African Activist Archive

Report on the campaign to remove the name of Margaret E. McGoff, wife of John P. McGoff, from the Festival Stage of the Wharton Performing Arts Center located on the campus of Michigan State University (MSU). At the May meeting of the MSU Board of Trustees, Chair of the Board Sawyer said this issue could not be discussed because no mail had been received about it. The Southern Africa Liberation Committee (SALC) arranged for the trustees to receive mail before the December meeting and had people attend that meeting. SALC asked Chair Sawyer for the criteria for naming buildings on campus and how to get the subject of the McGoff name on the trustees' agenda, but they received no reply. The report says the McGoffs are wealthy Williamston residents listed in Hansard, the official South African Parliament records, as having been "official guests" of the South African government and as "opinion formers" who could influence U.S. opinion in favor of the apartheid South African government. The report says the Erasmus Commission, appointed by the South African government to investigate a clandestine attempt to influence American opinion in favor of apartheid by buying U.S. newspapers, named Mr. McGoff as the purchasing agent and as receiving $11 million from the South African government for this project. Mr. McGoff is presently under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly acting as an unregistered foreign agent for South Africa. The report mentions black students, Frank Beeman, Dr. Lamont Walton, the MSU Black Faculty and Administrators Association, picket signs, human rights, political rights, racism, Dr. Cecil Mackey, Kgati Sathekge, campus groups, Emily Philips, and Trustees Lick, Martin, Dade, and Fletcher.

African Activist Archive

[The following describes in detail the SALC presentations to the Board of Trustees ...]

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Coverage Africa

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Digital Format

Rights Management

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