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AFTERMATH: cont...
The Causes of Conflict in Isla Vista
By David P. Gardner
Vice Chancellor, UCSB
Then vice-chancellor David P. Gardner wrote this statement
for the "Chancellor's Special Report" dated April 3,
1970. Gardner was later president of the University of California
(1975-89). The following excerpts of his statement were made by
Carmen Lodise.
 Any
assessment of the causes of conflict in Isla Vista must necessarily
be more speculative than scientific. Comprehensive studies on
the demography, economy, sociology, government, and physical environment
of Isla Vista have simply not been done. . . . This brief report,
. . . nevertheless, (is) an attempt to state in summary form what
the administration understands to have been the primary causes
of the Isla Vista disturbances of late February, 1970.
(T)here were multiple causes for the disorders. These were related
to an array of national, state, local and University policies
regarded by one or another group of students as mistaken at best,
corrupt--and even criminal--at worst. UCSB students are not importantly
dissimilar from students enrolled elsewhere in California's universities
and colleges in expressing discontent with the political mood
of the State and in criticizing what they regard as the use of
the University and state colleges by politicians and the news
media for educationally irrelevant purposes. Thus, student confidence
in the governmental and political processes has waned in recent
years as has student respect for authority in general. At UCSB,
many students have been for some time now psychologically and
emotionally disposed toward more aggressive political behavior
whenever the right combination of issues and circumstances occurred
or could be arranged.
 A
number of specific local issues in January and February of this
year were combined for the purpose of provoking a more overt expression
of student resentment about the more general grievances already
mentioned. The result was large-scale demonstrations in late January
and early February on campus which culminated in the series of
riotous evenings off campus in late February. These local issues
were:
- general dissatisfaction with the response of faculty and administration to student demands for a reconsideration and public hearing of the Allen case . . .
- a widespread and long-standing disquietude among many students
in reference to the alleged slowness with which the University
was moving to modify its structure so as to permit fuller student
participation in educational decision-making of all kinds;
- a tightening of the academic job market for the first time in
a quarter century raised the specter of "no vacancy"
for junior members of the faculty not offered tenure and for graduate
students seeking initial employment; and
- a potentially explosive situation in Isla Vista itself . . . especially in three critical areas:
1) an extensive drug problem among youth everywhere, a particularly
apparent problem in Isla Vista owing to the concentrated presence
there of more than 10,000 young people, creates not only the psychological
and emotional problems associated with the widespread use of soft
and hard drugs but also an aggravated relationship between many
residents of Isla Vista and the law enforcement agencies involved;
2) an absence in Isla Vista of a variety of social outlets and an adult population prevents the natural development of normal social and community constraints on behavior thought essential to satisfactory community life. . . . it can be said that the typical Isla Vista resident (i.e., student) lives in an unencumbered social, ethical, and moral environment.
3) a critical dissimilarity of values between large numbers of
students and some of the other Isla Vista residents and the values
shared by the vast majority in the larger society, that is, differences
about the value, worth, importance, and relevance of private property,
personal responsibility, self-discipline, and permissiveness.
For example, . . . (t)he war in Vietnam outrages large numbers of students but not a comparable percentage of persons in the society in general, whereas the burning of the branch of the Bank of America outrages most persons in the larger community but not such large percentages of persons in Isla Vista.
These combinations of local issues, against a backdrop of general hostility toward state and national policies, provided ready tender for the militant or aggressive left to ignite in behalf of their own strategic objectives.
In this connection, the appearance of William Kunstler on the
campus cannot be overlooked. Mr. Kunstler's presence attracted
outside elements to the campus and to Isla Vista during a critical
period and they, as well as his and the remarks of others from
the platform, no doubt contributed to the scale and intensity
of the disturbances.
The effect of campus radicals on the policies of the Legislative
Council of the Associated Students and especially on those of
the student newspaper throughout the fall and winter must also
be taken into account. . . . (T)he radicals successfully interwove
essentially separate issues into inseparable parts in the demonstrations
on Dr. Allen's status so that effective, and credible faculty
and administrative response on the more general question of student
involvement in educational decision-making could not be separated
from the Allen case.
. . . The administration is all too frequently left with the potential of either acceding to ill-advised demands or of radicalizing a larger percentage of the student body by employing the use of outside police to effect security of the campus. The challenge has been to avoid being placed in the position of having to opt for either one or the other of these self-defeating possibilities.
There is now a clear trend to move such political activity into the community, . . . thus increasing the likelihood of both violence and property destruction.
. . . The trend is nationwide and should be carefully assessed by all of us.
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