This week marks the 55th anniversary of one of the largest student protests on Mizzou’s campus. Demonstrations erupted across the U.S. after the fatal shooting of Vietnam War protesters at Kent State on May 4, 1970. Tensions had been building between MU students and administrators throughout the 1960s over concerns of censorship on campus. Much of the censorship pertained to Columbia’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) group and their anti-war independent student newspaper. This fracture between students and administration reached a boiling point on May 8, 1970. The demonstrations throughout the following weeks resulted in cancelled classes, arrests of students and faculty, and the University entering a state of emergency.
Stop by the colonnade display case to explore records from the University Archives documenting the both the student and administrative perspectives of campus unrest from 1969 to 1973. This display was prepared by the University of Missouri Archives and Public History 4910 students and will be on display until the end of May.