Spring ’69: Heating Up, but Not Boiling Over

Issues of race dominated the semester as black anger was on prominent display and white activists scrambled to provide support. Chicago Black Panthers visited the campus to speak, but a misunderstanding regarding a stipend caused white angst. The Vietnam War was not forgotten, as star footballer Mickey Hogan quit the sport and joined the activists, and the issue of violence became central to the student movement. The BSA made accusations of institutional racism against the university and white activists debated how to back them. With no appetite for sit-ins at this point, a march on the president’s house made do.