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VVAW Chapter At L.A.C.C.: Vets Beat Suspension

By VVAW

At Los Angeles City College (LACC), as in a number of colleges around the country, there is an officially "recognized" chapter of VVAW--and there still is one despite attempts to get VVAW thrown off the campus and suspend its charter. These attempts collapsed in the face of a determined struggle built by members of the college chapter.

In early December, a series of leaflets, including the name of VVAW, appeared in mail boxes of club representatives and were sent to some members of the college administration. VVAW, which had nothing to do with the leaflets, went to the administration to disclaim any responsibility; all on its own, without going through any of the channels usually followed to suspend a campus club, the administration informed VVAW that its charter was suspended.

The original leaflets, making all kinds of violent threats, were in fact only an excuse. While it isn't clear who wrote the leaflets, it is clear that the college administration doesn't want VVAW around. As the VVAW Chapter said in their leaflet put out the next day, "The real reason is that VVAW is not just having fundraisers and parties, we are exposing the cutbacks in the GI Bill, the lousy treatment of vets, and WE ARE DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT!" The chapter also began an immediate petition campaign to demand an end to the suspension, a retraction of the administration lies, and that the administration stop suspending clubs without prior investigation, open hearings and a vote of the student body.

Realizing if had bitten off more than it could safely chew, the administration quickly changed its tune and decided to give VVAW an "administrative suspension." Meanwhile, VVAW members collected 120 signatures on their petition in just a couple of hours. And the new declaration from the administration didn't change things. As a second VVAW leaflet stated, "We are calling on all students, teachers, clubs and workers here at LACC to join us in this fight against the suspension and to defend the hard won right to organize."

Through a series of leaflets, talking with students, taking the question to the Student Government, VVAW and the Revolutionary Student Brigade ( a national student organization which, although it wasn't even chartered at LACC was nevertheless "suspended" by the administration!) made the issue of the right to organize into a campus-wide issue. The administration, backpedaling as fast as they could, gave in and , two weeks after suspending VVAW,"removed" the suspension. VVAW and the student body as a whole won a victory.

While this struggle was going on, VVAW continued to work around the campaign to Extend and Expand the GI Bill and fight attacks coming down on vets. A meeting of 20 vets, called at the height of the struggle but turned into a victory celebration, took up ways in which to build the vets struggle. Bets talked about conditions on the campus, where attacks were coming from and what to do about it. People testified throughout the meeting about their own experiences; one vet applied for a $600 loan, was told to fill out the paperwork, be turned down for the loan by two banks, and come back with proof of all this for the $600 loan. But, by the time he had gone through all this process, he got only $160 because the 8% increase in the GI Bill disqualified him for the larger loan that he needed.

And the vets at the meeting decided to build the Campaign to Free Ashby Leach because it would bring out all the things that vets face. His 5 years of letters, petitioning, picketing, etc, is what vets have been doing for years and getting nowhere.

After deciding to Build VVAW and to Take On the VA, 10 of the vets carried an Extend and Expand the GI Bill banner through the school going to see Mr Thayer, head of the Vets Office, to put him on notice tat VVAW was on campus to stay and is fighting back. When Thayer said that most vets don't have any hassles, half the vets in the room immediately pointed out abuses they had suffered. Finally, Thayer offered to "work with the vets" by appointing liaison man--which the vets translated as meaning he wanted to talk to one vet at a time instead of ten.

With attacks coming down on vets in schools all over the country, attempts like that of the LACC administration to defeat resistance, or to diver it into other channels, will grow. But vets at LACC have a program and a direction which won't be stopped. News about this struggle has already been taken out to other Los Angeles colleges and vets all over the city know about both the victory and the continued battle going on.