University Archives Police investigate the murders of two
members of the Black Panther Party in Campbell Hall in 1969.
By Kelly Rayburn
Daily Bruin Contributor
UCLA was a different place in the late 1960s and early
1970s.
In its early years, the African Student Union struggled for
social equality, racial justice and educational opportunity by
emphasizing group survival and academic achievement.
The group faced much adversity, including FBI infiltration,
police brutality and de facto segregation.
“They were a group of just phenomenal young men and
women,” said Berky Nelson, director of the Center for Student
Programming, who was a professor of history when he first arrived
at UCLA in 1969. “In many respects they were the impetus for
all sorts of change on campus. They broadened the campus to be
receptive of people of color.”
In 1964, two years prior to ASU’s establishment, UCLA had
fewer than 100 African American students, according to ASU’s
Web site.
Then in 1966, ASU was founded under the name Harambee ““
Swahili for “working together” ““ and was made up
mostly of NCAA athletes, including basketball star Lew Alcindor,
who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Harambee sought to promote culture and togetherness and boost
academic achievement.
But it was also a political group. In 1967, most of its members
belonged to the Black Panther Party for Self-defense, which had
been declared Public Enemy No. 1 by FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover.
In 1969, the FBI infiltrated the Black Student Union ““
which had officially changed its name in 1968 ““ and the
United Slaves Organization, another African American group, turning
them against each other.
 John Huggins, 23, one of the party
members killed in Campbell Hall, addresses students in Meyerhoff
Park a week before his death. In January 1969, members of the
United Slaves Organization killed BSU and Black Panther Party
members Bunche Carter and John Huggins inside Campbell Hall.
Brothers Larry and George Stiner were convicted for the murders,
but they escaped San Quentin correctional facility and remained
fugitives for 20 years.
Later in 1969, BSU came out in support of Angela Davis, an
African American philosophy professor who was fired by former Gov.
Ronald Reagan because of her membership in the Communist Party.
Some BSU members were expelled for their vigorous support of
Davis.
At this time, BSU was located in Campbell Hall along with the
Center for African American Studies and the Academic Advancement
Program, which provided educational opportunities, such as
tutoring, for under-resourced groups.
A caption in UCLA’s 1970 yearbook reads “Campbell
Hall … you pass it and, if you’re white, feel curiosity
““ you wonder what happens there. Or perhaps you don’t.
But if you’re black or brown or yellow or red, Campbell Hall
is home base and sanctuary on a campus whose predominant color and
culture is white.”
Even though most of the campus’ programs for people of
color were located in the same building, Nelson said the campus was
not as segregated as one might assume.
“People tended to gravitate to people of their kind,
sure,” Nelson said. “But students of all colors jointly
worked toward civil rights issues and ending the Vietnam
War.”
But even if the issues of the day affected all people, Campbell
Hall turned out to be a prime police target.
In May 1970, after Ohio National Guardsmen fatally shot
protesting students at Kent State University, UCLA administrators
feared a massive demonstration in Westwood and closed the campus
while Los Angeles police officers raided Campbell Hall.
“Students attempting to evacuate Campbell Hall were chased
into the building by club-swinging police men,” states a
letter from the Campbell Hall Minority Programs to former
Chancellor Charles E. Young.
Today, 31 years after police raided Campbell Hall and cleared
UCLA’s campus, the fight continues.
Though UCLA has vastly changed since 1970, ASU ““ which
changed its name from BSU in 1989 ““ strives for many of the
same goals and faces similar obstacles.
The group remains largely educational-based, according to
second-year political science student Ryan Smith, who served as the
historian for ASU last year.
“ASU is an educational organization that seeks to make the
whole campus more aware of the educational views of African
Americans,” he said.
According to Smith, togetherness is still important, and ASU has
expanded itself to include international students.
“We have a little saying, “˜Whether you’re from
Compton or Cuba, whether you’re from New York or Nigeria,
whether you’re from Puerto Rico or Pittsburgh, this is your
African Student Union’ … we’re all united under the
common umbrella of Africa,” Smith said.
Though BSU moved its office from Campbell to Kerckhoff Hall in
1974 to join other student groups, ASU is struggling against a
segregation of a different sort today.
With the end of affirmative action in UC schools, the number of
African Americans attending UCLA has declined.
According to UCLA’s Office of Academic Planning and
Budget, only 157 of the 4,203 students in this year’s
entering freshman class were African American, which though up by
six from the previous year, is still much lower than in the years
before affirmative action ended.
ASU is fighting to overturn SP-1 and SP-2, measures the UC Board
of Regents passed in 1995 prohibiting the use of affirmative action
in university admissions and hiring.
“We’re fighting hard to end the re-segregation of
UCLA,” Smith said.