John Matlock, Associate Vice Provost at the University of Michigan

John Matlock and Ronald Snead were at the cen­ter of two civil rights demon­stra­tions in the spring of 1969 that changed Ferris, and them, for years to come.

There were two major demon­stra­tions at Ferris; one occurred when the Starr build­ing was taken over by a sit-in group and the other was a riot in the park­ing lot near Brophy and McNerney res­i­dence halls.  Both ended in mul­ti­ple arrests.

Matlock arrived at Ferris as a 22-year-old fresh­man who had pre­vi­ously worked in a fac­tory in his home­town of Detroit. Snead came in as a 24-year-old with a wife and two kids. Neither had expe­ri­enced or par­tic­i­pated in the kind of activism that would soon sur­round them and shape the rest of their lives.

In early March of 1969, the first of the two major inci­dents occurred. More than 200 black stu­dents staged a sit-in at the Starr Building, all of whom were arrested by state troop­ers for tres­pass­ing. The Big Rapids jail could not han­dle the num­bers arrested, so some had to be housed in the Light Guard Armory, accord­ing to Matlock.

“We knew that we were going to get arrested…nothing hap­pened until 9 o’clock when the build­ing offi­cially closed and state police came,” said Matlock.

While being held in the armory, din­ing ser­vices had to come in and feed the stu­dents. The charges were dropped for all of those arrested in early March. A few months later, the sec­ond major inci­dent occurred.

On May 20, a riot broke out in the park­ing lot near Brophy and McNerney where glass was smashed, bricks and bot­tles were thrown and around 33 cars were damaged.

Ron Snead, Ferris Alumnus and Trustee

Snead was informed by the then vice pres­i­dent of stu­dent affairs that there was com­mo­tion in the park­ing lot near Brophy and McNerney halls. Upon arriv­ing at the scene, Snead saw what was going on and quickly called his father and told him to call the state troop­ers. Snead, along with nine other stu­dents, was sub­se­quently arrested.

“The pres­i­dent at the time, [Victor] Spathelf, came down and inter­viewed me and wanted to know why I was there. I told him that I had been asked by the vice pres­i­dent of stu­dent affairs to go down and try to help break it up and when I saw how bad it was, I called my dad and he called the state troop­ers,” said Snead.

Nine of the stu­dents arrested that night were kicked out of school, Snead being the only one who was exonerated.

This inci­dent had a major impact on both Snead and Matlock. There were no major riots or demon­stra­tions after that spring, and these two stu­dents were inspired to make an impact through other forms of involvement.

Matlock became the edi­tor in chief of the Torch, while Snead became the vice pres­i­dent of stu­dent gov­ern­ment. Jerry Nielsen, the pres­i­dent of stu­dent gov­ern­ment, helped Snead in a cam­paign where rib­bons were given out that read, “I’ve HAD it! Let’s start liv­ing and work­ing together NOW!”

Matlock was the first and only black edi­tor in chief of the Torch in Ferris his­tory.  While at Ferris and work­ing for the Torch, one of Matlock’s major influ­ences was jour­nal­ism pro­fes­sor and Torch advi­sor John MacNamara.

“The ques­tion that was raised to me by Jack MacNamara was, ‘Now that you had your protest, what’s next?’  He was a strong believer that peo­ple should get involved,” said Matlock.

In regards to han­dling the riots that occurred, MacNamara said, “The impor­tant thing, as far as I was con­cerned, was to not be a fire brand for either side.”

MacNamara also worked with two other black stu­dents who were involved in the demon­stra­tions and were edi­tors at the Torch. Marvin Raglon was the sports edi­tor and Fred Weston was the fea­ture editor.

Having these expe­ri­ences at Ferris had a major impact on the life of both Matlock and Snead. They have been close friends ever since and still talk quite often. The two were also fra­ter­nity broth­ers while in school.

“[Ferris] gave me some confidence…and I thought that we were will­ing to work to make the school a bet­ter place,” said Snead.

Both Matlock and Snead believe the value that activism has and how it is not as preva­lent today as it was back then.

“The issues were jus­ti­fied; it was the thing to do. For a lot of stu­dents it was the first time they had taken a stand on some­thing, and the sol­i­dar­ity was extremely impor­tant,” said Matlock. “Activism is a life-long thing. You have to believe in change and you have to be will­ing to be a part of change. In life you can’t just be some­body who stands on the side and just watches life go by, you have to really believe that you can make a difference.”

Upon grad­u­at­ing from Ferris, Matlock worked for both Congressman Conyers from Detroit and Congressman Ford from Tennessee. While with Conyers, Matlock worked along­side Rosa Parks on a daily basis.

Matlock went on from Ferris to get a Master’s degree in jour­nal­ism and a doc­tor­ate in higher edu­ca­tion. He is cur­rently the Associate Vice Provost at the University of Michigan.

Snead is now retired and liv­ing in Grand Rapids. He is a trustee at Ferris and has kept very close ties to the university.

The activism and change that occurred on the Ferris cam­pus in that fate­ful spring of 1969 changed the cul­ture of the Ferris com­mu­nity. Matlock said that he saw peo­ple become more sen­si­tive to civil rights issues.

Matlock said, “My major advice [to stu­dents] would be to respect and honor the past and those who came before, the sac­ri­fices that were made…you can’t just live off of other people’s accom­plish­ments, there is a legacy or cir­cle that every gen­er­a­tion has to be a part of.”

Various head­lines regard­ing the events at Ferris State and Snead’s cam­paign rib­bon (far right). Images Courtesy FSU Archives, Web Graphic by Brandon Martinez/FSU Torch Web Editor