University History
The '60s and early '70s:
Activism makes for turbulent times at Colorado State
Despite its agrarian roots and predominantly conservative attitudes, Colorado State became the scene of intense student activism during the 1960s and early 1970s.
Racism and campus regulations for women were among early targets of student activists. In fall 1963, two students invited James Meredith, the first black to enroll at segregated University of Mississippi, to speak on campus. His visit led to other well-attended lectures that year, including talks by Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett and American Nazi party leader George Lincoln Rockwell.
Women's social regulations came to the forefront at Colorado State in fall 1964, when 21-year-old Vicki Hays illegally moved out of the residence halls and into unapproved off-campus housing to accommodate her late hours as managing editor of the Collegian. University rules mandated that women be in their dormitory or approved off-campus residence by 11 p.m. on week nights. Men had complete freedom over their movement and hours.
Hays lost a battle with school officials and transferred to University of Colorado, but a group of male activists continued pushing for change that culminated in a May 1967 demonstration in which 2,500 people "stayed out" past the 11 p.m. curfew for women.
Two weeks later, President Bill Morgan announced female dorm residents could stay out until midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. on weekends, and junior and senior coeds could live off campus. But the university retained its ban on male visits in women's rooms.
Anti-military protest took place in its most dramatic form at Colorado State from 1968-70. Although a 1965 student poll showed support for Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policies, the peace movement gained the campus and community spotlight on March 5, 1968.
Several hundred students and faculty with anti-war sentiments marched to Fort Collins' downtown War Memorial and wiped blood on a placard tied to the memorial. Hecklers, blockaders and a truck driver who unsuccessfully tried to run over the peace group created such a disturbance that police had to disperse the non-marchers with Mace.
Police were called to the scene of a much smaller yet more radical protest a few months later, when 10 students and 5 non-students barricaded themselves inside the university's Agriculture Building to protest on-campus interviews by a chemical company with military contracts.
What probably will be remembered as the saddest hours of Colorado State's anti-war movement occurred on May 8, 1970. Campus peace activists continued with the second day of a student strike as a response to the U.S. invasion of Cambodia and the deaths of four students at Kent State University. That evening, the group held a war moratorium concert in the College Avenue Gymnasium.
But sometime during the concert, one or more arsonists apparently set Old Main ablaze and completely destroyed the 92-year-old cornerstone of Colorado State. An attempt also was made to burn down the ROTC firing-range building.
The civil-rights movement on campus also picked up momentum and visibility during the late 1960s and early 1970s. In spring 1969, shortly before President Morgan's retirement, the Mexican-American Committee for Equality entered into a coalition with the Black Student Association.
The group presented a list of demands to university officials on April 7, urged immediate action at a State Board of Agriculture meeting on April 8 and occupied the Administration Building on April 9. On the evening of April 9, the demonstration moved to the front lawn of Morgan's home, which now is the Alumni Center.
The confrontation continued one week later when Morgan tried to present a task-force response to the demands, which primarily called for increased recruitment of minority students and employees.
The students and university officials took their concerns to state officials the next day. Although verbally supportive, Colorado legislators eventually rejected a university request for funds to support minority recruitment. Also, Colorado State students voted down a student-government referendum to raise fees 50 cents for the same cause.
A.R. Chamberlain, who succeeded Morgan as Colorado State president in July 1969 and did not want to involve the university in outside issues, had to deal with another major civil-rights confrontation a few months into his tenure.
In January 1970, students held a peaceful demonstration before the start of a Colorado State-Brigham Young University basketball to protest alleged racist practices of the Mormon Church. However, protesters stormed the gym floor during halftime and raised the "black power" salute. Fighting, hurled objects and the detachment of a police riot squad ensued, and a climate of tension pervaded campus for the remainder of the year.
Student activism continued into the 1970s but took on a far more subdued approach. Stability returned to Colorado State by the mid-1970s, and the university community could devote greater attention to teaching, research and outreach.
