A 1969 rally held on Deering Meadow to protest the Vietnam War. Today, students play Ultimate Frisbee there.
Photo: Courtesy of University Archives
In the face of Brothel-gate last week, we saw students united in a way we thought this campus couldn’t be. Admittedly, they were united in anger—spitting fire at administrators and Evanston officials alike. Apparently, threatened eviction will bring a crowd together in a way no modern social justice movement can. Less than 24 hours after the news broke that the three unrelated ordinance would be enforced and NU wouldn’t challenge it, students sprang to action with social media and online petitions. Letters were written, aldermen phoned. Now that things have quieted down, Intel decided to look at past events that have galvanized student attention to see how they compare to the present. Check out our rundown of student protests, after the jump.
Anti-Vietnam protests (1967)
Anti-war fervor began to grip Northwestern’s student body with the formation of a Northwestern chapter of Students for a Democratic Society in 1965. SDS was a pivotal organizational tool across the country for student activism protesting the Vietnam War. Northwestern’s first large-scale anti-war rally occurred in 1967 on the steps of the administration building. A student rally followed later that month and called for the end of the National Reserve Training Officer program on campus.
Sit-in for African American Studies (1968)
After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., African American students began calling for the university to offer more resources as well as increased recruitment of minority students. NU ignored these demands, so more than 100 students organized by For Members Only and the Afro-American Student Union sneaked into the Bursar’s office and barricaded the doors for more than 38 hours until the university caved to student demands.
Kent State shootings (1970)
Ohio National Guardsmen firing into a crowd of unarmed college students at Kent State University caused reverberations across the country. At Northwestern, then-President J. Roscoe Miller closed Rebecca Crown Center as a symbol of NU’s solidarity in the national protest, and then canceled classes for remainder of the week. Classes remained canceled, however, for six days, the longest consecutive period of canceled classes in the history of Northwestern. Two thousand students rallied on Deering Meadow to protest the actions of the National Guard, and some students blocked off Sheridan Road forcing the city of Evanston to divert traffic.
Students protesting Apartheid arrested (1985)
One hundred and twenty protesters organized by the Anti-Apartheid Alliance were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing during a sit-in at Rebecca Crown Center.
Asian-American hunger strike (1995)
A 12-day hunger strike for Asian American Studies led by the Asian American Advisory Board was enacted in the face of a stubborn university. Then-Weinberg senior Freda Lin told the Daily that this was a last resort. ”I thought that we were going to make a compromise, but a compromise never came up.”
Wear black rally (2003)
Minority cultural student groups banded together in the face of a series of hate crimes that occurred Winter Quarter. The offenses included a racially fueled armed assault and the painting of a swastika on a dorm room door. Students were asked to wear black and remain silent throughout the day in a show of solidarity against racism and intolerance on campus. The show of support also involved a rally at the rock and a campus-wide meeting in the Louis Room in Norris. “This is about the students,” Ronnie Rios, one of the event’s organizers, told the Daily. “And this time, we won’t let go—we’ll keep pursuing it because it’s our issue.”
Darfur divestment rally (2007)
About 200 students rallied at the Rock and marched to Rebecca Crown Center in support of NU divesting from Darfur. Organized by Northwestern University Darfur Action Coalition (NUDAC), the rally was meant to show student strength and followed a year of failed negotiations with the administration. “Everyone knew about what was going on,” Alyssa Huff, then-coordinator of NUDAC, told NU Intel last year.
Living Wage Rally (2010)
The most recent in memory, the ongoing Living Wage Movement organized a rally and march to Rebecca Crown Center to show administrators their strength. More than 320 students turned up for the rally with signs and chants, and several speakers were brought out to trumpet the cause.
