Spring Break
40 years later ...
Andrea Frainier
Issue date: 10/9/08 Section: Still Standing Tall
Colin Taylor, a junior civil engineering major, said he didn't know much about the history behind the statue, but didn't think today's generation of students would take a bold stance like Smith and Carlos did.
"For the most part, most of us are afraid to step out and be different," he said. "American culture is just to fit and be like everyone else," he said.
SJSU's Instructional Resource Center's copy of the HBO documentary "Fists of Freedom: The Story of the '68 Summer Games," which explores the events surrounding the '68 Olympics, has only been checked out a total of four times.
"I don't think it's by accident that people don't know what went on," said sociology professor Preston Rudy. "That's by design. That has to do with the way in which being a student in 2008 is very different from being a student in '68. The fees are higher, students have to work in ways that they didn't have to work in '68, and therefore your life is taken up by stuff."
Urla Hill, curator of "Speed City" at San Jose City Hall, is a former SJSU student who has dedicated her life to chronicling the university's rich athletics history.
"I don't trust San Jose State to do what they should do with that statue," Hill said. "Freshman year, everybody needs to know what that statue is."
Harry Edwards, a former professor of sociology at SJSU and student-athlete, co-founded the Olympic Project for Human Rights with Ken Noel in 1967 to protest the treatment of black athletes.
When asked what he wanted SJSU students to think when they walk by the statue, Edwards replied that he wouldn't want those students to think anything.
"I would want them to ask one question, 'What was that about?' and then hit the libraries and start doing research," he said. "If the students ask that question, I trust them to come to the right answers."
It was an SJSU student that campaigned to honor Smith and Carlos. In 2003, SJSU alumnus Erik Grotz was a senior political science major who pushed for the university to commemorate the medal-winning athletes.
"For the most part, most of us are afraid to step out and be different," he said. "American culture is just to fit and be like everyone else," he said.
SJSU's Instructional Resource Center's copy of the HBO documentary "Fists of Freedom: The Story of the '68 Summer Games," which explores the events surrounding the '68 Olympics, has only been checked out a total of four times.
"I don't think it's by accident that people don't know what went on," said sociology professor Preston Rudy. "That's by design. That has to do with the way in which being a student in 2008 is very different from being a student in '68. The fees are higher, students have to work in ways that they didn't have to work in '68, and therefore your life is taken up by stuff."
Urla Hill, curator of "Speed City" at San Jose City Hall, is a former SJSU student who has dedicated her life to chronicling the university's rich athletics history.
"I don't trust San Jose State to do what they should do with that statue," Hill said. "Freshman year, everybody needs to know what that statue is."
Harry Edwards, a former professor of sociology at SJSU and student-athlete, co-founded the Olympic Project for Human Rights with Ken Noel in 1967 to protest the treatment of black athletes.
When asked what he wanted SJSU students to think when they walk by the statue, Edwards replied that he wouldn't want those students to think anything.
"I would want them to ask one question, 'What was that about?' and then hit the libraries and start doing research," he said. "If the students ask that question, I trust them to come to the right answers."
It was an SJSU student that campaigned to honor Smith and Carlos. In 2003, SJSU alumnus Erik Grotz was a senior political science major who pushed for the university to commemorate the medal-winning athletes.
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