The following is part of a continuing series of historical articles as they appeared in Iowa State’s student newspaper. This is the story on a rally over the control of student funds where the students burned the dean of student’s image in effigy. This article appeared in the Tuesday, May 17, 1966 issue of the Iowa State Daily.

Dean of Students Millard R. Kratochvil was burned in effigy on the steps of Beardshear Hall Saturday by students protesting his veto of funds to The Liberator.

A rally was called by a group of interested students opposed to the power vested in the dean to control funds for campus organizations, despite duties of the Government of the Student Body to determine where its student fees are spent.

An estimated 400 students attended the rally which began at 11 p.m. Saturday and broke up about 12:15 a.m. Sunday after a dummy was set on fire on Beardshear steps. The burning was preceded by speeches by Jerry Bierbaum, GSB president, Dave Duncan, GSB Ward senator, John White, past editor of the Liberator and Stathis Papageorgiou, Grad.

Duncan Speech

Duncan told the crowd, “I think the question we have before us is, What part should students play in the governing of this University? Theoretically, GSB is the voice of the students at Iowa State,” he said.

“Should it be the dean of students’ prerogative to veto the action of GSB?” Duncan asked. “I think it’s not the administration, or the faculty, or the faculty with the administration that makes a great university. It’s the students,” Duncan asserted.

Duncan explained to the crowd the procedure followed to get funds allocated to student organizations, emphasizing that it is a nine-dollar activity fee for each student that is being dealt with. When he mentioned the dean of students, the crowd booed and hissed.

“Partnership”

Duncan said, “I look on the University as somewhat of a partnership of the administration, faculty and students, but the partnership here is lopsided. Why is it lopsided? The administration acts in loco parentis: We are treated as children and not adults.”

He said the questions then is, “Are we going to behave like a bunch of unreasonable children?” He urged the students to behave as university students and thereby prove that they play a bigger part in University affairs.

Bierbaum said he came before the group “not to discuss The Liberator but to discuss a much deeper question: Do students have a voice in how their money is spent?”

He compared the extensive lengthy sessions of GSB Senate this year, which spent more than 12 hours on Executive Budgetary Commission (EBC) recommendations, with last year’s time of one and one-half hours spent on the budget.

EBC Work

He asserted that EBC “is not all-powerful” and it had to do all the “dogwork” to get budget recommendations ready for Senate. He pointed out that Senate wasn’t willing to take the budget as it was submitted.

“Dean Dratochvil was really in a bind and was up in the air on the issue,” Bierbaum said. “After being close to the situation in GSB for the last three months, I feel I have a grasp of the situation. In my mind, I feel Dean Kratochvil had his mind made up all along.”

Bierbaum explained that someone from the dean of students’ office attends all EBC sessions. “These people have a tendency to breathe into these allocations what his office wants to hear. Dean Kratochvil is ready to breathe into these sessions what he wants. He wanted EBC and Senate to rubber-stamp what he wanted, but this just wasn’t the case,” Bierbaum said.

Outlines Purposes

“Our purpose here tonight is not to burn Dean Kratochvil in effigy. This is not a positive step. Rather, we must make a rational man-to-man effort to discuss this with the administration,” he continued.

Outlining what steps he would take to alleviate the inequality, he said the first thing he would do “is to see that EBC hearings are open.” He said that possibly some EBC rationales weren’t actually rationales, but “fronts” for the real reasons. He said he would order EBC, an agency of GSB under the directions of the GSB president, to open its meetings to permit students to hear budget requests.

Next Bierbaum suggested that negotiations be made with the dean and the University to let them know how the students feel. He said possibly the GSB constitution could be changed so the dean could assume an advisory capacity without the veto power.

Write Other Campuses

He said GSB would write other campuses where students are allowed “more of a voice” to handle the distribution of student fees and the separations of power involved.

He suggested that the State Board of Regents could be contacted for visits on the issue. He said they are ready to change policies with good reasons and aren’t bound by those policies already set down.

White said this issue points out “the irony of the twentieth century — you, the leaders of tomorrow, are not even allowed to govern yourselves. If we can’t do it now, we’ll never be able to run our nation as a democracy,” said White.

He repeated what earlier speakers had said. “It’s not a question of whether The Liberator gets money: the question is who controls student fees and who should.” He said it was a situation similar to that of the American colonies 200 years ago when taxation without representation existed.

He said this was the first such student rally and said this was significant. White added to a statement made by Kratochvil last week that “GSB can be a great experience in self-government” with the remark “if the administration will let it.” “Let’s back Jerry Bierbaum at this point —let’s push Jerry Bierbaum to get what we wanted,” he concluded.

Stathis Papageorgiou, a strong supporter of The Liberator, urged the students “to make it clear to Mr. Kratochvil that we aren’t going to go along with that system any more. I want an honest question from the student body president. Will you press it to the end or compromise?” Papageorgiou asked Bierbaum. The president replied with the answer, “I’m going to press it to the end.”

Drags Effigy Up

At that moment Tim McCarthy of Students for Democratic Society dragged the effigy up the steps of Beardshear to display it at the podium. After a brief speech, he laid the effigy on the steps and tried to set fire to it.

A brief scuffle arose when Mick Gattau, president of Pep Council, stepped in to prevent McCarthy from setting fire to the kerosene-soaked dummy. Campus police and other onlookers broke up the skirmish.

At least three other people then attempted to start the fire. When the dummy was lighted, campus policemen dragged it to the sidewalk at the foot of the Beardshear steps, then stood and watched the effigy burn down to a pile of ashes.

After the effigy was burned, Papgeorgiou stood on the steps and urged the crowd to disperse. Most onlookers left immediately.