Anti-Vietnam War protests at Hopkins

BY HELEN LACEY, News and Features Editor

More than 200 sudents and demonstrators surrounded Homewood House (now known as Homewood Museum) in protest of military recruiting on campus on April 17, 1970. The protest occurred following the events on April 16, where 40 activists blocked the entrance to Levering Hall to protest the U.S. Marine Corps recruiters inside.

University President Lincoln Gordon addressed protesters twice that day: once to promise a referendum and once to warn against a takeover. A court injunction limiting protest was issued on the same day, banning any meetings or speeches that would interfere with the normal operations of the University. Following the injunction, demonstrators began a weekend-long vigil near the library.

Gordon promised to revoke the injunction if protesters agreed to his proposed referendum. Students rejected Gordon’s proposal on three grounds, according to an article published in an April 20, 1970 edition of The News-Letter.

“1. one cannot determine the rightness or wrongness of a moral issue by voting;

2. Gordon is trying to stall the issue until the exam period through the convocation and referendum commission; 3. Gordon is using democracy as a weapon,” the article read.

An April 24, 1970 edition of The News-Letter published an article titled “Strike Suspended After President Gordon Concedes Question of Military Recruiting” that detailed the presidential response that eventually concluded the strike on April 23. An agreement was reached during a meeting between 10 strikers, the dean-designate and two vice presidents.

The agreement suspended military recruiting on campus unless 10% of the student body petitioned for a referendum on military recruitment before May 1, 1970. If no referendum was held before May 1, then military recruiting would be permanently banned on campus.

“In a society where transportation has broken down and there’s a crisis in pollution, in housing and a crisis in people, we should be meeting the needs of our society,” he said. “We don’t want to gloss over the fact that every conscientious citizen has to be concerned with APL’s prostitution of science in the war against Vietnam.”

The News-Letter a discussion of the invasion with other university and college presidents.

“We implore you to consider the incalculable dangers of an unprecedented alienation of America’s youth and to take immediate action to demonstrate unequivocally your determination to end the war quickly,” the letter read. “We urgently request the opportunity to discuss these problems with you directly.” demonstrators from getting too close. have aided in bringing these issues to the fore.