LET US CHANGE THE CLIMATE OF VIOLENCE

 

In the pre-dawn hours of Friday, April 24, 1970, a fire set by
as yet unimown arsonists destroyed or damaged ten offices of the Center
for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. The life work
of Prof. M.N. Srinivas, a distinguished Indian anthropologist who is spending
a year at the Center on leave from the University of Delhi, was destroyed:
research notes embodying the work of over twenty years were ravaged. Professor
Srinivas' magnum opus was to have been a study of the Indian caste system.

Manuscripts and research notes of several other scholars were lost
or damaged, including some materials belonging to Professor Sol Tax of the
University of Chicago, a noted champion of the rights of American Indians in
contemporary U.S. society. The lives of two student caretakers sleeping in
a building which narrowly escaped being engulfed in the flames were jeopardized.
Physical damage to the Center is estimated at close to $100,000.

We are deeply concerned that this fire may have been related to the
escalating climate of violence on campus in recent weeks. We unequivocally
support peaceful protest. However, we believe that recent protest activities
on campus have passed these bounds into dangerous levels of violence and
threats of further violence. We are deeply worried that an occasional
violence-prone person may interpret the advocacy of "mobile militant tactics" in suc
ways as to include cruel acts like the burning of the Center.

We hope that the Off-ROIC Movement shares the sorrow and outrage of the.
Stanford community at this tragic occurrence and we call upon them to express

themselves at this time.

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ond CRS 65 APR 27 1079