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 Philip 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 Philip 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.