During the late 1960s and early 1970s the Whitewater campus was buzzing with student protests, but not for the reason you might think. On Thursday, February 26, 1970, Dr. Robert Burrows was removed as the chairman of the English Department by University President Dr. William Carter. Dr. Carter removed Dr. Burrows because he felt that Dr. Burrows and his “executive committee…[were] working to create a completely autonomous Department of English.” [1] However, the reasoning behind the removal was not made explicit to the staff or students until after Dr. Burrows was removed. This caused mass protesting from students and staff alike. As protesting continued, four more English Department professors were removed from their positions. They would later become known as The Whitewater Four. [2]
Doctors William Lafferty, Vlad Thomas, George Adams, and Richard Adamany were removed from their teaching positions Monday, March 2, 1970. These professors were removed because they were involved in political events happening around the campus, openly defying Dr. Carter’s orders not to. Dr. Thomas admitted in his trial that he “was one of the faculty members that signed an anti-war ad,” [3] but then later drafted an AAUP (American Association of University Professors) resolution targeting the right for everybody on a college campus to have freedom of speech.
The Whitewater Four professors all wrote articles expressing their feelings towards Dr. Carter and his handling of Dr. Burrow’s removal, again defying Dr. Carter. They believed that because they were in tenured positions nothing would affect their job security, and they certainly didn’t think they would end up facing charges. However, Dr. Carter pressed charges against the professors, citing that he “had received complaints, which called into question their professional and, their behavior during that period, February 26th through March 2nd, and that [he] considered them substantial enough that [he] was going to proceed with the case against them.” [4] At that point the professors knew where they stood [5] and that their case would be going to trial. While the trial did not conclude in an efficient manner (meaning nothing was decided and there was no “winner”) the Professors were reinstated to the University on March 9, 1970, and Dr. Carter remained the University President and UW-Whitewater’s first Chancellor until 1974.
[1] “Carter, Burrows Responds to List of Questions,” The Royal Purple (Whitewater), March 5, 1970.
[2] “Carter Suspends English Teachers,” The Royal Purple (Whitewater), March 5, 1970.
[3] Vlad Thomas, Richard Adamany, William Lafferty, and George Adams v. Wisconsin State University (Transcript of Proceedings January 25, 1971) at 69.
[4] Vlad Thomas, Richard Adamany, William Lafferty, and George Adams v. Wisconsin State University (Transcript of Proceedings January 25, 1971) at 182.
[5] Vlad Thomas, Richard Adamany, William Lafferty, and George Adams v. Wisconsin State University (Transcript of Proceedings January 25, 1971) at 90-90.