This is the text of a speech given by Ken Trantowski at the Northern Star Alumni centennial dinner Feb. 27, 1999.
By Kenneth G. Trantowski
Editor, Northern Star -- 1970
I believe it is safe to say that one common thread among all of us this evening is the fact that we've had -- as the MasterCard commercial says -- one "priceless" experience working on the Northern Star.
No matter what college you may have attended it is safe to say that the experiences of working on a collegiate newspaper were among your most cherished memories.
The Northern Star is in a class by itself. The Northern Star was one of the elite college daily newspapers long before most universities even considered a daily publication.
I worked at the Northern Star from my sophomore year in 1967 until graduation in June 1970. I would have to say it was one of the most incredible times to be a student journalist.
I'm sure all of us feel the same way about our years at the Northern Star. I will spare you all the details of my three incredible years and focus on the spring semester of 1970. In 1970, I served as editor-in-chief of the Northern Star.
The environment of the late '60s was turbulent. We had political, racial and economic unrest. The rapidly growing anti-war movement against the Vietnam War combined with the Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon presidencies to a create volatile climate that made one feel like the country was on the verge of exploding.
The relationship between the Northern Star and the university administration was at best "strained." The Northern Star's editorial position on a host of campus issues was directly opposite that of the university's administration. It was not uncommon for the Northern Star adviser Roy Campbell to find himself defining and redefining the role of the student journalist and the Northern Star to Northern Illinois University President Rhoten Smith or John Gardner, assistant to the president.
Mr. "C," as we called Roy Campbell, did this without ever wavering from the Northern Star's editorial independence from the university administration.
The relationship between the Northern Star and the DeKalb community was equally strained. During that time I believe the Northern Star was more widely read and even respected than the DeKalb Daily Chronicle. I also know in my heart that it was a better newspaper than the DeKalb Daily Chronicle. The editor of this local media outlet regularly attacked the Northern Star's liberal editorial position.
During this time, there was an increasing emotional debate taking place on campus regarding the continuation of the ROTC program. There was a growing disdain and frustration with the expanding Vietnam War and a Republican administration dedicated to deceiving the American public.
It was just a matter of time before these ingredients created an explosion. And the explosion took place on a national proportion.
The U.S escalation of the Vietnam War into Cambodia created an immediate response across the country. On May 4, 1970, four students were killed and 11 seriously wounded by Ohio National Guard troops on the campus of Kent State University in northern Ohio.
The armed National Guard troops fired on unarmed students participating in an unauthorized anti-war rally.
The Kent State University massacre on May 4 and the growing outrage over the expanding Vietnam War into Cambodia exploded on almost every campus across the country, including Northern Illinois University.
On May 5, 1970, 500-plus NIU student protesters -- following an anti-war, anti-ROTC rally -- went on a campus rampage.
DeKalb and Sycamore city police, along with DeKalb County police, had long waited for this opportunity to pound the "hippies' " heads. They arrested 37 students. This event was not going to be their first and only encounter with NIU student protesters.
The next day, May 6, 8,000 students gathered at another anti-war rally with more arrests. DeKalb's Mayor Jesse Chamberlain urgently pleaded with Governor Richard Ogilvie to send in the Illinois National Guard because he feared downtown DeKalb would be destroyed or even burned down.
During this period the Northern Star continued to report on the events
taking place in detail and Northern Star photographers recorded the daily
events.
Northern Star editorials criticized the property damage but supported the
demonstrations. Some members of the university felt the Northern Star supported
the demonstrations too much.
The DeKalb business community wanted the newspaper curtailed from publishing. The Northern Star's front-page editorial on May 15 denounced ROTC's presence on campus and urged its removal from campus.
The week of Monday, May 18, began with more student demonstrations and arrests. Tension, frustration and anger mounted. A Northern Star reporter, Larry Spohn, was arrested by police while covering the demonstrations. Three other Northern Star reporters were detained. A Northern Star photographer was first beaten by police and then by the demonstrators who feared police would confiscate his negatives. He never gave them up.
The student vote to remove ROTC from NIU lost. ROTC would remain. Emotions reached a charged state. The demonstrations continued, but this time property damage to campus area shopping centers and the downtown DeKalb merchants was significant.
An editorial in the Northern Star on Thursday, May 21, headlined, "We're neither law nor protester." It proclaimed the First Amendment right to be able to gather and publish the news, including photographs. The editorial stated, "Pictures taken remain the property of the Northern Star."
Perhaps it was the Northern Star'S editorial that day. Or, it may have been the continuing and growing campus unrest with heavier community property damage that provided the decision for action.
Or maybe it was DeKalb County's state's attorney James E. Boyle's way to make his own headlines as he aspired to even higher state office. Boyle made a very foolish decision and he underestimated the resolve of student journalists.
Let me suggest your recall a historic media event for a moment. In 1982, when a murderer stuffed cyanide into Tylenol bottles, a term was used to describe Johnson & Johnson's handling of this incident.
J&J's adroit response to the tampering incident became a classic business school case study on corporate responsibility, planning for the unexpected and thus the term -- "crisis management" became popular media cult phrase.
I will submit to you that "crisis management" was discovered and defined long before J&J -- by Northern Star adviser Roy Campbell.
He counseled, urged, and helped his young editorial team to appreciate and understand the real possibility that the university might respond to our editorial behavior. More importantly he help us understand they might respond in a very unfavorable way to the Northern Star's position on the issues of the day.
We didn't know exactly what the university administration might do. Our hunch was that our photos were a real potential target for both the university administration and law enforcement officials.
We planned together. We also all understood what we would have to do if we faced the problem.
On Thursday, May 21, the same day the Northern Star's editorial proclaimed our editorial independence, a subpoena was issued in my name as editor of the Northern Star.
The order was to immediately turn over the negatives of photographs that appeared that day on pages 1 and 4 of the Northern Star or be held in contempt of court.
Just a matter of minutes before two DeKalb County police officers and University Police officer George Boyle arrived at the Kiswaukee Hall offices of the Northern Star; I received a telephone call.
During my three years at the Northern Star, I developed my share of detractors or enemies within the university administration. I had at least one key friend in that same university administration.
A call from Lowden Hall that afternoon alerted me to the supoena and the urgency of a response. We knew what we were going to do if happen. And now, it was really happening.
Charles "Charlie" Green, a gifted photographer and our photo editor, took my call. He hung up the telephone, grabbed a few items near his desk and headed straight for the door.
At 4:30 the afternoon of May 21, the three law enforcement representatives entered the offices of the Northern Star. They served me with the subpoena.
I told them that we didn't have the negatives in question. They advised me that by failing to produce the negatives I would be immediately arrested and ordered to stand before Judge Thomas S. Cliffe and held in contempt of court.
After being handcuffed before the Northern Star staff, I was transported to DeKalb County jail in Sycamore and held for over two hours before being released.
During the questioning I told police that did I not have the negatives in our offices. And I also warned them that those negatives could possibly be damaged.
You see, as the trio was entering our offices, Charlie Green was exiting the Northern Star offices with a large collection of negatives. Charlie was headed for Roy Campbell's home. The negatives were placed in Mr. C's freezer for safekeeping.
Now, I don't know if negatives are subject to damage under such conditions so I didn't lie to police when I said that they very well might be damaged.
In short, State's Attorney James E. Boyle clearly underestimated the Northern Star staff. He used a supoena as an arrest warrant. He wasn't prepared for us to refuse.
There was considerable discussion about the Northern Star suing DeKalb county government officials for false arrest, but the fact remained we had already won.
There was tremendous national, state and Chicago media coverage for the Northern Star's defense of the First Amendment. The credit for anticipating the event went to Mr. "C". I happen to be the one on call or on watch that afternoon.
I would like to acknowledge the other talented and dedicated members of the Northern Star staff during the incredible spring semester 1970. They included:
Jeff Farren -- Associate Editor
Gary Flanangan -- Copy Editor
Trissa O'Callagahan -- Managing Editor
Barbara Moise -- News Editor
Keith Peterson -- Sports Editor
Charlie Green -- Photo Editor
And of course,
Roy G. Campbell -- Northern Star Adviser
It's been nearly 30 years since this event. My wish to those that continue to follow us at the Northern Star:
I hope you feel the spirit, the integrity and the professionalism Roy Campbell inspired in all of us and that the spirit of Mr. "C" remains forever with you at the Northern Star.
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