Fire, protests canceled UK’s 1970 graduation. That class has a message for this year’s seniors.
Jim Richardson will never forget the week his college graduation ceremony was canceled.
He’ll also never forget the fire, pepper spray and “surreal” campus upheaval which led to the cancellation of the University of Kentucky’s 1970 spring commencement—the last time the university has had to postpone the much-anticipated event before this year’s COVID-19-related postponement. Exactly 50 years ago this week, the Vietnam War-era UK student reaction to the historic Kent State shootings culminated in roiling finals week student protests, the alleged arson of a campus building and the controversial presence of the National Guard on campus.
Now, the 71-year-old Richardson is among five 1970 UK grads who have authored a letter of encouragement to this year’s graduating class to be distributed to those seniors on Saturday. Above all else, Richardson said they want the 2020 class to know that “you’ll get past this.”
Shortly before midnight on May 5, 1970, a large mostly wooden building on Euclid Avenue burst into flames while a crowd of over 400 UK students—who had been earlier protesting the death of four Kent State students just days before—struggled against a line of hundreds of riot-gear-wearing police officers, the Lexington Herald then reported.
“Not only could we see it, we could smell it,” said Richardson, a 21-year-old English major at the time, who left his fraternity house with friends to sit on the lawn of the nearby student center to watch the fire—which burned for hours, damaged nearby buildings and sent two firemen to the hospital.
The “visceral” memory of watching officers and National Guard members fire pepper spray into crowds of students will never leave Richardson, he said.
A UK student was charged with arson and arrested in connection to the incident, but was later let go. According to the Herald and the Leader’s reporting, student protests continued through the week and the National Guard stayed on campus. Midway through finals week, the university halted. Exams were canceled—students could take their midterm grades—and students faced a 6 p.m. curfew.
Just days before, graduation was postponed until the next August. Richardson said he was dejected.
As the first person in his family to graduate from college, Richardson said commencement was bound to be a proud moment. But since he’d already taken a job in Florida, walking the next August wasn’t possible.
“When you’re in the moment, it’s the biggest thing in your life,” said Richardson who now works as a financial adviser and is on the university alumni association’s board of directors.
With only a few days notice, Mark Lane, then a 22-year-old business administration major, said he was also disappointed that commencement was canceled. Lane said he and his roommates slipped into their caps and gowns, grabbed a camera and did what many current graduating UK seniors are still able to do despite the pandemic: Take their senior pictures.
“We got through it, as these young people will get through it,” said the now 72-year-old Lane who also signed the letter to this year’s class.
Lane said the idea of the letter came after he asked Kathryn Schaefer, an alumni engagement coordinator in UK’s philanthropy office— who was credited by many of the alumni interviewed as helping to put the letter together—if she knew that the 1970 class also missed their commencement.
“All of a sudden there was a connection,” Lane said.
UK Alumni Association members and employees then came up with the idea for a letter and worked to put together the letter and a video of the signatories reading the letter, Lane said.
UK graduating seniors, who have been celebrating their graduation digitally and over the radio will get the letter in an email on Saturday. UK is yet to announce plans for its rescheduled commencement. The alumni interviewed said the letter is one of encouragement.
“In the larger picture, that part is symbolic. What’s important is the relationships you formed,” said Richardson, who added that some of his best friends have come from his college days.
Bill Smith, another 1970 UK graduate, agreed.
“There’s going to be many disappointments in a lifetime,” he said. “You just have to look past them and keep going.”