Good Morning: Back when college kids knew how to throw a protest

[Okla-homey]

May 6, 1970: Students launch nationwide protest

http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/16843/2002141420529295157_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002141420529295157)

Thirty-seven years ago today, hundreds of colleges and universities across the nation shut down as hundreds of thousands of students joined a nationwide campus protest.

Governor Ronald Reagan closed down the entire California university and college system until May 11, which affected more than 280,000 students on 28 campuses.

http://aycu20.webshots.com/image/14619/2000925342575699710_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000925342575699710)
Even remote and rural schools were affected. This was shot at Mankato State in Minnesota

Nationally, faculty and administrators joined students in active dissent and 536 campuses were shut down completely, 51 for the rest of the academic year. A National Student Association spokesman reported students from more than 300 campuses were boycotting classes.

http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/13842/2002138560688098163_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002138560688098163)
In the pre-internet and mobile phone era, protests were organized via word-of-mouth and quaint flyers like these. Modern kids would have a much easier time because they need only text message: OMG! WAR PRTST FRI @ SO U BRNG ALC PLZ K THX

The protests were a reaction to the shooting of four students at Kent State University by National Guardsmen during a campus demonstration about President Nixon's decision to send U.S. and South Vietnamese troops into Cambodia.

http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/16351/2002186846745519013_rs.jpg
May 4, 1970: During an anti-war protest at Kent State University in Ohio, troops of National Guard soldiers shot and killed four students after the protesters turned violent.

Four days later, a student rally at Jackson State College in Mississippi resulted in the death of two students and 12 wounded when police opened fire on a women's dormitory.

http://aycu21.webshots.com/image/17220/2002100552498023450_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002100552498023450)

In comparison, contemporary American college kids generally don't seem to be supportive of the war in Iraq, yet there is hardly more than sporadic dissent at US colleges and universities by a relative handful of students.

http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/13993/2004766914819472516_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004766914819472516)

I still believe the difference is attributable to the fact there is no draft so modern students don't feel personally affected by the current war. Either that, or they're just slackers...;)

http://aycu04.webshots.com/image/17003/2002100480959959588_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2002100480959959588)

[Flagstaffsooner]

Thats when they issued these to us OKANG members.
http://www.boreme.com/media/yr2006/bong-squad.jpg

[AlbqSooner]

Oklahoma City University was the only college in Oklahoma which participated in the boycott. FWIW

Also, I used to have a similar gas mask. Mine had an attachment to an aquarium pump which caused the pipe to flood the mask. Good Times.

[MamaMia]

In comparison, contemporary American college kids generally don't seem to be supportive of the war in Iraq, yet there is hardly more than sporadic dissent at US colleges and universities by a relative handful of students. Did the students really get violent first or were they just accused of doing so? I remember hearing that there was violence, but cant say that I ever saw any film of students actually starting the violence. There were more sit ins than anything.

[Suerreal]

During my days at OU there were frequent protests.

By the Iranian students, protesting against the Shah. And then when the Shah fell, and they saw what had replaced him, there was much scrambling to seek political asylum here...