I had in my letter to you—that your parents know about and everybody else knows about. The letter was so timely it was carried in full, even though it was about five pages long, in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal which says something about the anxiety at the time.

Scarpino: Right.

Hesburgh: So everybody knew about it. I assume the country was watching us because they also knew this was going on and sure enough, I said, if you do that you’re going to get time to reconsider as I said in my letter. If you’re still there at the end of ten minutes you’re going to be told to go home for the rest of the semester and you’re going to be given five more minutes to get up and leave. If you’re still there in defiance of the law after that ten minutes, you’re out for good. You’ll never graduate from Notre Dame. Well, as might be imagined, the next day they’re lying down in front of the door and the students aren’t going in. So the Director of Discipline here walked up to them and said look, you read Father Ted’s letter. You know exactly what the results are. I’m telling you now to get up and leave and if you don’t you’re going to be out for the rest of the semester. And they didn’t move. They just stood there glaring at him so he said well I’m going to get lost for ten minutes. Actually, he stayed away about 15 minutes to give them more time. And he said when I come back if you’re still here blocking the entrance, you’re out for good. That’s what the letter says and you’ve had time to think about it. But as for now, he said, I want your ID cards and you’re out for the rest of the semester unless you get up and leave right now. Well they wouldn’t move. So he picked up their ID cards and walked away and came back about 15 minutes later and they’re all gone. So, they were all out for the semester but when they left, you can image where they left for. They all came up to my office and they said you can’t possibly toss us out of school because our legitimate protest. I said look, you know the rules of the game. They’re clearly outlined in the letter I sent every student at Easter time and you’re toothless tigers. You want to be fierce but when things get tough you expect me to cover for you and let you off the hook. I said I’m not going to that. You’ve broken the law and you knew the law and you were given time to obey it and you didn’t, so you’re out for the semester. I said, I thank God you finally got up after that warning and your cards were picked up because if you were still there ten minutes later you’d have been out of the university for good. And so they growled a bit but they had no choice and they all went home but they all returned and they all graduated to my knowledge.

Scarpino: Do you think that your actions prevented the kind of violence that took place on other campuses?

Hesburgh: Well, I think it was a clear cut thing. Over 250 of my fellow presidents had retired or resigned or had been fired. One of them actually died during one of those confrontations at night in his office. He died of a heart attack and that was—shows you how serious the thing was. But that was the turning point in the student revolution in America because, of course, the word of that got out immediately in all the newspapers and somehow the other presidents stiffened up their rules and that was the end of the student revolution at least during that period.

Description of the video:

Scarpino: I read an article that you wrote in a book called What Works for Me: Sixteen CEOs Talk about Their Careers and Commitments that came out in 1986. And you said in there that “The most critical internal affair during those years was the student revolution. It looked to me as though the whole establishment was going up in smoke.” How did you go about exercising leadership during the student revolution of the late sixties?

Hesburgh: Well, it was a national phenomenon that grew out of the dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War and the students, of course, were in a privileged position. They didn’t have to go to war. They all were exempted during their time in college or graduate school. They really kicked up their heels and they got so unruly that at one point in time over 250 of my colleagues—presidents of colleges and universities—had to resign or had been fired and the whole country seemed to be up for grabs. So, at that point I decided that someone had to say halt. And I wrote a letter to our students. I managed to write it at Easter time when they’d all be home and their parents would get a chance to read it too. I told them that there was a very simple rule for peace at the university and that was they could protest the war all they wanted and I would join them in that. I wasn’t afraid of having marches or demonstrations or I had noticed articles in the student paper against the war. But, at the same time, they had to respect the nature of the university. I said if anybody deliberately obstructs the work of the university, the work of faculty and the teachers and other administrators running residence halls and the rest of that, that I would give them six minutes to reconsider and if they were in the middle of a protest that was preventing other students from going to class or having peace in the classroom, they would be given six minutes to cease and desist. If they didn’t cease and desist in the six minutes they’re going to be out for the rest of the semester.

Scarpino: Did you enforce that?

Hesburgh: Well, I knew that once I laid the challenge out there, given the radicalism of the time, it would be challenged. So one day or one night—I used to have to work late at nights because that’s when the students were up and around—and my office lights were always on and my door was open. I was doing a lot of work in different parts of the country but at the same time when I was home I was in the office and I was there until two and three on the morning. I remember one night about 2:30 in the morning, knocked on the door, in comes a student. He said I am the head of or chairman of our protest committee of about 12 people and we’ve been trying to stop students from applying for jobs at the Center for Employment where seniors would go in and talk to representatives of different corporations. Whoever was in charge of scheduling those people did what I thought was kind of a crazy thing. He had both the CIA and the company that was producing Napalm in for interviews on the same three days. The students, led by this gentleman, the chairman that came in to see me were, decided to make their point. So, they lay down in front of the door going into the employment office and prevented students from going in to interview for jobs. They had been walking up and down with signs for two days in a three-day protest and no one was paying much attention to their signs because the students obviously were interested in setting themselves up for good jobs after graduation. So, after two days of walking up and down with signs in front of the office, about a dozen of them, they decided to do something more stringent, if you will. He came in to inform me that the next day they were going to lie down in front of the door—that anybody going in to see the CIA or the companies making Napalm would have to walk over their bodies. I said, come on now, no one’s disturbed you protesting. You can protest till the cows come home but if you lay down in front of the—lie down in front of the door, you’re obstructing other students for doing what’s their right to prepare for jobs in the future. I don’t particularly like the idea of the two particular job offers that are going on at the moment but they’re legitimate and they’re legal in our country and you have no right to keep the students, if they’re interested, from seeking employment there. So, he said, well tomorrow at eight o’clock we’re going to lie down in front of the office door. Well, I said, no student’s going to walk on human bodies to go in to get a job. You know that. That means that you’re obstructing their rights and I’m in charge of the rights of everybody here and if you do that you’re going to be confronted with what I had in my letter to you—that your parents know about and everybody else knows about. The letter was so timely it was carried in full, even though it was about five pages long, in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal which says something about the anxiety at the time.

Scarpino: Right.

Hesburgh: So everybody knew about it. I assume the country was watching us because they also knew this was going on and sure enough, I said, if you do that you’re going to get time to reconsider as I said in my letter. If you’re still there at the end of ten minutes you’re going to be told to go home for the rest of the semester and you’re going to be given five more minutes to get up and leave. If you’re still there in defiance of the law after that ten minutes, you’re out for good. You’ll never graduate from Notre Dame. Well, as might be imagined, the next day they’re lying down in front of the door and the students aren’t going in. So the Director of Discipline here walked up to them and said look, you read Father Ted’s letter. You know exactly what the results are. I’m telling you now to get up and leave and if you don’t you’re going to be out for the rest of the semester. And they didn’t move. They just stood there glaring at him so he said well I’m going to get lost for ten minutes. Actually, he stayed away about 15 minutes to give them more time. And he said when I come back if you’re still here blocking the entrance, you’re out for good. That’s what the letter says and you’ve had time to think about it. But as for now, he said, I want your ID cards and you’re out for the rest of the semester unless you get up and leave right now. Well they wouldn’t move. So he picked up their ID cards and walked away and came back about 15 minutes later and they’re all gone. So, they were all out for the semester but when they left, you can image where they left for. They all came up to my office and they said you can’t possibly toss us out of school because our legitimate protest. I said look, you know the rules of the game. They’re clearly outlined in the letter I sent every student at Easter time and you’re toothless tigers. You want to be fierce but when things get tough you expect me to cover for you and let you off the hook. I said I’m not going to that. You’ve broken the law and you knew the law and you were given time to obey it and you didn’t, so you’re out for the semester. I said, I thank God you finally got up after that warning and your cards were picked up because if you were still there ten minutes later you’d have been out of the university for good. And so they growled a bit but they had no choice and they all went home but they all returned and they all graduated to my knowledge.

Scarpino: Do you think that your actions prevented the kind of violence that took place on other campuses?

Hesburgh: Well, I think it was a clear cut thing. Over 250 of my fellow presidents had retired or resigned or had been fired. One of them actually died during one of those confrontations at night in his office. He died of a heart attack and that was—shows you how serious the thing was. But that was the turning point in the student revolution in America because, of course, the word of that got out immediately in all the newspapers and somehow the other presidents stiffened up their rules and that was the end of the student revolution at least during that period.

Description of the video:

Scarpino: I read an article that you wrote in a book called What Works for Me: Sixteen CEOs Talk about Their Careers and Commitments that came out in 1986. And you said in there that “The most critical internal affair during those years was the student revolution. It looked to me as though the whole establishment was going up in smoke.” How did you go about exercising leadership during the student revolution of the late sixties?

Hesburgh: Well, it was a national phenomenon that grew out of the dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War and the students, of course, were in a privileged position. They didn’t have to go to war. They all were exempted during their time in college or graduate school. They really kicked up their heels and they got so unruly that at one point in time over 250 of my colleagues—presidents of colleges and universities—had to resign or had been fired and the whole country seemed to be up for grabs. So, at that point I decided that someone had to say halt. And I wrote a letter to our students. I managed to write it at Easter time when they’d all be home and their parents would get a chance to read it too. I told them that there was a very simple rule for peace at the university and that was they could protest the war all they wanted and I would join them in that. I wasn’t afraid of having marches or demonstrations or I had noticed articles in the student paper against the war. But, at the same time, they had to respect the nature of the university. I said if anybody deliberately obstructs the work of the university, the work of faculty and the teachers and other administrators running residence halls and the rest of that, that I would give them six minutes to reconsider and if they were in the middle of a protest that was preventing other students from going to class or having peace in the classroom, they would be given six minutes to cease and desist. If they didn’t cease and desist in the six minutes they’re going to be out for the rest of the semester.

Scarpino: Did you enforce that?

Hesburgh: Well, I knew that once I laid the challenge out there, given the radicalism of the time, it would be challenged. So one day or one night—I used to have to work late at nights because that’s when the students were up and around—and my office lights were always on and my door was open. I was doing a lot of work in different parts of the country but at the same time when I was home I was in the office and I was there until two and three on the morning. I remember one night about 2:30 in the morning, knocked on the door, in comes a student. He said I am the head of or chairman of our protest committee of about 12 people and we’ve been trying to stop students from applying for jobs at the Center for Employment where seniors would go in and talk to representatives of different corporations. Whoever was in charge of scheduling those people did what I thought was kind of a crazy thing. He had both the CIA and the company that was producing Napalm in for interviews on the same three days. The students, led by this gentleman, the chairman that came in to see me were, decided to make their point. So, they lay down in front of the door going into the employment office and prevented students from going in to interview for jobs. They had been walking up and down with signs for two days in a three-day protest and no one was paying much attention to their signs because the students obviously were interested in setting themselves up for good jobs after graduation. So, after two days of walking up and down with signs in front of the office, about a dozen of them, they decided to do something more stringent, if you will. He came in to inform me that the next day they were going to lie down in front of the door—that anybody going in to see the CIA or the companies making Napalm would have to walk over their bodies. I said, come on now, no one’s disturbed you protesting. You can protest till the cows come home but if you lay down in front of the—lie down in front of the door, you’re obstructing other students for doing what’s their right to prepare for jobs in the future. I don’t particularly like the idea of the two particular job offers that are going on at the moment but they’re legitimate and they’re legal in our country and you have no right to keep the students, if they’re interested, from seeking employment there. So, he said, well tomorrow at eight o’clock we’re going to lie down in front of the office door. Well, I said, no student’s going to walk on human bodies to go in to get a job. You know that. That means that you’re obstructing their rights and I’m in charge of the rights of everybody here and if you do that you’re going to be confronted with what I had in my letter to you—that your parents know about and everybody else knows about. The letter was so timely it was carried in full, even though it was about five pages long, in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal which says something about the anxiety at the time.

Scarpino: Right.

Hesburgh: So everybody knew about it. I assume the country was watching us because they also knew this was going on and sure enough, I said, if you do that you’re going to get time to reconsider as I said in my letter. If you’re still there at the end of ten minutes you’re going to be told to go home for the rest of the semester and you’re going to be given five more minutes to get up and leave. If you’re still there in defiance of the law after that ten minutes, you’re out for good. You’ll never graduate from Notre Dame. Well, as might be imagined, the next day they’re lying down in front of the door and the students aren’t going in. So the Director of Discipline here walked up to them and said look, you read Father Ted’s letter. You know exactly what the results are. I’m telling you now to get up and leave and if you don’t you’re going to be out for the rest of the semester. And they didn’t move. They just stood there glaring at him so he said well I’m going to get lost for ten minutes. Actually, he stayed away about 15 minutes to give them more time. And he said when I come back if you’re still here blocking the entrance, you’re out for good. That’s what the letter says and you’ve had time to think about it. But as for now, he said, I want your ID cards and you’re out for the rest of the semester unless you get up and leave right now. Well they wouldn’t move. So he picked up their ID cards and walked away and came back about 15 minutes later and they’re all gone. So, they were all out for the semester but when they left, you can image where they left for. They all came up to my office and they said you can’t possibly toss us out of school because our legitimate protest. I said look, you know the rules of the game. They’re clearly outlined in the letter I sent every student at Easter time and you’re toothless tigers. You want to be fierce but when things get tough you expect me to cover for you and let you off the hook. I said I’m not going to that. You’ve broken the law and you knew the law and you were given time to obey it and you didn’t, so you’re out for the semester. I said, I thank God you finally got up after that warning and your cards were picked up because if you were still there ten minutes later you’d have been out of the university for good. And so they growled a bit but they had no choice and they all went home but they all returned and they all graduated to my knowledge.

Scarpino: Do you think that your actions prevented the kind of violence that took place on other campuses?

Hesburgh: Well, I think it was a clear cut thing. Over 250 of my fellow presidents had retired or resigned or had been fired. One of them actually died during one of those confrontations at night in his office. He died of a heart attack and that was—shows you how serious the thing was. But that was the turning point in the student revolution in America because, of course, the word of that got out immediately in all the newspapers and somehow the other presidents stiffened up their rules and that was the end of the student revolution at least during that period.