Vietnam Protests Continued

Student Protests

At Northern Michigan University

timeline
- Northern Before the Protests, c.1950-1965
  Learn about what Northern was like before the protests began and what factors contributed to sparking student rebellion.
- Protests Over President Harden's Resignation, 1965
  In 1965, President Edgar L. Harden resigned over an argument with a Board of Control member. The next day, he retracted his resignation. Did student protests contribute to his decision?
- Vietnam Protests, 1965
  Most university students in the country opposed the policies in Vietnam. This was not necessarily the case at Northern.
- Spring Protests, 1967
  In the spring of 1967, students protested a variety of issues including housing, dress codes, food, and other campus issues.
- The McClellan Controversy, 1967-1968
  In July of 1967, a history professor named Robert McClellan was fired for dubious reasons. Students and faculty rallied to his support and throughout 1967-1968 there were a string of protests, meetings, and court cases which culminated in McClellan's re-instatement.
- The Basketball Game Sit-In, 1968
  In December of 1968, the Black Student Union held a sit-in at an important basketball game to protest the treatment of African American students at Northern.
- Job Corps Closing, 1968-1969
  The Job Corps was a federal program created to help poor teenagers and young people who had dropped out of high school gain the skills to have a job. In December of 1968, the Faculty Senate urged President Jamrich to not seek renewal of the Job Corps, which cased a bit of controversy.
- Vietnam Protests Continued, 1969
  In the spring of 1969, Vietnam protests heated up again on campus when an ROTC program opened at Northern. Nation-wide Vietnam moratoriums in the fall of 1969 also led to protests in Marquette.
- The Sit-In in Dean Niemi's Office, 1969-1970
  In December of 1969, the Black Student Union held a sit-in in Dean Allan Niemi's office, again to protest the treatment of African American students at Northern. The largely peaceful protest led to the trial of the "Marquette Six" in the spring of 1970.
research

by person
- Edgar L. Harden
  President of Northern Michigan University from 1956 to 1967.
- John X. Jamrich
  President of NMU from 1968 to 1983.
- Ogden Johnson
  The interim President of Northern during the 1967-1968 school year.
- Alan Niemi
  Dean of Students and later Vice President of the university during the protest era.
- John McGoff
  Head of the NMU Board of Control from 1967 to 1969
- Robert McClellan
  A history professor at Northern in 1965.
- Anthony Forbes
  The head of the history department in 1967.
- Ellsworth "Dutch" Barnard
  An English professor at Northern during the 1960s.
- Don Keskey & Rob Fure
  President and student senator in ASNMU student government.
- Bart Brown
  Student leader of the spring 1967 protests.
- The Marquette Six
  Six African American students who were charged for the sit-in in Dean Niemi's office.
- Charles Griffiths
  Student who sparked off the sit-in in Dean Allan Niemi’s office
photo & audio

album

1969

Between 1965 and 1969, the newspapers recorded few acts of protest in regards to the Vietnam War. In 1968, the Student Senate did give $50 of student funds to a Marquette group against the Vietnam War to run an ad in the Mining Journal opposing US policy in Vietnam. The student government association also ran a “Peace Booth” in March of 1968 which collected two hundred signatures against the war.

In 1969, however, protests for and against the war heated up on campus. The first protests in early 1969 were largely in response to the newly-established ROTC program. In February, the Mining Journal reported (2-21-69) that:

“Twenty-eight Northern Michigan University students and three faculty members set up pickets Tuesday afternoon [18 February], protesting the establishment of an Army Reserved Officer Training Corps on the NMU campus. The group marched into the University Center at about noon and later stationed themselves in Kaye Hall, where they handed out pamphlets to passers-by. The anti-ROTC group was picketed by a group of pre-ROTC students, some of whom identified themselves as members of the Young Americans for Freedom. The protest centered around the visit of Maj. Victor Pelich, of Michigan Technological University, to Northern’s campus…One of the anti-ROTC students carried a sign reading, “How Many Credits for Killing?” The statement refers to the fact that credit will be given for military science courses. The pre-ROTC group also carried signs, one reading, ‘Do Leftists Alone Have the Right of Free Speech?’ and another: ‘Love It (the country), Or Leave It!’”

Pamphlets handed out by the anti-ROTC protesters said that they felt “that awarding credits for learning to kill efficiently is an outrageous mockery of what this institution supposedly stands for. ROTC has…the influence of creating dehumanized, desensitized automatons.”

Jamrich then issued a statement: “This (ROTC) is a voluntary program. It is essentially the same as saying that we would not force a Christian Scientist to take up the profession of medicine. At the same time, we would not deny the study of medicine to others.” The protests continued for a few weeks. Although most students did not attend protests supporting the war, many also opposed the anti-war and anti-ROTC protests. Although the actual proportion of such students is unknown, they were a very verbal segment of the student opinion who frequently wrote to the school newspaper:

Student ProtestsAt Northern Michigan University