Recorded statement of Sylvia Seifert conducted by the Commission on KSU Violence.

[unintelligible]

[Sylvia Seifert]: I’m Sylvia Seifert, a graduate student in the Department of Geography and also a Graduate Counselor. When the violence started Friday night, I was in Washington D. C. On the way back from Washington, I heard about what had happened. I stopped in Cleveland at home and called the dorm to find out what had been going on and was told that I had to be back on campus by 8 o’clock that night. We had been told by the Resident Director of the order, we were not told the nature of the trouble they were expecting, just to be aware of anything that might be going on in the dorm. Many of the students were there, trying to find out what had happened, what was going on, and so on. As I went into my room, the Sunday night demonstration went past–many of the girls from the dormitory running out into the street to see what was going on and then following the demonstration from that point. The attitude on the part of most of the students was that they did not wish to get involved. However, those students in the dorm who could be considered militant-type students were taking part and had been taking part in events over the weekend, according to what they told me.

On Monday, I was going to lunch when I saw the demonstration coming on The Commons and I left. I did not witness what happened because I did not wish to be in the area in case anything happened. That morning in the dormitory, some of the girls had said they were taking part in the demonstration, and when I pointed out to them that this was an illegal demonstration, they said, and repeated this after the shootings, that nobody was going to tell them what to do and they could go when and where they wanted to, whenever they pleased to do so. After the shooting, they returned to the dorm. Most of the girls were standing around waiting to find out what was going to happen. The militant students had some of them return. In addition, many militant students who had been taking part in the demonstration were there. These students were–or could be identified by armbands which they wore.

The attitude of most of the girls at that time was one of disbelief at what had happened. The attitude of some of the militant students was that they would do anything they could to take revenge on the Guard and other people for what had taken place. Some of these students were talking quite openly about gathering at Tri-Towers or in the Eastway Complex area, getting together a force, guns, and so on, and going back out to confront the Guards. We tried to persuade these people to leave and they would not leave until it was made quite clear to them that they would have to remove themselves from the campus.

Most of the students in the dorms throughout the year have taken little part in anything that’s been going on, and this would include things like the Earth Week Conferences and the Peace Marches. Most of them don’t take too much part in any campus activities except those which directly affect them, such as the Elementary School Teachers Association and things of that nature. Most of the students to whom I talked in the dorm feel that ROTC should be allowed to remain on campus since this is the way that some of the students get through college–these students being those who could not afford to do so through any other means. One of the art students in the dorm is quite anti-SDS types because of the tactics which they used last year when the art students were trying to get some new ideas and reforms into their particular department. She’s quite vocal in the dorm and has a good deal of influence on the other girls. These girls tend to follow her and take what she has to say quite seriously.

On the other hand, there are a number of students in the dorm who agitate for almost any cause. These girls were quite active Monday in the dorm, both before and after the demonstration. The attitude, however, of most of the students is that they wish to carry on with business as usual and not become involved in anything that’s going on that doesn’t directly affect them. There also seems to be, among some of the students, a good deal of anti-war feeling, and they use this as justification for what had taken place on Monday. They felt quite strongly that the president should not have invaded Cambodia, however, these–many of these girls did not go out and take part in the demonstrations.

Most of the girls in the dorm who did take part in the demonstrations were there only to see what was going on. It was very difficult to keep the students in the dorm after curfew on Sunday night. The National Guard was moving quite actively around Prentice Hall and they wanted to see what was happening. It was necessary for us to lock the doors and then see that nobody got out. We were also told at that time to keep all the windows in the dorm closed because of tear gas that might be used, and which had been used, in the area behind Dunbar earlier in the evening.

Last year there was a good deal of feeling in the dormitory about SDS. Most of this feeling was anti-SDS, particularly after the incidents at Music and Speech Building, and particularly because some of the dorm residents at that time were SDS members or had strong feelings in support of SDS and had come to the house council meetings and caused disturbances. This year, most of these girls were no longer in the hall and the feeling seemed to be one of relief in that they would not be there to disturb house council and that perhaps things could carry on somewhat more efficiently and peacefully than they’d been able to last year.

I noticed radio trucks on Monday afternoon from WERE and WHK in Cleveland. The students that they were interviewing were from Prentice and Dunbar Halls. These students were those who had been quite active in anti-war movements and were–are considered to be militant students in the area. This probably helped in slanted coverage by news media.

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