The 1969 Catalyst

The years leading up to 1969 were full of changes for the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO), formerly known as the University of Omaha. In 1968, the University of Nebraska (NU) and the Municipal University of Omaha (OU) merged to form the University of Nebraska system.  In addition to the name change, this merger brought many new faces, roles, and policies to UNO's campus. [1]

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This is a page from the final report of the Regents' Commission on the Urban University of the 70's. It represents the findings and recommendations for the Univeristy of Nebraska system schools including UNO. It is from this report that the mandates for developing programs and services that would benefit the unique urban environment in which UNO was situated.

The mandates, published in the Regents' Commission on the Urban University of the 70's, created initiatives that included the founding of the College of Public Affairs and Community Service (CPACS), but also an atmosphere that eventually lead to a Black Studies department, among others. Establishing the Department of Black Studies, however, was not an easy task and the path was fraught with trials, discord, and conflict.  

Read the full report of the Regents' Commission on the Urban University of the 70's in UNO Libraries' Digital Collections.

As an urban university, UNO served many students from a variety of backgrounds. However, members of the campus community, in particular minoritized student groups, were vocal about instances of inequality on campus, from the classes taught to the administration's treatment of students. Two such student organizations, the Afro-American Council for Action (AACA) and later the Black Liberators for Action on Campus (BLAC), were at the forefront of this student activism. As early as 1967 the AACA held weekend “teach-ins” to protest the lack of Black courses in the History department’s curriculum.[2]  A young Ernie Chambers joined AACA co-chairs James Dow and Michael Maroney in organizing these events, which connected campus and community in support for “fair and adequate representation of black people and their contributions to the world and American civilization.”[4]

The University of Omaha’s president Kirk Naylor stated that he was “philosophically not opposed to adding Negro courses" but that current facilities and faculty precluded changing the curriculum. He was hopeful that after the merger they could "find a specialist in Negro history that we could share with the University of Nebraska.”[5]

The catalyst for student unrest came in November 1969, after the merger within the NU system and a merger between AACA and BLAC student groups. The newly formed BLAC student group scheduled a dance in the UNO student center but, unlike other student groups, were required to pay for tickets and security, and were refused sound equipment, though it had been rented.

The dance, without music and with tensions running high, was a disaster.   

  

The 1969 Catalyst