nindependent radical force against society.(Ascher 43) The disorders made it moredifficult for most Americans to keep events in perspective. They tended to forget thatmost of the nation's 6,700,000 collegians were studying hard at school and not causingtrouble. An underlying pattern emerged in the American university. The universitysuddenly became a political arena (Frank 57). The students wanted to address thenational problems of war, race, and poverty. As a result, the university lost some of itsneutrality. Students created a new U.S. institution: the political university.However, another element among youths was also emerging. They were calledhippies. This movement marked another response to the decade as the youngexperimented with music, clothes, drugs, and a "counter-culture" lifestyle.(Ascher 55) In1967, hippies preached altruism and mysticism, honesty, joy and nonviolence. They had achild-like fascination for beads, blossoms, and bells, strobe lights, ear-shattering music,exotic clothing and erotic slogans. They wanted to profess "flower power" and love. Theywere predominantly white, middle-class, educated youths, ranging in age from 17 to 25. Straughn 6Perhaps the most striking thing about the hippie Phenomenon, is the way ittouched the straight society. Hippie slang entered common usage and spiced Americanhumor(Boyle 76). Boutiques sprang up in urban and suburban areas to sell the"psychedelic" color clothes and designs that resembled art nouveau (Boyle 77).A major development in the hippie world was the "rural community," wherenature-loving hippie "tribesmen" escaped the commercialism of the cities in an attempt tobuild a society outside of society(Frank 89). Another development was the illicit use ofdrugs, creating the slogan, "tune in, turn on, drop out." "Better living through chemistry"was another advertising slogan that was a sly joke to the young, but a real worry to theirparents.Marijuana (pot, grass, mary jane, weed) b...
