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.
On the evening of May 12, 1970, a group of around 160 students barricaded themselves inside Williams Hall. Against the backdrop of nationwide conflict over Vietnam, the stage was set for a major clash between activist students and the university administration.
In response to the seizing and blockading of Williams Hall, the T. Marshall Hahn administration called in state troopers to remove the students by force. As the troopers moved in during the early morning hours of May 13, they discovered that hundreds of students had formed a defensive perimeter around the building in solidarity with the students barricaded inside. These students were quickly pushed back by troopers and police dogs.
State police with police dogs confront protestors. Representatives from the university administration advised the students that they were violating the law, and tried to convince the protestors to leave the building willingly. Two attempts were made to coax the students out, both of which were shouted down by the protestors. The students were told they had ten minutes to come out peacefully. When the ten minutes had passed, the troopers approached the building from the rear in two columns. Protesting students leave Willams Hall flashing the peace sign. State troopers forcibly remove protestors from Williams Hall on the morning of May 13, 1970. The protesting students had barricaded themselves inside, chaining the doors shut and stacking desks against them. In order to get inside, the troopers pulled a door off its hinges using a chain attached to a truck.
Students who would not willingly evacuate the building were forcibly removed by the troopers, some being carried by their arms and legs. They were subsequently arrested.
Trooper Kennard Phipps reported that while he and another trooper were lifting a male student into the Mayflower moving van that was serving as the arrest vehicle, the student attempted to kick him. The other trooper struck the student in the groin with his riot stick, causing him to double over and submit to arrest. More than one hundred students were arrested on site, with the majority being charged with trespassing, and two students being charged with resisting arrest, cursing, and using abusive language. The students were initially expelled from the university and told they could only come back to the Virginia Tech campus to collect their personal belongings. However, the expulsions were later changed to one-year suspensions. State troopers use baton on protestor. The student paper, recently renamed the Collegiate Times, provided comprehensive coverage of the occupation and the university community's responses to the event. Check out the pages below to learn more about Hokies' varied reactions to the occupation of Williams Hall. The incident brought to the surface passionate and ongoing debates about the campus community's values and identity.
State police forcibly lead a protestor to arrest.
REMAKING VPI: THE HAHN YEARS STUDENT PROTESTS: OVERVIEW
