School Year 1990-1991

Free the Hole

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The seeds for the Free the Hole protest were first planted in the spring of 1988, when Jon Acheson suggested holding a "protest against protests." Once more, we were holding an Ides-of-October Mystery Event, and we needed an idea.

At a brainstorming session at the October 10 meeting, the idea for the protest was born. In an unpopular move, the university had put up an ugly, chain-link fence around the rectangular green space and recreation area known as Pollock Fields. They were using heavy construction equipment to dig out the foundation.

Someone had the brilliant idea of protesting that they were keeping a hole in captivity. We knew immediately that was what we would do. We had just a short while to lay plans, but we made good use of the time. I called both all the local media outlets to urge them to turn out for the protest on Saturday and wrote up a public service announcement for local radio stations.

Then it was just a matter of making up signs, along with a few slips to hand out to passersby, and we were ready.

The day of the event was perfect fall weather: bright, clear and mild.

Jenny Hoffman, a film and video major, had managed to secure a video camera. She, along with some other volunteers, filmed the event and I later shot extra portions with Matt Pyson as the host, editing it all together as the Free the Hole documentary. I entered it into the Slice of Life film festival, held each year as part of the Arts Festival, but it wasn't accepted. I did, however, gladly make copies for anyone in MPS who wanted them. I guess you could say the video had limited release... extremely limited.