Betty Holman, “Old Main Anti-War Protest Today” (May 10, 1972)

Link to Full Text: Front Page of Daily Collegian, May 10, 1972

About This Artifact

This article outlines the direct action of protest students at Penn State, University Park, took in response to President Richard Nixon’s call to extend U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.¹ This call for more involvement in the war did not sit well with people back home, specifically students attending universities and other academic institutions. It has been stated that “Campus unrest is one of the most-remembered aspects of the Vietnam War era.”². There was an increase in demonstrations against military recruitment on campus and any discussions concerning military involvement. Teach-ins, mass rallies, and strikes were held in the HUB of Penn State as a reaction to the political and military policies being implemented by the U.S. government. The protest movement against the war in Vietnam surfaced in the spring of 1965. The movements included teach-ins and a march on Washington in April of 1965.³ These actions were taken at Penn State and the artifact itself both demonstrate the backlash on policy by students and faculty at educational institutions.

The choices to directly state that mass rallies and strikes will occur and explicitly state that “the American people have been deceived again” by their U.S. President reveal that there is a great divide between the government and the people of the country. This artifact engages beyond a university level and into a nationwide, even global embodiment. The choice to use pinpointed rhetoric such as “deceived” displays how both the students and people of the nation view the choices of both school, local, and overall governments in accordance with their personal roles. The people, students, and citizens feel as though they are being kept from the truth and not informed as to why certain choices are being made. The precise and short clipping gives a look into the confused, angered, and active minds and attitudes of people involved at educational institutions. This piece provides a view of the reactions of people active in society, which is key for well-functioning activism and movements as a whole.

This artifact places emphasis on students as being the group that is deserving of the truth. The students request that they are informed of as to where their research is being provided and utilized since their research could possibly be benefiting a cause they do not support, that being assisting in war. This piece also reveals that students care about their impact long after they simply do their required research and schoolwork. For this purpose, even today, Penn State students have long been equally active in academia and extracurricular activities for the betterment of themselves as people and Penn State as a community.

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