T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: James Reddoch
COLLECTION: 4700.0174
IDENTIFICATION: [1924- ] Former Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs at LSU.
INTERVIEWER: Mary Hebert
PROJECT: Louisiana State University History
DATES: August 20, 1992; August 31, 1992; January 20, 1993; February 17, 1993; March 3, 1993; March 31, 1993.
FOCUS DATES: 1930-1970
ABSTRACT:
T 234
Reddoch's early life in Ellisville, in Jones County Mississippi; family information regarding his mother and father; the family farm; crops on the farm; the homesteading of the farm; memories of his paternal grandmother and her garden; working the cotton crop and chopping cotton; Reddoch's chores on the farm; things provided for families living on the farm; food items available on the farm; butchering hogs; the impact of the Depression on the farm and Jones County; the educational background of his parents; names of Reddoch's siblings; how the members of his family influenced him; school memories; attending different schools; attending Jones County Junior College; going to primmer prior to entrance into first grade; teachers he remembers; his uncle Carlos Reddoch, producing a world record for corn on an acre of land; going to church and Sunday school; growing up a mile and a half from his wife; being drafted into World War II 1944; attending Air Force basic training; going through armament school for airplanes; policy of assignment to bomber based on height; working kitchen detail; being sent to engine mechanic school; assigned to Germany after the end of the war as an armorer removing machine guns from 600 B-17s; destroying B-17s; supervising German war prisoners; situation of German war prisoners; attending Mississippi State once he returned; marriage; teaching courses and carrying a full class load.
Tape 237
Attending Mississippi State after WWII; teaching courses at Mississippi state; coming to LSU; compiling a statistical abstract for Mississippi; taking courses toward Ph.D. at LSU while teaching; working under Dr. Reyer; assistant dean to the College of Commerce under James Trant; attending Harvard Business School for summer program to learn through the "Case Method"; becoming assistant to President Middleton; duties as assistant to President Middleton; examples of disciplinary problems during his time as assistant to President Middleton; expansion of housing on campus; the establishment of LSU in New Orleans; Middleton's relationship to the Legislature and the Board of Supervisors; the anti-segregation case of Dr. McNeir.
Tape 238
Middleton's handling of the anti-segregation case of Dr. McNeir.
Tape 310
Becoming Dean of Student Affairs; Reddoch's involvement in the construction of new dormitories on campus; the development of sorority houses on campus; organizational changes to the administration on campus after the departure of President Middleton; the change from being dean of Student Affairs to vice-chancellor of Student Affairs; procedure and policy regarding bomb threats on campus; the problems, campus attitudes and official policies concerning the racial integration of the campus; official campus flag policy and the decision to lower the flag after Martin Luther king was shot.
Tape 317
University policy changes regarding the official rules of student conduct, especially the difference between rules for women and men; factors in changing the University position of in loco parentis; protest on campus and official policy regarding protest; Nick Canaday's role as a liaison between the students and the administration; the development and construction of sorority houses; the role of a "house corporation' in the operation of campus organizations; issues of campus integration; integrating the dorms; the petition by Harambe to have a campus African-American cultural center; the 1972 riot at Southern University.
T 327
Reddoch's involvement with the District Attorney's committee to study the riots at Southern University; the bringing on to campus speakers as part of student radical movement; how case law affected in loco parentis; the development of student handbook of rules and rights; Kent State; student groups and their rights including freedom of speech and to protest; administrative issues regarding student rights and freedoms; Senate Bill 21; program of how to present radical speakers on campus; the speaker policy; forming committees; the Ole Miss hell week riots; panty raids; streaking on campus; the impact of television on culture; the impact of the Korean and Vietnam War on the campus; students enrolled in classes to escape the draft during the Vietnam War; Vietnam War protests on campus.
T 344
Code of student conduct; University Court; court rulings on dormitory residence; following case law with respect of student rights; allowing peaceful protests to take place; the history and development of free speech alley; problems at free speech alley including David Duke; political use of free speech alley; under cover officers; Kent State; the role of police on campus; protest activity; the Board of Supervisors; policy statement procedure; the LSU Student Handbook.
TAPES: 234, 237, 238, 310, 317, 327, 344
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 8.5
PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 265
RESTRICTIONS: None.
Abstract prepared by Persephone Hintlian