Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 23, 1993 TAG: 9304230218
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But students and faculty at Roanoke College forged ahead with a "Woodstock Picnic" despite being forced indoors by Thursday's blustery, chilly weather.
"In a way, being pushed indoors by the weather is a lot like the '60s," English Professor Mike Heller said. "It was a very imperfect time. This is a very imperfect picnic."
Not that no one tried.
Guitarist Tom Goodrich, dressed in a T-shirt and torn jeans, belted out 1960s classics from The Band, Cat Stevens and Otis Redding.
Campus activists hawked $5 T-shirts emblazoned with the symbol of a college humanities coalition.
And, after all, it was Earth Day.
The event had been billed as a picnic on the college's back quad, conjuring up images of dancing, Frisbee-throwing and lounging in the grass. But when college officials got word of Thursday's weather forecast, they decided late Wednesday to move the event to the student center.
The theme, though, did not change. Chaplain Paul Henrickson, who organizes the college's convocation series, said the "picnic" was designed to blend the passion of 1960s activism with its re-emergence in the 1990s.
Heller and physics Professor Frank Munley gave students an oral glimpse of the era.
"I was at West Point, a strange place to be," Heller said. "I remember girls from Vassar protesting the [Vietnam] war and handing out flowers. One girl put a flower in one of our rifles."
A fellow cadet took the flower out and ate it, Heller said.
"It was a good symbol of the conflict then," he said.
Heller said he became disillusioned with the military. His faith in it, he said, "was shaken and has never been restored."
Munley was a graduate student in Baltimore, involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements. He surveyed housing projects, supported black political candidates and wrote a political newsletter. He was arrested, tear-gassed and maced.
Munley said he has hope now that "acting through consciousness, we can make things better."
"But don't let hostility be the primary motivator for action," he advised students. "Let it be cope and compassion."
A handful of campus organizations used the "picnic" as a kick-off event for a loosely formed coalition called "S.P.E.A.C. OUT" - Strength for Peace, Environment, Awareness and Community.
"It's a good support network," said Cary Wright, a senior. "We hope it will encourage an exchange in participation in service events."
Member organizations include the Roanoke College Women's Network; Earthbound, an environmental group; Habitat for Humanity; Peace and Justice, a group that in part tackles racial issues; and Prism, a group that addresses cultural and racial diversity.
"You can't really separate the issues," junior Erica Lipps said. "We're all in the same community."
by CNB