    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.

STUDENT PROTESTS:OVERVIEW

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the country struggled with issues of war, peace, and social justice, these same debates played out on Virginia Tech's campus. On the drillfield, in their classrooms and dorms, and within the pages of student publications, Hokies navigated the challenges of their generation.

The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in April, 1968 sparked one of the first student protests of the era. In the ensuing months and years, student groups advocated for the removal of the Confederate flag from campus and for the discontinuation of "Dixie" as an athletic fight song. The student newspaper, The Virginia Tech (later renamed the Collegiate Times) provides a chronicle of the racial tensions of the period, as students, faculty, and alumni passionately debated issues of race and individual rights.

Student protest at War Memorial Chapel.

Simultaneously, the social unrest resulting from U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War also affected Virginia Tech's campus, resulting in tensions between the civilian and cadet student bodies.

This conflict played out not only in the pages of the student newspaper, but also on the drillfield, the site of protests and clashes between the Corps of Cadets and anti-war demonstrators.

Anti-war student protest.

Anti-war activists listening to a speaker at War Memorial Chapel.

Communication problems between the student body and the administration further exacerbated tensions on campus. During a particularly fraught stretch in 1970, protesting students, feeling their concerns were not being heard by the administration, staged multiple large-scale protests at War Memorial Chapel, on the drillfield, and in front of Burruss Hall. On May 12, 1970, the conflict culminated in the occupation of Williams Hall by approximately 160 students, 107 of whom were arrested.

MORE OF THIS EXHIBIT

REMAKING VPI: 
 THE HAHN YEARS

HONORING MLK

CONFEDERATE FLAG

"DAMN DIXIE"

"I'M HERE TOO!"

VIETNAM WAR

"OCCUPYING WILLIAMS HALL"

OTHER EXHIBITS