Clark in wartime (spring 2002)
Each generation did its part for peace or victory
By Jane Salerno
In an open letter inviting the Clark community to a candlelight vigil on Sept. 12, 2001, Student Council President Rich Fields '02 wrote: "Like those before us who have reminisced about events like Pearl Harbor and the assassination of John F. Kennedy, we too will all remember where we were when we heard about the incredible loss of life that came just a few hours ago...As we all struggle with an event that will define our generation, it is important to remember that we are not alone."
As the U.S. war on terrorism continues, Clarknews looks back on the University's wartime experiences. A brief review of this rich history revealed common strands that might assure today's students that, in fact, they are not alone. Each wartime generation at Clark grappled with similar questions: Does a good citizen rally for peace or military retaliation? Are peaceniks also patriots?
To learn more about Clark's wartime past, consult "Clark University 1887-1987: A Narrative History," by former University Archivist William A. Koelsch, visit current archivist Mott Linn at the Goddard Library, or, best of all, talk with the alumni who lived it.
The public has come to perceive Clark as it perceives most American colleges and universities, as a somewhat left-leaning, free-spirited place. But this wasn't always the case. When the United States was drawn into World War I, the campus congealed in a singular purpose. In his book, Koelsch describes how Clark rallied behind the troops: "The university and college faculties met jointly for the first time, to request the trustees to place the facilities of both institutions at the service of the war effort, to open the laboratories for government work, and to offer the campus and gymnasium for the drilling of recruits." In addition, a Clark ambulance unit was formed with 19 students and two alumni, and the Board of Trustees did not reappoint two professors who remained openly pacifist.
World War II
As World War II unfolded, Clarkies continued to apply critical, intellectual analysis to the nation's policies. John E. Barriere's class oration, published in the 1942 Pasticcio, was titled, "A Plea for Realistic Idealism." It began, "Twenty-five years ago a generation of college men left their campuses imbued with an insanely enthusiastic desire to make the world safe for democracy. What happened to that generation should serve as a somber warning to us."
Clark again became immersed in the war effort. Students helped with plane-spotting duties, blackout curtains, gas coupons and metal drives. World War II changed the University in another important way: As more and more male students were drawn into service, Clark, like many of its counterparts, began admitting women students. The first class of women undergraduates came to Clark in 1942.
The shift to a new era
After serving in the Navy, Robert Baker came to Clark in 1948 as a psychology graduate student. Baker joined the faculty in 1954 and was dean of students from 1965-68. During this period, Clark students began to react to the United States' involvement in war in a completely different way. Instead of ambulance units and metal drives, students organized peace rallies and anti-war demonstrations.
"We went from a war called 'the good war' to one people were a little uncertain about," Baker says, explaining this change. "Then we moved from North Korea to Viet Nam, where the rationale for war became much less clear, and Clark became a hotbed of anti-war activity."
"Bob Baker changed the nature of the relationship between the administration and the students," says Clark Trustee Gary Roboff '71. The shift in student reaction to government authority and policy in the 1960s came with a shift away from the University policy of in loco parentis, where university officials had been expected to act as parents to minors away from home, he says. He also credited William Topkin and Marcia Savage, who shared the Dean of Students title from 1969‹73, with fostering this new era at Clark.
"The change made it possible for there to be a broader community, one that could be inclusive of students, faculty and administrators. Clark was significantly ahead of its peer institutions in that regard. That deliberate movement away from in loco parentis was one of the most important hallmarks of the era."
The generation gap between students and faculty also began to narrow. According to Koelsch: "During Viet Nam Moratorium Day, on October 15, 1969, President (Frederick) Jackson made the major speech in ceremonies at City Hall before a crowd estimated at 10,000 people; over 1,000 students, faculty and staff members had marched from Clark to join processions from other Worcester colleges...Over 500 Clark students and faculty joined the March on Washington the following month..."
In today's wartime
In more recent years, Clark students have continued to initiate campuswide discussion of the country's war efforts. The Gulf War, for example, elicited debate on campus. S.M.A.S.H., Students Mobilized Against Saddam Hussein, squared off against students urging "Support the Troops, Not the War."
The questions and challenges posed by the current war against terrorism have Clark students struggling once again with those questions about pacifism and patriotism, while working to create positive change in a world of uncertainty. Last September, Clark students affiliated with Clark Peace Works, the Worcester Global Action Network and United Students Against Sweatshops drafted this statement, signed by Leah Penniman '02, Josephine Shagwert '02, Jonah Vitale-Wolff '02 and Matthew Feinstein. '03:
For campus activities, it is a time of tragedy and possibility, where we have the unique opportunity to examine and participate in a potential turning point in world history...There is no conflict between being American and working for nonviolence. It is our patriotic duty to speak out for the enduring global security that can only result from social justice, economic equality, and true democracy."
Tumult of war marked couple's days at Clark
One Sunday, while cramming for an exam, Clark junior Roy Andersen '43 looked out the window of his room in Estabrook Hall and saw a friend running down Woodland Street, yelling and waving his arms. The friend had just heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
"We spent all afternoon talking about it, down at a diner in Webster Square," Roy says, recalling Clark during wartime. The following day's exam was not postponed, and life at first went on as always.
With male students leaving college to serve in the war, Clark, like many of its counterparts, started admitting women. In 1942, Barbara Norris '46, the future Mrs. Roy Andersen, joined Clark's first undergraduate co-ed class. Two weeks after his graduation in 1943, Roy was in the Navy. He and Barbara were married in June of 1944. "He went off to sea and I went back to Clark," Barbara says.
The war colored every activity on campus, she notes. There were plane-spotter duties, blackout curtains, gas coupons and metal drives. Almost all the young women worked at Union Station as travelers' aides, she says.
On April 12, 1945, Lt. jg. Roy Andersen was in the Pacific‹literally‹awaiting rescue after the USS Mannert L. Abele had been hit by a kamikaze aircraft. The destroyer sank in three minutes, killing 73 men. Barbara waited six weeks to receive Roy's letter after the attack.
After the war, Roy completed a master's degree at Dartmouth and a Ph.D. at Duke University. He taught physics at Clark for 32 years before retiring in 1992. Barbara received a B.A. and served as executive director of the Worcester Association for Retarded Children until her retirement. They raised three children, enjoy travel and are active in the community. Roy is finishing a book about his war experiences, tentatively titled "Three Minutes Off Okinawa."
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Clarknews Spring 2002
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Co-deans of students Bill Topkin '60, M.A.Ed. '63, Ed.D. '67 and Marcia Savage '61, M.A.Ed. '62 talk to students during a sit-in in Jonas Clark Hall in 1970
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Sit-in at Jonas Clark Hall in 1970
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Jack Coyle '49 (left) and Leonard Pagnotto '49 (center) learn about the Air Force officer training program, March 1948
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Roy '43 and Barbara '46 Anderson
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