The Aftermath

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Dow sit-in, the university became bogged down in bureaucracy as it attempted to adapt its disciplinary procedures to the acts committed: students worked first to ensure their complicity and then to avoid punishment; law faculty leaped to their defense; the public, legislature, and newspapers rushed to share their opinions. Five graduate students and fifteen undergrads were brought before two separate committees, which announced contradictory light sentences for the grads and expulsion for the undergrads. Hundreds rallied on the quad to protest the expulsions, which were rescinded within days, with equal light punishment meted for all. Forty-seven others eventually received the same.