Found Artifact Analysis
My group’s project will focus towards campus protests throughout the history of the university and the reasons behind them. We will search through primary sources such as newspapers and pictures to collect evidence about protests that have occurred throughout the years. We will be using Adobe Spark Page (Glideshow) to present documents and show the history of JMU campus protests. As a group we will be sorting through newspapers and pictures hoping to find first hand accounts from students involved in the protest. Also we will be looking for what prompted these protests and what lead students to stand their ground. Our webpage will be very interactive and allow viewers to sort through pictures and give them a full understanding about the reasons behind the protests. The newspaper article I have found was made digital by JMU Scholarly Commons, “ a repository service provided by libraries and educational technologies.” I am using screenshots of the newspaper to place on wordpress to make my artifact presentation digital.
My artifact is a newspaper clip from April 5, 1977 published by James Madison University’s campus lead newspaper, The Breeze. The article titled “Council leaders protest sentence given to athlete” is about a protest that sparked from unfair treatment due to a student athlete who was caught cheating but faced no punishment. This event made professors of the geology department believe that the JMU student honor council was unfitting for giving preferential treatment to the student athlete.. While most students would have been suspended for a semester, Kelly Latham (defendant), a basketball player on full-scholarship seemingly walked away free. Many believed he received this treatment because he was a student athlete and if convicted there was a chance he could have lost his scholarship due to not meeting grade requirements (He had a 1.6 and needed a 2.0). Due to lack of evidence in the case the honor council had difficulty coming to a final decision though Mr. Latham had admitted to cheating. The faculty body charged the council leaders for handing out special treatment to Mr. Latham, they would question the honor systems credibility and its effectiveness for handing out punishments.
James Madison University has a tight nit honor council to this day. It is an institution that prides itself on honor and people receiving fair grades in a safe learning environment. The 1977 case of Kelly Latham, student athlete (basketball) brought question to the honor code system. The geology department professors went into an uproar protesting against the final decision handed down by the council on Mr. Latham. Though my group is focused mostly on student led campus protests, I felt I might take another route and find professor lead protests. Even though this event did not lead to professors on the campus rallying and parading around with signs. It did open the public’s eye about student athletes receiving far better treatment with academics than regular students. This event contributes heavily to my group projects because it shows tension between the student body and teacher relations. As we begin to include more information on on campus protests throughout the years our page will become more interactive for its viewers. We hear about campus protests from schools such as Kent State and Columbia University because they made major headlines. James Madison University has a vast history of campus protests of all types, that have yet to be uncovered. That is my group’s goal to sort through records (newspapers, pictures and documents) to find the most extraordinary protest to the recent date.
Yancey, Dwayne. “ Council leaders protest sentence given to athlete”. The Breeze 5 April 1977: 2 JMU Scholarly Commons web. 24 Mar. 2019.
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