A protest over the quality of food (often called food riots) at the Student Union Cafeteria in April 1964 included students blocking Main Street (which was the route of 71 at the time), tear gas, and police dogs. The run-up had included 1,600 students attending a rally at the football field. The Missouri Governor called out reinforcements from the Missouri Highway Patrol. The riots followed the October 1963 panty raids at the college, and some of those involved in this event were accused of attempting to instigate panty raids in the food riot. The image is AI colorized and enhanced. The original photo is here.
The online issue of Maryville Forum in this period, covering this event, is missing from the newspapers.com archive. St Louis Post-Dispatch Wire Coverage (and wire photo) Wednesday, April 15, 1964:
MARYVILLE, Mo., April 15 (A.P)-Authorities used tear gas, fire hoses, and police dogs last night in a 30-minute skirmish with stone-throwing students who have been demonstrating all week in protest against the food served by Northwest Missouri State College.
Harold Reynolds, a fireman, was knocked out by a stone thrown from a throng of students as he manned a fire hose. He was treated for a slight head injury. Four students arrested for disorderly conduct were ordered to appear in police court next Monday. They were released on $25 bonds. The students gave their names as Tom Allen Greenlees, 23, Auburn Heights, Mich., Devine Williams, 19, Humboldt, la, Bradley Earl Smith, 20, Des Moines, la, and Michael Dean Eiefmy, Grant City, Mo. Today, students promised college officials there would be no more riotous demonstrations.
The pledge came after the college announced the resignation of its dietitian, Mrs. H. T. Shelden, who was the target of much of the students’ wrath. The resignation was accepted.
Hundreds of yelling students headed toward the courthouse square last night, chanting “Let’s go to town.” Seventy officers from northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa confronted them after they had gone about one block. “Back, back,” yelled an officer. The students jeered. “All right, the dogs,” the officer yelled. The students retreated to the corner of the campus.
Firefighters turned on the hoses. The students sagged back to the center of the campus. Officers fired tear gas, and the remaining demonstrators scattered. About 800 students held a sit-down and march Monday night, blocking the main street and U.S. 71 in Maryville for more than an hour.
Officers used one tear gas shell, handcuffed two students, but released them. College officials expressed the belief that they had taken the starch out of the demonstration when J. W. Jones, the college’s 70-year-old president, spoke for 35 minutes to about 2,600 students yesterday afternoon. “Half spring fever and half an attempt by a misguided few to gain publicity for themselves,’ was his analysis.
The dining hall feeds about 1200 people a meal. The average cost is 54 cents.
Here’s a follow-up in the Chillicothe Constitution, April 18, 1964:
Two Students Are Expelled as a result of the Maryville riots.
MARYVILLE, Mo., April 18 – Two students were dismissed for leading the food rebellion at Northwest Missouri State College. Highway patrolmen resumed their lookout stations around the campus last night as rumors spread of new demonstrations.
Around a thousand of the 1,600 students who live on campus had gone away for the weekend, and it was a normal Friday night. A 22-man force marshalled by the Missouri Highway patrol early in the evening, and a standby detail of policemen and sheriff’s officers went home before midnight.
The patrol moved into Maryville on Wednesday on orders from Gov John M Dalton after two nights of mass demonstrations in which students clashed with the police. Minor injuries and minor damage resulted. Four students were arrested for disorderly conduct. There were no more demonstrations after the patrol took over, and most of the 71-man force withdrew.
Student leaders attributed the calm to another development: Mrs. M. T. Sheldon, dietician since 1957, resigned.
David Francis Herring, a 27-year-old senior from Creston, Iowa, and Edward Reeder, a 21-year-old sophomore from Lombard, Illinois, were expelled Friday after a hearing before the college administration’s disciplinary committee.
John T Russell, a student from Des Moines, also appeared before the committee but was not dismissed. Tom Cramer of Chillicothe, Mo, and at least four other students face charges. Three of them are accused of breaking into a women’s dormitory Monday night after a demonstration in Maryville was broken up.
Dr. J.W. Jones, president of the college, said Herring and Reeder were expelled because of “their leadership in this rebellion against our representative form of student government. ” They were also accused of bringing adverse publicity and disgrace to the college and of saying college authorities could not handle the situation.
Cramer, Herring, and Reeder were the main spokesmen when 1,600 of the college’s 2,900 students rallied at the football field on April 10 and protested to college authorities that the food served in the cafeteria was monotonous and poorly cooked.
They advocated mass demonstrations, without disorder, after complaining that student government committees sent to confer with the administration were always brushed off with doubletalk year in and year out.
Here’s an editorial in the Jefferson City Capital News, April 21, 1964:
The Riots at Maryville, Maryville, the home of Northwest Missouri State College, are presently quiet after a series of student and hangers-on riots several nights last week. Tuesday night, a crowd of 1,000 of them conducted a noisy, stone-throwing demonstration in marching on downtown Maryville. Tear gas, fire hoses, and police dogs were used to quell the mob. One fireman was struck and injured by a thrown rock. The next night, the State Highway Patrol was ordered into Maryville. A curfew was invoked to prevent further rioting. The demonstrations were reportedly made in protest over the quantity and quality of food served to the students at the college.
We do not know the status of either. However, we doubt they are as bad as they are reputed to be. Rather, we think the Maryville incident is, in part at least, a shenanigan. The latter, in one form or another, has been occurring on campuses throughout the nation each Spring. Tragically, some of these have gotten far out of hand. This was true in the Maryville case, where all sense of responsibility and order were lost.
Even if the food warranted criticism, the students had a legitimate outlet in bringing this to the attention of college officials. There’s only one answer to this. The leaders must be held accountable. Fortunately, the college has taken this step. Two of the alleged leaders have been suspended.
If any of the students have broken the law, they should be dealt with in the courts. Today, throughout the nation, lawlessness has become rampant. You find it in various demonstrations and other antics, both on and off campus, by young and older people. Sometimes they are planned ahead and frequently announced. You can find them in the civil rights movement, where extremists nurture them.
Respect for the Jaw must be rebuilt. In the case of unruly demonstrations or those which run counter to the rights of others, there is but one answer–penalties must be invoked against the guilty impartially and firmly.