On the 1969 Michiganensian: In this month’s eDelt we feature the Michigan Delta Chi class of 1969 and 1985
Doug Shelton ’70 noted that in 1969 Washtenaw County elected a far-right sheriff in response to all the demonstrating on campus. Delta Chi thought it might be great fun to have a picture taken with the sheriff at the county jail.
John Hasse ’68 gave us more detail as follows: “That picture was taken at the Washtenaw County Jail.
Starting in 1967, the Michiganensian editors had decided to make the Yearbook photos more interesting. Instead of us all standing in rows and smiling at the camera, all the Sororities and Fraternities were encouraged to use remote sites for our photos and to ‘improvise.’ So, we somehow got permission to take our photo at the Jail and Sheriff Harvey posed with us. One has to remember this is the time when police were ‘pigs.’ Harvey even got out the Thompson Machine Gun that Keith Little is holding to spice up the photo.
The next year, we all drove out to the Air National Guard base at Wayne County Airport and posed on the wing of Frank Morrey’s ’64 fighter jet. But the that was last year for improvised photos.”
John Levinson ’73 sent this comment to us: “Excellent work – did not know about the Sheriff Harvey picture. Funny story, in late August of 1969, there were some very severe riots on campus prior to the semester. While watching news coverage of the pummeling of the hippie rioters by Sheriff Harvey and his troops, my mother proclaimed that I was not going to be allowed to go to U of M that semester, it was too dangerous. Well, she had not discussed it with my dad, who promptly bellowed he is too going and Dad one that battle. If I had not started the fall 1969 semester and rushed Delta Chi (Doug Shelton ’70 was a key person along with Steve Civiletto that got me to pledge Delta Chi rather than another fraternity – John Russell also had a lot to do with joining – THE FOOD), who knows how different things might have been at Delta Chi.”
Dave Siglin ’64 commented: “My wife Linda, our baby daughter Anya (in her pram), and I were strolling down South U that evening. The street was full of high school kids being fairly rowdy. Sheriff Harvey and his deputies pulled onto South U from Washtenaw with several vehicles led by what appeared to be some kind of assault truck and stopped. He was standing on some kind of platform in the back of the truck(?) with a bullhorn, ordering the crowd to disperse – which they had no intention of doing. At that point, he signaled his men to charge and they did. We wheeled our baby carriage into Millers Ice Cream shop and stayed there until the action moved away from us and we could get home. Along with a minister from the First Presbyterian Church, we set up a first aid station next to our music club, The Ark, for injured parties on both sides. The sheriff’s department had its temporary base of operations just south of the church in the driveway/parking lot between the church and our club. I’d guess we treated more than 30 people during the mess, some officers but mostly high school kids.
If I had to say what started it, I’d say it was Sheriff Harvey by yelling orders with his bullhorn and driving into the crowd. There were lots of kids out there and, yes, they were partially blocking traffic, but they weren’t looting or being aggressive.
They needed to be dispersed, but more peaceful methods could have been tried first.”
