IMAGES ABOVE COURTESY OF VANDERBILT SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Tensions were so high at Memorial Gym on the evening of April 7, 1967, that 40 plain-clothes police officers were scattered throughout the bleachers. Six officers stood outside, and a fleet of patrol cars circled the gym, just waiting for a confrontation.
A sellout crowd had gathered, not for a Commodore basketball game, but to listen to some of the country鈥檚 most relevant and controversial speakers on the first night of the student-run Impact Symposium鈥攁 program only in its fourth year at that point, but already considered, in the words of the late Arizona senator and GOP presidential nominee Barry Goldwater, as 鈥渢he best college presentation of its kind in the country.鈥�
In town for two nights of speeches were Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Strom Thurmond and Allen Ginsberg鈥攆our electric figures dropped in the middle of what remained a relatively sleepy and nonpolitical campus, confronting students with disparate views on the most polarizing issues of the 1960s: war, peace, poverty, racism, drugs, social justice, freedom of speech, and the role of authority.
As Vanderbilt celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Impact Symposium, an event that will always be remembered as one of the signature moments in the university鈥檚 history, it鈥檚 tempting to believe the speaker series was a hit from the very beginning, and that bringing newsmakers to campus to share their thoughts on world events was always part of the Vanderbilt student experience.
Far from it.
The idea for Impact grew out of a desire in the 1950s and early 鈥�60s to provide students with more intellectually stimulating programming outside the classroom. At a meeting of VUceptors and administrators in 1963, Dean Sidney Boutwell (BA鈥�55, MA鈥�56, MAT鈥�56) and a group of students discussed ways to bring a bit of the outside world into the campus bubble. Boutwell suggested a speakers鈥� symposium. A handful of students took an interest and, along with Boutwell, visited Princeton University and Randolph Macon College to observe how those schools organized their own speakers鈥� events.
The students returned from that trip excited about the idea鈥攊f only someone else would execute it. They were too busy.
Finally, student Dan Brasfield, BA鈥�64, was convinced to take on the project, though many on campus remained skeptical and publicly mocked the idea, doubting controversial speakers could be convinced to come to Vanderbilt.
During its first few years, Impact was host to notables like Goldwater, civil rights leader Julian Bond and Alabama Gov. George Wallace. But it was the 鈥�67 affair that cemented the symposium鈥檚 place as an iconic Vanderbilt tradition with a national reputation for excellence.
The event wasn鈥檛 a big hit with many alumni, however. In a typical letter in response鈥攖he likes of which fill four folders at Vanderbilt鈥檚 Special Collections and University Archives鈥攁 writer complains that Chancellor Alexander Heard had invited 鈥渁 gang of treasonable hoodlums to wreck the serenity, the very safety of property and human life.鈥�
In the face of heated criticism from some alumni, Board of Trust members, state legislators and local business leaders, Heard defended the value of the 鈥渙pen forum鈥� concept. The Vanderbilt campus, he said, was a place where the free flow of ideas鈥攅ven and especially controversial ones鈥攏ot only was accepted, but encouraged, a value that continues to this day. The students who organize Impact Symposium have always had free rein to invite the most compelling speakers they can find.
The very next year, in 1968, a milestone was reached when presidential candidate Sen. Robert Kennedy drew a record attendance of 16,000 people from more than 100 college delegations across the United States.
This year鈥檚 Impact chairman, Conor Bloomer, who graduated in May, said he was unaware of the series鈥� deep history until he became involved with the campus Speakers Committee鈥攂ut it didn鈥檛 take him long to come to revere and appreciate the symposium鈥檚 role at Vanderbilt. On a campus and in a country where activism perhaps more resembles that of the late 1960s than any time since, he believes Impact still plays a crucial part in helping students find, and develop, their voices.
鈥淭he radical spirit is always existent on a college campus. I think that鈥檚 what鈥檚 amazing about having such youth, vigor and passion all in one place,鈥� Bloomer says. 鈥淓veryone here believes in a cause as much as they believe in themselves. That spirit is still here today like it was in the 1960s.鈥�
Still, he acknowledges that times have changed dramatically since 1967. A newsmaker鈥檚 visit to campus may have been the only way a student back then could hear that person鈥檚 thoughts in more intimate detail. Today鈥檚 students can read anyone鈥檚 musings on Twitter or listen to anyone鈥檚 podcasts between classes. Every opinion is available at the push of a touchscreen. So what鈥檚 the appeal of an old-fashioned guest speaker?
鈥淲ith Impact we try to appeal to as many different people as possible to make them interact with people and ideas they might not otherwise be exposed to,鈥� Bloomer says. 鈥淎nd there鈥檚 something about that ritual of going to a space and having a common experience that doesn鈥檛 feel old-fashioned at all. People are still into it; you鈥檝e just got to hit the right types of speakers that will interest them.鈥�
For 50 years the Impact Symposium has struck that balance: entertaining, informing, challenging and inspiring. And as Heard once said: 鈥淭he chief credit, like the chief reward, belongs to the students.鈥�
Andrew Maraniss, BA鈥�92, is author of Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South (2014, Vanderbilt University Press), a New York Times bestselling biography of Perry Wallace, BE鈥�70.