In the Spring of 1970, the Dean of Student Personnel at Sonoma State College, John Palmer, published an announcement in the school’s newsletter, Intercom. Addressing students, Palmer cited a rumor that was widespread: students had gone skinny dipping in the pond after a recent rock concert. Palmer advised the students of Sonoma State College to refrain from doing so, citing his worry of how the college would be perceived by the community. Palmer wanted the surrounding community to perceive Sonoma State as a college that was “exciting, unique, and innovative.”[1] In response to the letter, a campus figure known by the moniker of “Backwoods Bob” penned a parody of the Palmer letter. Using the same newsletter, Backwoods Bob mocked Palmer’s letter, advising students to continue skinny dipping. Skinny dipping and general protest were the only ways that Sonoma State would be “exciting, unique, and innovative.”[2] Backwoods Bob gave himself the title of “Enlightened Dean of Anarchism.”
The form of communication between faculty and students was the Intercom newsletter, which is displayed on letterhead. Intercom operated as Sonoma State’s Canvas of the day, where updates and campus news might be found. A standard edition of the Intercom newsletter was similar to a regular newspaper in its format and information. Most Intercom issues were published on a long sheet of paper, were double-sided, and in some cases, contained multiple pages. Unusually, the issues containing the letters from Dean Palmer and Backwoods Bob are the only ones without a date of publication, and included only these texts. Along with the Intercom Newsletter, Sonoma State College had an official newspaper entitled to Sonoma Steppes. This newspaper included what most college newspapers would entail including articles on campus events and op-eds. Sonoma Steppes was monitored and only allowed to publish certain stories, which caused another student-run paper to surface. This paper was called the Outlaw Steppes, which parodied the regular newspaper like Backwoods Bob parodied Dean Palmer. The formation of Outlaw Steppes is another example of student use of parody: they slightly changed the name both to portray themselves as outlaws and to take a shot at the administrative control over Sonoma Steppes. Backwoods Bob was not only an editor of the Outlaw Steppes, but a frequent contributor to the paper. This is the source of the only known image of Backwoods Bob, which happens to be in caricature. His true identity remains a mystery.
The letters from Dean Palmer and Backwoods Bob are indicative of a popular tactic that anti war protesters deployed on a national level: parodying pro war ideology and phrases as a form of protest. Slogans that were commonly used in previous wars were revised to reflect the anti-war sentiments of the present, and many musicians were quick to write songs that either referenced the war in Vietnam directly or alluded to it indirectly. One of the most famous cases of this method of protest was the Rolling Stones song “Gimme Shelter”, which highlights the imminence of war with the line “War, children, it’s just a shot away, it’s just a shot away.”[3] These protest strategies were meant to be a tongue-in-cheek way of showing the frustrations that anti-war protesters were experiencing. The letters between Palmer and Bob were carbon copies of these sentiments. Dean Palmer’s approach was benevolence and understanding. He understood that “Administrative control and the threat of disciplinary action, alone, will not solve the problem. We ask students, themselves, to discourage this kind of activity.”[4] Palmer recognized that the student body was already anti-establishment: he hoped that the metaphorical fire among students would put itself out. Backwoods Bob’s response to the letter resorted to parody. Instead of calling for students to police each other’s activities, Bob explains that “Administrative control and the threat of disciplinary actions, alone, will not stop hundreds of hot, sweaty hippies from taking a refreshing dip in the pond. We ask students, themselves, to encourage this kind of activity.” Bob took Palmer’s message of modesty and turned it on its head in an effort to encourage students’ freedom of expression and take on governing bodies. Palmer’s original letter mentioned a rock concert that took place on the campus at this time when students were skinny dipping. A newspaper article in the Outlaw Steppes indicates that the concert in question was headlined by Quicksilver Messenger Service. Sonoma State College and the city of Cotati in particular were part of the local rock circuit, with popular venues such as Inn of the Beginning. Three students from Sonoma State College -Geoffrey Dunham, Stephen Laughlin, and Annette Lombardi- even became Cotati City Council members, each one holding the office of mayor. Dunham, Laughlin, and Lombardi saw the divide between students and the surrounding community and tried to build a bridge of understanding.[5] At the Cotati City Council, they had a platform to voice the concerns of their peers. The skinny dipping referenced in the letters from Palmer and Bob was not the first or last instance of the practice at Sonoma State College in the 1970s. A video made in 1971 by a group of film students shows the events of Peace Week, a student-run, annual peace festival. The people in the video speak about the importance of the festival, which depicts students giving speeches, making food, and dancing, and singing over the course of the event. The speakers believed that peaceful discussion was the best way to bring about real change. They argued that such an approach would be beneficial to politics at all levels. The last few frames of the film show a man in the nude, exiting a bushcraft structure: public nudity was present at his event as well.
[1] John Palmer, Stay Cool, Keep Your Clothes On, Memorandum, From Sonoma State University Special Collections, The University Archives Digital Collection.
[2] Backwoods Bob, Stay Cool Kids, Keep That Birthday Suit On, Memorandum, From Sonoma State University Special Collections, The University Archives Digital Collection.
[3] Anne Meisenzahl and Roger Peace, “Protest Music of the Vietnam War”, United States Foreign Policy: History and Resource Guide. http://peacehistory-usfp.org/protest-music-vietnam-war/
[4] John Palmer, Stay Cool, Keep Your Clothes On.
[5] Tim Findley, “Grassroots Saga: A 25-Year-Old Mayor in Action”, Rolling Stones, Sept 14th, 1972. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/grassroots-saga-a-25-year-old-mayor-in-action-118805/