Mario Savio speaking from the top of a police car. Photo by Steven Marcus, courtesy of The Bancroft Library
The Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley was notably the first mass act of civil disobedience on an American college campus in the 1960s, when students protested the university’s limits on political activities. It would come to set the stage for mass student protests for the Vietnam War and would give students unprecedented leverage –- but as a freshman only weeks into his college career, Rod Panos couldn’t have possibly foreseen that.
“I had been at Cal only a matter of weeks, really, by the time it first started,” he recalled. Panos studied chemistry at UC Berkeley, beginning his career in 1964, and went on to earn a Ph.D.
“Many of my classes were right near Sproul Plaza. I didn’t find it unusual that there were people informing me of various things along the Plaza –- a chess club, orientation information items.”
But one table drew a bit more attention –- one that talked about the limits being imposed on certain groups who were setting up tables in that very area.
One could assume that discussions Panos overheard were by student activists who had been involved with the Freedom Riders and voter registration in Mississippi –- activists who set up tables on campus to raise money for Civil Rights causes. At that time, the rules only allowed fundraising for political parties through the Democratic and Republican school clubs.
Panos made his way to his chemistry classes each day, noticing the activity growing.
“As a starry-eyed 18-year-old, I loved being on campus. I was in awe of my Chem 1A lecturer, Richard Powell – he was so entertaining. But at some point, my focus shifted away from classes because things became so interesting.”
One day, Panos found himself watching hours worth of events unfold from the rooftop of a covered breezeway that once existed between the Student Union and what has now become Cesar Chavez Student Center.
Panos shared a room with two freshmen and a sophomore –- and while he considered himself naive to the growing political movement, he recognized that his freshmen roommates were decidedly not. They encouraged him to pay attention, and described the events as critical to fundamental rights.
As history now knows it, these small sit-ins that Rod witnessed grew into big rallies and protests that demanded full free speech rights on campus, eventually leading the university to change its policies on speech and advocacy.
“I remember [one day there were] people standing on a car, surrounded by a crowd…and that might be the first time I heard Mario Savio speak,” said Panos. “I sat there and listened, and just observed…I didn’t become a big political activist but I did have to defend everything to my old man,” he said with a laugh.
Panos looks back at the time and recognizes that not only did he learn from his politically-engaged roommates, he also found that the experience “set him up for everything that came after that.” He found himself with an affinity towards activism and social justice, and awakened towards the civil rights movement.
He also thinks the Movement influenced more than just the culture at Berkeley. Today, most people agree that it represents the importance of protecting free speech and academic freedom. But Panos believes that world leaders and authoritative figures –- such as Ronald Regan –- capitalized on the movement in those days to become elected, reducing the events taking place on campus into simply a scene that required intervention, one where people were challenging authority and required a heavy hand.
Today, Panos has strong feelings about free speech, and particularly the government’s right to “tell me not to talk. The Free Speech Movement did start those things for me. I believe freedom is something you have to keep working at -- it’s a work that is constantly in progress.”