Word: olimpieri
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Dates: during 1968-1968
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...expected the Faculty to physically harrass the MP's when they came to arrest the Marine or to taunt them with cries of "Pigs! Pigs!" But, in Cox's words, one expected "something": Faculty members might have made statements of support, or joined the chain which bound Olimpieri to his wife and friends, or brought him food. In short, they might have shared symbolically in the Marine's protest...
...turned in their draft cards, the Faculty unanimously adopted a statement in opposition to the war in Vietnam and in support of draft resistance. "Accordingly," it read, "we are prepared to help bear the burdens of those who have been conscientiously led to extraordinary means of dissent." When Olimpieri took sanctuary on Sunday, Harvey G. Cox, associate professor of Church and Society, said he hoped the Faculty would "do something together." It didn...
...most conspicuous failure, however, was that of the students themselves. Tuesday afternoon, after Olimpieri's arrest, 100 of them met for over two hours to discuss the implications of the sanctuary. At the meeting the students failed to agree upon a position of support for the Marine, failed to address themselves to any of the issues which the sanctuary raised, and finally relinquished their responsibility to the Student Council which, that night, adopted a statement urging others "to join with us in similar acts of protest...
...MANY ways these criticisms are criticisms of style. But they are substantive, nontheless. No action--by Olimpieri, Stendahl, Faculty, or students--is going to overpower the war machine. One's strategy, then, necessarily becomes that of symbolic protest and confrontation, which differ from publicity stunts in that they aim at raising issues for debate. And this tactic only succeeds when carried off dramatically...
Conversely, to the extent that the Divinity School was unable to dramatize Olimpieri's sanctuary, the sanctuary lost any value it might have had. Olimpieri, almost obscured by the events he set in motion, angrily charged after his arrest that he had been "used" by the students. He may or may not have spoken under pressure from the Marines. He may or may not have been entirely moral and intelligent in his reasons for leaving the Marines in the first place. But what is more important is that the issues his sanctuary raised--the war, the draft, resistance, and their...