Student Protests Collection

The University of Denver has experienced protests by students since early in its history. Most of the early protests were about internal University issues, such as disciplinary actions or tuition increases. Later protests were generally about national and international issues, joining national student protest movements.

The earliest protest relates to a 1911 strike by students in support of twenty members of the Junior class disciplined for rioting at a school event. The latest in the collection is about the Gulf War of 1991. In between, students protested such issues as tuition hikes or against a preacher who opposed Kennedy's election because he was Catholic.

As with most Universities, the majority of the protests happened in the 1960s and 1970s, when the Vietnam War and the draft were the focus. There was a major sit-in in 1968 which began with protests of recruitment on campus by the CIA and Dow Chemical, but expanded to encompass a general Student Bill of Rights allowing students to determine policies on student governance.

The most well-known protest happened in 1970, when students erected Woodstock West on the Carnegie Green as part of a national student strike protesting the killing of students at Kent State by National Guard troops. The student body and faculty were split between supporters of the strike and those who stood behind Chancellor Mitchell as he demanded the cessation of protest. The police were called, the shanties were pulled down only to be rebuilt. Finally the National Guard were called in and Woodstock West was dismantled peacefully.

After Woodstock West, the energy left the protest movements. There were small protests over the Iranian takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran, the Tienemen (Tiananmen, Tienanmen, Tien'an Men) Square in China and the Gulf War in 1991.