An Engaged Campus

“Tomorrow in some places conscience and reason will be twisted by passion, frequently exalted by idealism, sometimes wounded by misstatement of fact, many times confused by imperfect communication, and sometimes, regretfully, tarnished by malice. May the exercises on this campus prove helpful and clarifying to all who are concerned enough to participate.” –John T. Caldwell[1]

But NC State was not expanding in a vacuum.  Politics and foreign affairs resonated with students reaching civil maturity during the height of the Cold War. The then brand-new Carmichael Gymnasium doubled as an emergency fallout shelter for dormitory occupants. Alongside “Record Enrollment Begins New Year,” The Technician ran one student’s concern that “State College and similar technical institutions throughout the nation are one of our country’s greatest resources in the fight for freedom…but recently we have found ourselves in the unaccustomed role of having another nation approaching us and even passing us in certain phases of science.”[2] Students commented on the Cuban Missile Crisis, the draft, and in the late 1960s created student-led anti-war organizations, such as the Progressive Action Commune (PAC), the New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (New Mobe), CONspiroCY, Young Americans for Freedom, the Committee of the Peace Retreat, and Woodstock Nation.

Student activism and protest at NC State drew less attention than that at UNC Chapel Hill, and was certainly milder than the political unrest of other campuses in the United States during the mid to late 1960s, but even NC State students, characterized as coming from conservative backgrounds, demonstrated against the Vietnam War with surprising frequency.  Most were against the draft. Campus administration did not have an issue with the protests until 1968 when, spurred by larger protests at other campuses, adopted a policy prohibiting the disruption of the “normal operations of the institution.”[3]

The height of antiwar activity at NC State would occur during the 1969-1970 academic year, beginning when students and faculty participated in the national moratorium on Vietnam in October.  Chancellor Caldwell gave the keynote address. Prominent among the various groups, was New Mobe, which had become increasingly active on campus. The New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (New Mobe) was an anti-war group founded at Case Western Reserve University in July 1969. In November, NC State student members of New Mobe traveled to D.C. to join the March on Washington. In spring 1970, members of New Mobe would join Cathy Sterling to create the Peace Retreat.