by Jessalyn Pinneo
Special Projects Reporter

One of the final paragraphs of the January 4, 1938, Hatchet staff editorial best expresses the student body¹s protest against the University administration: "Students at The George Washington University are sincerely interested in Œmaking our schools and colleges a genuine fortress of democracy.¹ They would like to work with their Š administration toward that goal in a manner in keeping with the spirit of the goal. They would like to fulfill their obligations as Œmembers of the University¹ and meet their common problems on an honest footing. They seemingly have been prevented in the past Š from getting that footing. And it further seems likely that until the notorious ŒRule Six¹ is removed from the regulations of the University, such a footing will be nearly impossible, and The George Washington University will be able to lay only faint claim to its title."

"All of us are for peace. But belligerent and inappropriate action is neither educational or effective," said University President Cloyd Heck Marvin in The Hatchet on January 4, 1938. He was referring to the previous year¹s attempted peace strike by the GW student body.

In 1938, the stirrings of World War II gathered momentum in Europe, and while the United States government remained relatively passive, the college community took notice. Students rallied for peace across the nation, realizing that once again they and their peers could be privates in the trenches should the United States trudge back into battle for its European allies.

It was at this time that GW¹s student body began to develop its political savvy. The Freshman Forum and other lecture series invited congressmen to campus to discuss the impact of war and to debate the merits of peace. GW students, along with students at hundreds of other universities nationwide, joined the American Student Union to campaign for students¹ civil liberties, including the right to protest as an independent citizen.

Tensions flared between GW students and administrators, particularly President Marvin, because of his refusal to allow a peace strike on campus in April 1937. During the preceding four years, students held peace strikes on up to 700 college campuses across the nation each April. Marvin forbade the cancellation of classes during the time of the proposed strike and threatened to expel any student who attempted to protest, resulting in an instantaneous uproar among students. Early in the spring 1938 semester, the rift between the student body and the administration was as wide as it had ever been.

The front-page headline in the January 4 issue of The Hatchet was preceded by a staff editorial titled "Can George Washington Become a ŒGenuine Fortress of Democracy¹?" The staff, and the rest of the GW student community, recognized President Marvin¹s right to run the University as he saw fit, but they disagreed strongly with his methods and the degree to which he extended his control. Rule Six of the Board of Trustees stated that "the University can countenance no outside pressure groups within its walls." Marvin interpreted this to mean that political expression in the form of protest by the student body would be disruptive and therefore unacceptable.

With the rapidly expanding network of peace organizations on college campuses, President Marvin¹s high-handedness in disallowing the peace strike from occurring at all ignited fury in the students, who felt their citizenship and adulthood were being insulted. The Hatchet responded with the aforementioned editorial, and this petition to the administration: "Before it becomes possible to meet successfully the questions of organization of extracurricular life and faculty relations, the haze surrounding civil liberties of students must be cleared away."

On April 12, 1938, the anti-war protests issue again arose at GW. The Hatchet reported that The Anti-War Strike Committee urged GW students to join a million other students in a nationwide strike for peace and democracy by walking out of classes on April 27. The administration was surprisingly silent on the issue, issuing its only statement in The Hatchet on April 26, in which officials reminded students of the peace strike scheduled to occur the following day. President Marvin said that he "opposed the strike but Š had no objection to it being held off the campus," although "he believed the movement (to be) sponsored by outside, selfish, political groups."

A week later on May 3, The Hatchet sported the headline "100 Students join strike against war and fascism." The protest, held at an off-campus Lutheran church on 20th and G streets, was successful, but the fact that the strike was allowed to occur did little to dispel student disillusionment with the administration. In interviews with The Hatchet, student leaders called Marvin¹s refusal to allow the strike on campus "highly undemocratic," especially in light of the fact that "officials of other universities cooperate in the meetings each April."

Although the strike was unimpeded, the rift between students and the administration over students¹ civil liberties was far from narrowed. The student body¹s struggle for an active, independent voice and GW officials¹ struggle for leverage and power had only just begun.