Student Issue, 1967—Art Student Protest of Design of Volunteer Statue

On May 5, 1967, approximately 40 art students picketed the Austin Peay Administration Building to protest the erection of a $25,000 bronze statue based on the Volunteer symbol designed by Theodore Andre Beck. The art students were led by Chris Wade, a junior in art, and Lynne Walker, an art history student who collected signatures for a petition to be laid before President Holt. The students called the statue “archaic” and said the symbol was “practically all stomach” and had “bowed legs.” The proposed location of the statue was also criticized, with the Daily Beacon reporting one coed’s assertion that the statue would look as if it were directing traffic and people would sit in their cars waiting for the torchlight to change. A jovial crowd of approximately two hundred watched the picketing. President Holt; Vice President Spivey; Executive Assistant Joe Johnson; Dean of Student Affairs J. Winston Martin; and Julian Harriss, director of public relations, met with a delegation of students protesting the statue and agreed that the statue would be made more proportional as it was cast.