into McKenny Union, where African American students had locked themselves in to call for civil rights. Hundreds of students packed the streets to


I g


Though he misses the classroom, Doc Evans lives retirement vibrantly. Here, he reflects on his most exciting times at EMU.


protest the Vietnam War. The status quo was challenged at every turn;


class discussions heated; administrators despised. And Professor Gary Evans savored every


moment. “In all my years of teaching, those were the


most exciting years I ever had,” says Evans, 72, who retired in January after 45 years at EMU as a communications professor. “It was so dynamic. I loved it because everything was to be challenged. Students didn’t just say, ‘Is this going to be on the test?’ They had issues.” The first assignment Evans gave each class was


to talk and write about what it meant to be a col- lege student.


“I think the university ought to be a place


where people argue and think and question,” he says. “In the sixties, students would challenge and question and then argue, all in a constructive way. They questioned everything. Sometimes somebody would say something and another student would stand up on a desk and say, ‘That’s


Eastern | WINTER 2011 19


n the late sixties, the mood at Eastern Michigan University was restless, agitated, on edge. Deputies in riot gear forced their way


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