Editor's Note, August 11, 2023
Eugene Zumwalt passed away on July 27, 2023at age 99. Zumwalt was a World War II fighter pilot and Fresno State English professor. He was also at the center of a national controversy in 1970, when as department chair, he was forcibly deposed by FSU administrators amid campus tensions during the anti-war movement. In 2011, he read his memoir "Beyond the Roses" for KVPR's program Valley Writers Read. His story is a remarkable account of free speech, false allegations, and academic freedom, as well as the toll the events of that year took on his family.
Original post:
On this edition of Valley Writers Read, Eugene Zumwalt shares his memories of the university administration closure of the English Department at Fresno State during the height of the Vietnam War in a story titled "Beyond the Roses."