california history - California Historical Society

Upon taking office as chancellor at Berkeley,Heyns quickly established himself as a moderatingpresence between radical student demonstratorson the left and the newly elected conservativegovernor, Ronald Reagan, on the right. But inthe crisis over People’s Park, he failed at thetask. He waited too long to secure funding forhis projected soccer field and, when challengedwith the park’s construction, hesitated to assertuniversity ownership—by, for example, erectinga fence around the property as soon as plans tobuild the park were announced, thereby avoidingconfrontation.On April 30, following the creation of the parkand his declaration that “plans to build a playingfield are moving ahead,” Heyns advised: “In fairnessto those who have worked on the land, thedisutility of any additional labor must be pointedout.” Observing that park developers had paid noheed to his statement, he demanded on May 8the formation of a “responsible group” withwhom he could negotiate to “assure that furtherunauthorized development would be stopped.”He met later that day with a crosssection of parksupporters: Schlesinger, student body presidentCharles Palmer, student senator JondavidBachrach, and Van der Ryn. Collectively, theyrepresented the interest groups concerned withpreserving the park: the south campus “streetpeople” and UC students and faculty. 33It was definitely a “responsible group,” thoughone unwilling to accept Heyns’s agenda of halting“further unauthorized development.” NeitherSchlesinger nor Palmer believed that Heyns seriouslyconsidered the possibility of compromise.A disillusioned Schlesinger protested, “You can’tjust speak of building a soccer field—you haveto also speak of destroying a park.” And Palmerconsidered Heyns a deceitful individual: “Heynsdoesn’t have any real commitment. And he’s notan open man; he didn’t really level with us ortrust us when we tried to work with or negotiatewith him.” 34Ronald Reagan targeted UC student unrest during his gubernatorial bidin 1966, condemning campus disturbances on the campaign trail. Inthis San Francisco Chronicle cartoon, a gun-toting Sheriff Reagan atthe gates of the Berkeley campus exclaims, “Just show me one of themBeatnik varmints.” Reagan’s readiness for a showdown foreshadows theviolence of local law enforcement during the 1969 People’s Park protests.Courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle; cartoon by Robert BastianVan der Ryn also doubted Heyns’s interest innegotiations. Nevertheless, he proposed a compromise.At his request, the university’s Collegeof Environmental Design enthusiasticallyadopted a resolution urging acceptance of a usercontrolledpark under the college’s sponsorship.The resolution stressed that a community park inthe eastern portion of the lot would not precludethe university’s construction of a soccer field inthe western segment. The plan had the amusedsupport of Michael Delacour, who described it asthe “idea that we’d be specimens in some kind oflaboratory and they’d all come and observe us.” 35Chancellor Heyns rejected the compromise, citingconcerns over the university’s legal liabilitiesshould injuries occur in the park and also over apetition signed by forty-eight area residents frustratedwith excessive noise, sanitation conditions,19