◆ SpookStack

F ? . . I ' . , c . . . * * . 9.0ctober 1970 SPECIAL INFORMATION REPORT San Fernando Valley State Collene Valley State, founded in 1948 as one of the 18 schools in the California state college rystem, became newsworthy nationally in November 1968. The incident began when a delegation of black stu- dents demanded the r e m o v e of the white freshman football coach on the grounds that he was prejudicFd. When the athletic director reSwed, the campus of some 15,000. locatjed in the upper middle-class com- munity of Northridge, a Loe Angeles suburb, was thrown into turmoil when the angry blacks marched to the administration building and occupied significant parts of it. Members of the faculty and adminis- trative employees were detained against their will and the then acting president, Dr. Paul-Blumgren, was forced to sign a statement agrceing to a l h t ' O f student d e m h d s . Blumgren later repudiated the statement stating that it had-been signed under threat of violence. Several hundred a r r e s t s followed and the ringleaders were brought to trial and convicted in the fall of 1969. were convicted on felony charges and several were sentenced to terms in prison of from 1 to 25 years. The others were given lesser sen- tences. . The trial was considered highly significant in legal circles in Los Angeles because the students had been tried and convicted on felony . . charges for campus demonstrations. Legal observers believed that t h e .. Valley State trial could signify a growing crackdown against youthful dissenters in California. . Most of those involved 0 . At the moment, the campus is quiet,and intelligence sources in Los Angeles believe it will remain BO this year. believe this, however, and the obvious political climate a t Valley State .:. are ominous and discour8ging. Current information indicates a tense and highly politicized campus. The current student government which was elected by a political coalition of white radical, black and Mexican- American organizations counts 17 "new left'' and "movement" activis ts among the total of 19 members. The student government a t Valley State - (as on most qmerican campuses) controls the funding for all student The reasons they . . .