EXHIBIT
PROTEST
CIVIL RIGHTS AND VIETNAM
In this exhibit you can learn how Virginia Tech students responded to the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War--from a dispute over whether to lower the flag after MLK's assassination to a student occupation of Williams Hall. By Jenni Gallagher and Paul Quigley.
In January of 1969, the SGA Senate introduced a resolution to remove the Confederate flag from the Coliseum, arguing that the "flag is offensive to certain members of the student body and visitors to the University." They continued: "This flag has long been a symbol of racism and sectionalism and has no place on public display at Tech."
The resolution was fiercely debated in the Letter to the Editor column of the student paper, The Virginia Tech, throughout the month of January.
Ultimately, the resolution was defeated in the SGA Senate by a vote of 60 to 22. The debate, however, raged on over the next several years as students and student groups continued to argue for the removal of the flag.
Student reaction in The Virginia Tech to the debate surrounding the removal of the Conferederate Flag from the Coliseum.
REMAKING VPI: THE HAHN YEARS STUDENT PROTESTS: OVERVIEW "OCCUPYING WILLIAMS HALL"
