27th May – 28th June 1968

27^th-31^st May (Monday-Friday) Tribunal of Enquiry hears oral testimony from participants in the events of 7^th May, allowing the panel to cross-check accounts and to put questions arising from the written evidence already submitted and available for the public. Over 30 witnesses are cross examined over the course of the hearings, with John Tillett (who was chairing the Chemical Society meeting on 7^th May) taking the stand on no less than four of the five days. Approximately 32 minutes of the questioning are recorded on a tape reel, including Peter Archard and John Tillett (pp. 24-37 of transcripts).

27^th May (Monday) Tribunal of Enquiry hears evidence from:

Transcripts pp.	Name	Dept./Occupation	Sub Ref(s)
1-34	Pete ARCHARD	Government graduate student	11, 35
60-64	John N. BRADLEY	Chair of Chemistry Dept.	1
65-74	John TILLETT	Chemistry staff	23
84-91	Reginald WYATT	Admin Assistant/Maintenance Officer	25, 75
91-101	Chris MULLINS	Physics graduate student	16
102-114	W. DAVIS	Head Porter	26, 79

Locations: Box 10 (tape recording);

Box 17/Tribunal Hearings (complete set of transcripts).

28^th (Tuesday) Letter to The Times from David Stephen defending the University as (positively) different, if not the ‘few extremists’, and affirming collective accountability (‘Disorders at Essex’, p. 11).

28^th (Tuesday) Tribunal of Enquiry hears evidence from:

Transcripts pp.	Name	Dept./Occupation	Sub Ref(s)
44-49	John TILLETT	Chemistry staff	23
115-116	W. DAVIS	Head Porter	26, 79
117-134	D. F. GREENSLADE	Chemistry staff	14
135-157	Paul HOUGHTON	Comparative Studies student	21, 54
158-177	Colin ROGERS	Students’ Council	20
178-182	David LEWIS	Chemistry Fellow	17, 73
182-212	Keith BOWDEN	Chemistry staff	36
212-213	R. G. JOSCELYNE	Chemistry 2nd-year student	8
214-226	David TRIESMAN	Government 3rd-year student	42
259-260	Mike GONZALES	Literature graduate student	44
260-265	Lucia JONES	Student	19

Location: Box 17/Tribunal Hearings

29^th (Wednesday) Tribunal of Enquiry hears evidence from:

Transcripts pp.	Name	Dept./Occupation	Sub Ref(s)
227-237	Janet STEEL	Student	18
238-246	Manfred GORDON	Chemistry staff	37
247-250	Alasdair MACINTYRE	Dean of Students	N/A
251-258	Mike GONZALES	Literature graduate student	44
266-271	J. A. LILLEY	Maintenance Officer	24

Location: Box 17/Tribunal Hearings

30^th (Thursday) Dean of the School of Comparative Studies Jean Blondel circulates a brief memo to students in light of recent rumours of the leaking of exam questions, which are to be amended as a result.

30^th (Thursday) A renewed call for Tribunal contributions is issued by Robin Dixon, Assistant Registrar and Tribunal Secretary (deadline 5pm the following day); Dixon expresses an especial interest in the planning of the demonstration, about which details are apparently a bit scarce.

30^th (Thursday) Tribunal of Enquiry hears evidence from:

Transcripts pp.	Name	Dept./Occupation	Sub Ref(s)
75-77	John TILLETT	Chemistry staff	23
77-83	Reginald WYATT	Admin Assistant/Maintenance Officer	25, 75
272-276	Derek WIGGINS	Chemistry student	3
276-278	Brian REEVE	Comparative Studies 2nd-year student	40
282-284	John S. BENTLEY	Student	46
284-291	Alastair HATCHETT	Student	30
292-296	Joan BUSFIELD	Sociology graduate student	16, 51

Locations: Box 14/ Internal Documents/Ref 63 (Blondel), Ref 64 (Dixon);

Box 17/Tribunal Hearings.

31^st (Friday) Tribunal of Enquiry hears evidence from:

Transcripts pp.	Name	Dept./Occupation	Sub Ref(s)
278-281	John S. BENTLEY	Student	46
297-299	Dorothy E. SMITH	Sociology staff	58
299-300	R. A. WHITE	Comparative Studies 1st-year student	39
300-301	Phillip HOLDEN	Student	N/A
302-307	R. M. G. ROBERTS	Chemistry staff	31
308-313	John TILLETT	Chemistry staff	23
314-315	F STEPHENS	Chemistry staff	73
315-322	Raphael HALBERSTADT	Student	64
323-326	Gordon BLAIR	Student	45
326	Ian BRODIE	Students’ Council	N/A
327-328	Julian HARBER	Sociology student	49
329-331	Paul GOODCHILD	Student, photographer	N/A
331-333	Reginald WYATT	Admin Assistant/Maintenance Officer	25, 75
333-337	Chris RATCLIFFE	Comparative Studies 2nd-year student	65
338-342	Islay FULLERTON	3rd-year Sociology student	68
343	Mr MARKS	Deputy-Head Porter	N/A

c. 31^st (Friday) A leaflet is circulated by Common First Year students on the Comparative Studies degree protesting Dean Blondel’s memo (above) on the decision to amend exam papers; the leaflet calls for a boycott, in light of the potential psychological impact of the uncertainty around the summer exams, and makes a case for the abolition of exams altogether.

Locations: Box 17/Tribunal Hearings;

Box 17/May 1968 (CFY Exams protest).

JUNE 1968

6^th (Thursday) Tribunal of Enquiry reconvenes to cross examine Jem Thomas on the matter of his spectacles (Thomas’ testimony is on pp. 344-345 of the transcripts); these were taken from him by Dr Bowden at the Chemical Society meeting on 7th May (witnessed by David Triesman and others) and, according to Thomas’s testimony submitted on 4^th June, returned seriously damaged: ‘they were bent at the bridge, so that the lenses were looking at each other, the stalks were bent too…. I was fortunately able to straighten them out however the lenses remain slightly chipped.’

A series of near-identical statements denying that the spectacles were ‘bent parallel (with the lenses facing each other)’ prior to being returned to Thomas is swiftly gathered, presumably by Bowden, from chemists and other scientists, as well as porters and maintenance staff involved.

Wyatt, Northage, and Davis are contacted for further written evidence about the condition of the glasses, and all admit that these were in fact bent at the bridge, to one degree or another, by the time they finally arrived at lost property.

Locations: Box 9/Tribunal of Enquiry Written Evidence/Ref 71 (Thomas), Ref 42 (Triesman), Ref 73 (Northage et al.), Ref 75 (Wyatt), Ref 77 (Northage, again), and Ref 79 (Davis);

Box 17/Tribunal Hearings (Thomas’ cross-examination).

10^th (Monday) Committee of Enquiry receives report of Tribunal of Enquiry.

10^th (Monday) Information Officer Walter Evans reports on a meeting to plan ways to continue the discussions that had begun around the time of the Inch Incident and Enquiry; the document lists many of the names of those present, and some suggested topics for such discussions.

Locations: Box 8 (Tribunal Report);

Box 14/Internal Documents/Ref 65 (Evans on the Free University meeting).

11^th (Tuesday) Committee of Enquiry circulates a memorandum (signed K. Trace, Committee Chair) to all members of University (as per p.1 of circular of 21^st May); the circular canvasses responses to a proposed three-part statement of principles concerning freedom of speech “as it applies to public meetings within a university.” The memo claims the Committee’s interest lies purely in gauging consensus, and that there will be no intention to apply any new principles retrospectively; that is, it wouldn’t be used against the three rusticated students, although the wording of clause (c) came under much closer scrutiny than that of either (a) or (b). The deadline for responses is set for 10am, Monday 17^th June.

Broadly the statement proposes:

• (a) every group or individual has the right to express views and knowledge, however repugnant (although subject to law);
• (b) every group or individual is free to invite whomever to speak on whatever topic, and nobody has the right to stop a talk on the subject of the speaker’s choosing;
• (c) there may be a (rare) moral imperative to divert discussion, but this still breaches the principle and University regulations; hence offenders are subject to disciplinary procedures (which may take into account “The extent of ‘moral justification’ if any”).

11^th (Tuesday) The ‘June 16^th Committee’ circulates a document, ‘Make a Desolation and Call it Peace’; the last item in the Internal Documents collection is an attack on Porton Down, euphemistic government language, and poor standards of civilian defence in case of CBW attack; the Committee further urges the British government to cease sharing CBW research and information with its partners in North America, in accordance with its agreed obligations.

Locations: Box 14/Internal Documents/Ref 66 (‘Make a Desolation…’);

Box 17/May 1968 (Trace’s memorandum).

c. 14^th (Friday) Another leaflet from the June 16^th Committee (‘care of Socialist Society’) giving details of a demonstration against Porton Down outside the Ministry of Defence on 16^th June, and suggesting some theatricality might be welcome.

Location:Box 15/Revolutions/May 1968 subfolder.

16^th (Sunday) Around 200 students and other supporters join the demonstration against Porton Down outside the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall, where protestors handed in a petition, and were involved in minor scuffles with the mounted guards.

17^th (Monday) Deadline for receipt of written submissions on freedom of speech to Committee of Enquiry; by far and away the most controversial of the three paragraphs (above) is 3 (c), which raises the issue of ‘moral justification’ for interrupting a speaker.

Along with the written and oral statements gathered by the Tribunal of Enquiry, and the Internal Documents collection, the 47 responses to to Trace’s memorandum of 11^th June constitute the last of the University Administration’s major collections to do with the May 1968 events.

Freed to an extent from the Tribunal’s purely factual remit, the submissions in this collection perhaps best illustrate the wide-ranging multiplicity of perspectives on more abstract questions about the nature of a university and why it exists, as well as how its members should conduct themselves (and how it should discipline perceived infractions).

Location: Box 8 includes all 47 responses to the memorandum; the final item (Refs 40-47) is a table summary of eight responses that simply indicated agreement or otherwise with each of the three paragraphs.

c. 20^th (Thursday) A schedule for a further four days of Free University discussions (24^th-27^th June) is posted on noticeboards; ‘nightly dancing and festivities’ are promised, along with a meeting between students and industrial and trade unionists the weekend prior.

Location: Box 15/Revolutions/May 1968 subfolder.

24^th (Monday) Committee of Enquiry reports on freedom of speech. The report is bookended by a cover note, signed by sixteen members of the Committee, expressing their hope that the University might now start to move on from the events of 7^th May, and a minority conclusion taking a more hard-line approach to breaches of discipline, and rejecting a number of the findings in the report itself.

Location: Box 8.

c. 27^th (Thursday) A further, seemingly mock Free University schedule for 1^st-3^rd July is circulated around this time, promising (among other attractions) a live guest appearance from Che Guevara.

Location: Box 15/Revolutions/May 1968 subfolder.

28^th (Friday) SUMMER TERM ENDS.