The Midpeninsula Free University

MFU Articles Published by The Stanford Daily
1968

Police, Too: A Sunday Be-In

It was real. That was the judgment of the more than 5000 people who attended the BE-IN at El Camino Park yesterday afternoon.

Parents held tightly onto their children. Long-haired people gyrated by themselves to guitar sound, and most everyone else spent the afternoon sitting or lying on the grass.

Even the Palo Alto police came to listen, but spent most of their time solving traffic problems.

Sponsored by Free U

Sunday's program was the fifth of a series sponsored by the Midpeninsula Free University. The Free U members distributed catalogues and held registration in the park for the opening of classes this week.

Before noon the BE-IN committee set up loudspeakers and erected a platform to accommodate rock groups such as the Freedom Highway, Phoenix, Steve Miller Blues Band, Cold Blood, and the Frumius Bandersnatch. Nobody seemed too anxious for program to start. People walked in streams from their seats on the grass to the refreshment areas and waited in line for something, anything, to eat. Most of it, including over half a ton of freshly baked bread, was free.

A speaker explained that the bread was baked with a little help from the Hell's Angels. The MFU made a special trip to Nevada in order to bake the bread, and the Hell's Angels came along to help.

City Withholds Permission

The speaker added that the BE-IN was taking place on a grassy park area that the Free University was not given permission to use. The City of Palo Alto denied the MFU access to the a park. However, members of the BE-IN committee attempted to appeal the ruling in federal court.

People arriving in the afternoon created a parking problem. After most of the places in the Stanford shopping plaza were filled, latecomers had to find their own spots.

The Palo Alto Police force arrived on the scene about four o'clock, but remained on the perimeter of the area. One of the program's speakers commented, that the police wouldn't arrest anyone for blowing grass because they're afraid of starling something. The speaker described the resulting freedom from police action as community power.

Throughout the entire afternoon, people sat, stood, walked, and generally entertained themselves while the music blared.