Vietnam War Protests at UCI
Anti-Vietnam War protests, and student activism in general, were somewhat slow to arrive at UCI, perhaps because the campus was so new. One early protest centered around the firing of three faculty, including Steve Shapiro, a popular faculty member in the English Department. A controversy relating to academic freedom occurred in fall 1968 in connection with African American activist Eldridge Cleaver’s appearance on campus.
Protests against the war escalated on college campuses nationwide in the late 1960s, and even more so in the 1970s. The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), formed at the University of Michigan in the early 1960s, grew to have chapters on campuses all over the country, including a small chapter formed at UCI in 1966. On October 15, 1969, hundreds of thousands of people participated in anti-war demonstrations throughout the nation, including major demonstrations and teach-ins at UCI. Strikes were proposed at institutions and colleges through the country. A second moratorium followed on November 15th.
Demonstrations on college campuses continued to expand as the number of U.S. citizens who questioned the war on moral grounds increased, but it was the secret invasion of Cambodia in April 1970 that brought the largest turnouts of war protestors nationwide. This was also the case at UCI, at other UC campuses, and at campuses across the country, such as Kent State. Increasingly, organizations representing veterans who had fought in Vietnam were now also actively engaged in efforts to end the war.
Voices at UCI from the left are represented by the local chapter of SDS, the New University Conference, Vietnam Veterans against the War, and the UCI Moratorium Committee.
UCI Chancellor Daniel Aldrich speaks as a moderating influence. He responded to many organizations and individuals in the Orange County who wrote to him to express strong concern about campus protests. He also attended numerous public forums in the community to address these concerns and to defend the importance of free inquiry on a university campus and public debate about the issues of the day.
