820

SPECIAL NEWS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING MEETING
WITH MARYLAND STATE COLLEGE STUDENTS

May 21, 1968

My past relationships with Maryland State College have been ex-
ceptionally pleasant. And because of that, when I heard there was un-
rest on the campus — a problem in Princess Anne — I immediately
decided to ask the students themselves to come to Annapolis at my
invitation to discuss some of the problems with me. We've just con-
cluded what I consider to be one of the most productive meetings
that I've ever been in, and I want to say this: that at a time when
most of us have been so terribly concerned over the violence over the
attitudes on college campuses, in one short meeting my faith in the
young people of this country has been restored. My confidence has
been heightened to a degree I didn't believe possible. And I find my-
self with a tremendous desire to work for these legitimate objectives
that these students have put forward to me. They put them forward
in a completely reasonable manner. They have accepted my observa-
tions on what I intend to do to assist them in solving these problems,
and they have not made unreasonable requests upon the administra-
tion.

But I think the most important thing that these students did for me
today was to believe me. And this is an exception on today's market
when you're in public office dealing with problems of unrest on the
campus. We have agreed to form a joint committee consisting of a
few students and a few members of my staff, and they will start tomor-
row to try to reach solutions to these problems. I am encouraged that
some of the things can be done very quickly; others will require the
assistance of the good people of Somerset County, and I'm certain that
we will be able through the business and political community of that
county, if we work together in good faith, to reach a solution to these
problems and to restore a balance and a degree of calm in the com-
munity.

Questions and Answers

Q. Governor, what objectives did you discuss?

A. We discussed some of the on-campus objectives that relate to the
physical facilities. I had a chance to review with them my previous
meeting this year with the Alumni and what had come out of that.
We discussed improvements to a road. We discussed the possibility
of additional lighting on the campus. We discussed other physical