Experiment in Free Speech

Warning: This story contains graphic language.

On Feb. 8, 1968, an experiment in free expression started selling on Grinnell's campus for 15 cents an issue. In the two years that followed, the underground newspaper Pterodactyl would face reluctant printers, allegations of obscenity, and ultimately extinction.

Why Pterodactyl?

A brief article in the inaugural issue outlined both the rationale of the name Pterodactyl and the staff’s hopes for the paper: “According to Archie Carr in The Reptiles, ‘Aerial locomotion, sustained flight, was evolved first by the pterosaurs or pterodactyls. They took to the air on leathery wings stretched by their finger bones.’ They ate fish. We eat fish. They flew. We fly. They died out — we may someday. But all flying creatures were evolved from them. Hopefully, we will be the prototype for equally bold future experiments.”

Pterodactyl aspired to uncompromising free speech. Henry Wilhelm ’68, a Ptero staff member and photographer, later said that the editorial system for the paper was one of “complete freedom of expression.” Any staffer could have something printed in Ptero, even if every other staff member disagreed with it. There was no majority rule. That accounts for the lack of a coherent political perspective, which Wilhelm admitted in a 1978 interview with Scarlet & Black. “We were the organ of the political and cultural movement at Grinnell, which in turn reflected broader developments in the country,” says Richard Schneirov ’70, Ptero founder. “Ptero was a record of young people grappling with new ways of thinking and living their lives.”

From the start, Ptero’s editors had difficulty securing a printer. The first issue was late because a printer “copped out,” claiming they had a new policy that wouldn’t allow them to print the paper. This was well before the real controversy.

Year One

Early issues of Ptero focused on the draft, the war in Vietnam, and resistance at Grinnell. The paper also published a number of articles critical of the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps on campus. Schneirov was both Ptero founder and one of the three founders and several leaders of Grinnell’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, a liberal organization of U.S. college students formed in the 1960s. The paper covered the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, printed the Black Panther Platform, and advocated the release of Huey Newton, minister of defense for the Black Panther Party.

In addition to its focus on activism, the paper also printed cartoons, poetry, and the occasional review of a concert or play. Ptero also included stories from other underground publications such as Rat and from the Liberation News Service. The paper covered everything from starvation in Biafra to Schneirov’s challenge to the College’s dorm visitation policy.

The paper’s first printer, the Cedar Valley Times, refused to publish the Nov. 18, 1968, issue. On several previous occasions, according to Ptero, the printer had been hesitant but allowed the issues to go to print. Ptero cited “filth” as the reason for the printer’s refusal, likely the full page devoted to the poem “I Say to Masturbate is Human, to F--- Divine” by Tuli Kupferberg. By the fall and winter of 1968, articles on sex, contraception, and women’s liberation began to feature more prominently.

“Playboy F---ed Up”

Beneath photos of nude protesters, a Ptero article attributed to Sherlock Holmes described the Playboy protest in early 1969: “On February 5, a representative from Playboy Magazine (exploiter of the female flesh for f---ed up men that is) was on the Grinnell College campus to deliver a series of talks on the Playboy philosophy. Bruce Draper (that’s his name) was scheduled to deliver three talks at different locations on campus. This was part of the college’s SEX EDUCATION SERIES…

“… after a ‘rehearsal’ was held to get up the nerve, the group [of protesters] went en masse to the second of the three talks (they sent a spy to the first meeting to see how the meeting would run.)

“Shortly after Draper entered the room and began speaking the 10 protestors (six girls and four boys) took all of their clothes off. An 11th male protestor took almost all of his clothes off (little known fact).

“One of the male protestors brought his guitar and played ‘I’ll Walk This Lonesome Valley,’ and then, a few minutes later they put their clothes back on. Supporters of the demonstrators brought signs along and passed out a statement from the group explaining the protest. Most Grinnell males had previously thought very little about what Playboy was actually about, so this was a real eye opener for them. Those present at the protest seemed to take what was going on in front of them without getting visibly disturbed.

“The story received wide coverage the next day in the Iowa and national press … Iowa colleges had been having some ‘trouble’ with obscenity being uttered and ‘nudity’ piled on top of obscenity was just too much for Iowa to take … So, the state attorney general, Richard Turner decided that it would be a good thing to ‘crack down.’”

Assumed Obscenity

Photos from the nude-in depicting frontal male and female nudity were published in the next issue of Pterodactyl, which was delivered to the printer in March but wasn’t printed until May 19, 1969. Iowa’s attorney general had received a complaint from a county attorney regarding an earlier issue of Ptero; and after examining several copies, which he considered obscene, Turner made an arrangement with the printer to have the next issue delivered to his agents.

Wilhelm and Lawrence Frank ’70, aided by the Iowa chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, filed an injunction to compel the return of the paper and other materials they alleged Turner had seized illegally. Turner testified, “Each issue of the paper was getting progressively worse and I figured the next issue would be the bell ringer of them all. And it was!” The judge in the case ruled that because Turner and his agents had not determined that the material was obscene prior to seizing it, the seizure was unlawful. A number of Iowa newspapers, including The Des Moines Register, supported Ptero and condemned Turner’s actions. The attention generated by the illegal seizure, subsequent lawsuit, and Turner’s appeals — all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — only increased Ptero’s profile and readership. Wilhelm later said, “It wouldn’t have been so big if it wasn’t for Turner.”

Over the next six months, the paper continued to evolve. In September 1969, Ptero’s new printer nearly refused to print the paper, according to Scarlet & Black. An employee of the printer said that the company’s photographer refused to prepare Ptero’s photos. Frank was quoted as saying “The pictures were so ‘clean’ this time it’s ridiculous.”

Near the end of its run, Ptero devoted more column inches to drugs. One issue contained a highly informative “drug data sheet” accompanied by Boschian drawings and listings of dosages, effects, and legitimate medical uses for each substance. Another included a “market report” that informed readers of what drugs were available on campus and in town. It would be more alleged obscenity rather than columns on drugs that would attract the attention of police.

“Four Ptero Vendors Busted”

The final issue of Ptero, published Nov. 11, 1969, was met with more accusations of obscenity. S&B reported on the arrest of four people selling the paper in Cedar Falls. One of the vendors was a Grinnell student and two were alumni.

“According to Cedar Falls police, the four were arrested … near the University of Northern Iowa campus after police received a complaint that they were selling obscene material …

“They were charged under a state obscenity statute which provides for a maximum penalty of one year’s imprisonment or a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars.

“The allegedly obscene issue included a full-page photograph depicting a male youth masturbating1 in front of several Playboy magazine centerfolds and a short story by Pristine Pureheart vividly describing a couple screwing.

“Police reported Wednesday that they did not seek prior adjudication that the material was obscene before they made the arrests. ‘It was obscene because it showed a naked man2,’ Sgt. Peterson of the Cedar Falls police told S&B …

“David Danforth, a clerk at the Varsity Newsstand in Grinnell, said that he stopped selling Ptero ‘because of what happened in Cedar Falls.’ Danforth also said that he was visited by law enforcement officials Thursday morning regarding Ptero, but would make no further comment.”

Extinction

After the second round of obscenity charges, Pterodactyl was unsustainable. Without off-campus sellers willing to distribute the paper, there wasn’t enough money to produce further issues. The following year it was replaced by another underground publication. Once “quite alive and flapping,” all that remains of Pterodactyl are the dozen or so old issues in the College’s library and half a reel of microfilm.

Ptero was succeeded by a string of underground papers, from High and Mighty, which was staffed in part by former Ptero writers in the early ’70s, to the current B&S and Grinnell Underground Magazine. Like Ptero, these more recent publications address issues on campus and around the world. They mock the administration and show disdain for what they perceive as outdated laws and institutions. But they seem more focused, less interested in shocking their readers. And none has had the same combination of deliberate recklessness and editorial carte blanche as Pterodactyl.

1 The printer censored the Nov. 21, 1969 issue of Scarlet & Black that contained this story, removing the words “masturbating” and “screwing.”

2 Sgt. Peterson and Richard Turner were at odds with each other regarding nudity and obscenity. In his testimony in the first obscenity case, Turner said, “Naked bodies of themselves certainly are not obscene, but photographs and positions calculated to arouse the prurient interest are.”