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Vietnam War protests at the University of Michigan occurred during the 1960s, when many students and professors from the University of Michigan gathered together in opposition of the Vietnam War. Together, they held a series of student protests and faculty demonstrations that challenged the U.S. government as well as the university administration.
From 1965 until 1972, the campus of the University of Michigan became a stronghold of political activism and intellectual discussion against the war in Vietnam. Students, faculty, and the administration of the University all played roles in advocating and resisting political change.
The University of Michigan played a central role in the anti-Vietnam War movement during the 1960s and early 1970s. Many of the key activists in Students for a Democratic Society, the leading campus antiwar organization, were students at U-M, including Tom Hayden, the primary author of the Port Huron Statement of 1962.
On college campuses across the nation, the oppression of civil and free speech rights became a main concern. In 1965, another issue was brought to campus with President Johnson’s unexpected escalation of the Vietnam War.
Protestors figured that, since a large percentage of U.S. Army officers and second lieutenants that graduated from ROTC fought in Vietnam, if MSU were supporting ROTC on campus, they were in effect supporting the Vietnam War. Things came to a head in early May 1970.
SDS became the focus of campus anti-war protest, even though other peace groups arose, including the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (SMC). The SDS helped promote protests against the Vietnam War and “predatory” capitalism.
The Vietnam Teach-In of 1965 signaled times to come, when faculty would step out from behind the lectern to declare war on the social and political status quo.
