March 1981 - March 11, 1981 (Wednesday)

March 11, 1981 (Wednesday)

• The start of an uprising, that would lead to the independence of the Republic of Kosovo from Yugoslavia, was student discontent over inefficient food service at the University of Pristina. Tired of being made to wait in line, for hours, for poor quality food, students began demonstrating. Within days, the protests over conditions for students turned into discontent over the treatment of the ethnic Albanian population by the Serbian majority, and then to rioting and demands for an independent Kosovar nation.
• Joseph Sardler, 32, of Mount Airy, North Carolina, had his sight restored after five years of blindness. Sardler had fallen down a flight of stairs and banged his head, then regained the vision in his left eye. His physician, Dr. J. Dale Simmons, reported that Sadler "can read now and recognize things that he could not before."
• Born: LeToya Luckett, American singer (Destiny's Child), in Houston, and David Anders, American TV actor (Alias), in Grants Pass, OR
• Died: Maurice Oldfield, 65, chief of MI-6 1973-78