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This exhibit case displays various media that fights against going to war in Vietnam.
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The decade of 1965 to 1975 brought with it campus protests that ranged from large to small, peaceful to violent. Student activists protested issues relating to civil rights, race and gender, poverty, and the Vietnam War. During larger protests, students even occupied campus buildings, essentially shutting down parts of the school in an effort to bring about change. While most colleges and universities experienced some level of protests in this era, some in particular encountered larger, more violent movements, including Columbia University; Cornell University; Harvard University; Jackson State University; Kent State University; University of California, Berkeley; University of Georgia; University of Michigan; and University of Texas at Austin. University of California, Berkeley’s protest movements gained ground with the Free Speech Movement starting in 1964. In May of 1965, the first teach-ins at Berkeley attracted around 35,000 participants in 36 hours. The next few years saw continued protest: on October 23, 1968, Berkeley students barricaded themselves in a building to protest the Regents’ refusal to allow Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver to teach a course. By February 1969, California governor Ronald Reagan had declared “a state of extreme emergency” on the UC Berkeley campus. Demonstrations took a tragic turn at Kent State University and Jackson State University in May 1970. On May 4th, around 3,000 demonstrators and 1,000 Ohio National Guardsmen gathered on Kent State’s campus. While it remains unclear if the troops were given an order to shoot, Guardsmen opened fire and 4 students were shot and killed. Dubbed the Kent State Massacre, it inspired 4.35 million students at 1,350 universities to participate in demonstrations in the days that followed. One such protest occurred at Jackson State. Rioting on campus during the night of May 14th brought police to the scene to disperse crowds. As the police approached Alexander Hall, they fired into the building, killing 2 and wounding 12 others. It is also worth pointing out the difference in media attention that these two campus attacks received; Kent State, a predominantly white university, gained significantly more press nationwide than Jackson State, a largely African-American university.
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Its been 50 years since President Nixon announced the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, igniting a protest of Union students through downtown Schenectady in the spring of 1970. The era of the Vietnam War brought with it an unprecedented wave of campus protests at universities across the country and Union experienced its own fair share of reactions to the war, counter culture, and going co-educational. This exhibit, using Union College as a case study, examines the importance of protests on college campuses during this time period. By shedding light on the various protests at Union during these years, current student visitors will be able to compare and contrast their experiences. What made this era unique? What are campus protests like today? While not as intense as protests at Kent State University or UC Berkeley, those at Union College during this decade affected students personally, took various shapes and forms, and fueled a strong generation of student activists. While not every student at Union considered themselves an activist, a large percentage of the student body was active in some way for various campus protests during these years. In addition, anti-war protests were not the only campus protests to take place. Previous decades also brought with them the Civil Rights Movement and the Feminist Movement that affected Union students as well.
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Union students march towards the Schenectady Selective Service System office from General Electric (seen in the background). Credit: Dr. Lester Kritzer ’73
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Union College students march from campus. Their route included: Nott Terrace, State Street, Schenectady Community College, General Electric, Schenectady Selective Service System offices, and the intersection of State Street and Erie Boulevard. Credit: Dr. Lester Kritzer ’73.
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Father James Murphy, Chaplain of Union College, speaks to demonstrators. Credit: Dr. Lester Kritzer ’73.
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Onlookers attempt to restrain Professor Bick as the conflict escalates. Credit: Special Collections, Photographer Unknown.
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Unrest breaks out among crowds at graduation. Memorial Chapel is seen in the background. Credit: Special Collections, Photographer Unknown.
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Professor Ted Bick ’58 in the Mathematics Department attempts to steal the flag from Peskin. Credit: Special Collections, Photographer Unknown.
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Dennis Peskin ’66, teaching in the English department at the time, carries a Vietcong flag into the Commencement ceremony. Credit: Special Collections, Photographer Unknown.
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exhibit banner for Hell No, We Won't Go!
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Historians estimate that almost a fifth of colonial New York’s population was enslaved. Albany and Schenectady were no different. When Union College was founded in 1795, Schenectady had about 450 enslaved residents. These enslaved people toiled on small farms, worked in shops, and carried out work requested by their masters. New York merchants made fortunes trading crops such as tobacco, sugar, and indigo—all produced from enslaved labor. Early colonial New York Dutch merchants also lined their pockets from the slave trade.
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Major General Philip John Schuyler (1733-1804) was born into a “prominent Dutch lineage…the prestige that can come from long established family roots… an arrogancy not without a touch of vanity, but also the wellspring of ambition”.
The Major General married Catherine “Kitty” Van Rensselaer in 1755. Kitty gave birth to 15 children in the course of their long marriage, eight of whom survived to adulthood: Angelica, Eliza (Hamilton), Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, Margarita “Peggy”, John Bradstreet, Rensselaer, Cornelia and Catherine or “Caty”.
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In the winter of 2017, a lock of George Washington’s hair was discovered in the stacks of the Special Collections Department at Union College, triggering an international media storm. The lock of hair was found in a small envelope that was tucked inside a rare book entitled Gaine’s Universal Register (1793). The book belonged to Philip Jeremiah Schuyler, son of Major General Philip Schuyler, Sr., and the brother of Eliza (Schuyler) Hamilton, the wife of Alexander Hamilton.
Although media coverage focused on Washington’s hair, the discovery— the hair, the book, and the handwritten note on the envelope—all helped tell the story of the Schuyler (pronounced: SKY-ler) family and their role in the founding of Union College.
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