TABLE OF CONTENTS
Guide to the Military on Campus Collection, 1968 - 1975
Descriptive Summary |
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| Repository | Special Collections & Archives, Wesleyan University |
| Creator | Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.) |
| Title | Military on Campus Collection, |
| Dates | 1968 - 1975 |
| Linear Feet | 0.25 |
| Archival Boxes | 1 |
| Abstract | During the Vietnam War, especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s, some Wesleyan University students and faculty protested military recruiters visiting the school. In response to the controversy, Wesleyan developed a policy about military recruitment. This issue subsided with the end of the Vietnam War and the draft. |
| The Military on Campus Collection contains correspondence, memos, clippings, and other materials related to the controversy on military recruitment at Wesleyan University from 1968 to 1973. Major correspondents are Phillip Rockwell and Paul Reynolds. | |
| Call Number | 1000-141 |
| Location | For current information on the location of these materials, please consult Special Collections & Archives staff. |
| Language of Material | Material in English |
Historical Note
During the years 1968 and 1969, military recruitment on the Wesleyan University campus became a heated issue. In February of 1969, Navy recruiter Lieutenant Kehoe came to campus to conduct interviews with students in North College. Approximately 30 Wesleyan students and 3 faculty members crammed the room, making the proceedings impossible, while about 100 more students gathered outside to protest the military presence on campus. In order to deal with the crisis, the University, under the presidency of Edwin Etherington, created a referendum amongst the student body through the College Body Committee, which was followed by a faculty vote. By November 1969 they had arrived at a new policy. Etherington resigned shortly thereafter and was succeeded by Colin Campbell. The full-time position of an Advisor on Military Programs was created and Phillip Rockwell took the job. Meetings with military representatives would from then on take place based solely on student request and were to be organized by Phillip Rockwell. All interviews, examinations, and tests for military entrance would be done off campus at the appropriate location.
In December 1970, Colonel Kerrigan of the US Marine Corps informed Wesleyan that, due to his interpretation of the University's policy, the Secretary of Defense was advised that Wesleyan was barring military personnel from campus because of the requirement for a student request for a Marine officer visit. The justification for this was, according to Kerrigan, the NASA Act and the Armed Forces Appropriation Act. The University, in its response, was able to clarify its policy and successfully dispute the accusation. Simultaneously, Professor of Philosophy Paul Reynolds was a member for the anti-war Union for Progressive Action, and actively protested recruitment on campus. In numerous documents, he objected to what he called the University sanctioning "executive sessions of classified government personnel" with members of the community. He maintained that a member of the government under "security clearance" has no claim to academic rights, and therefore executive sessions being held on campus threatened the academic climate of the University, and legally required a warrant to be held on public premises or at the University. He also objected to the Office of Career Planning helping to recruit students for espionage in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or National Security Agency (NSA). According to documents from the University administration, there were not any executive sessions or espionage recruitment. When the draft and the Vietnam War ended in 1973, much of the conflict on campus seems to have died down.
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Collection Overview
This collection is divided into five folders. The first and second folders are general correspondence between Wesleyan and the various branches of the military, during the years 1968-1971, and 1972-1975, respectively. This correspondence is mostly generic in nature: military requests to visit campus, University responses to these requests, University inquiries about military programs, and military mailings and brochures detailing their career options for students.
The third folder is the Policy folder, and it contains the documents pertaining to the creation of the University's policy towards military presence on campus. Because of student and faculty protests about the military actively coming on campus and conducting interviews with students, the University created a new policy whereby there was an Advisor on Military Programs for students who scheduled meetings with the military based solely on student request. There was some controversy, as the Marines accused Wesleyan of barring the military from the campus, and due to a Public Law in the NASA Act (enclosed in the collection), the university could have been penalized by the Secretary of Defense by having funds denied to it. The information pertaining to this conflict is all enclosed in the third file.
The fourth file is the Phillip Rockwell file. It includes several articles from the Argus and the Middletown Press from 1968 and 1969 about military protests by students, and the University's decision to create a new position for an "Advisor on Military Programs." It is at this time that the University created a new policy toward the military on campus. This file contains information about the creation of this office, a handwritten essay by Rockwell entitled "My Stand on Position of Advisor on Military Programs," correspondence, and his annual report of activities from 1969 to 1972.
The last file in the collection is the Paul Reynolds file. Paul Reynolds was a professor at Wesleyan who vocally protested the Vietnam War and military presence on campus, for various reasons. This file mostly contains his writings, his letters to the administration, the Argus, and detailed written explanations about his beliefs and actions toward military and espionage recruiters on the Wesleyan campus as well as the administration's response to this accusations and inquiries.
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Restrictions
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Copyright Notice
Copyright for Official University records is held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
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Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Military on Campus Collection, Collection #1000-141, Special Collections & Archives, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Acquired from university offices, 1975-1997.
Processing Information
Processed by Stephen Padilla, November 2007
Encoded by Valerie Gillispie, November 2007
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