Collaborate with Faculty
As opposition to the war grew on campus and around the country, student activist groups found like-minded political allies in some University of Michigan faculty. Motivated by escalating military action against Vietnam in early 1965, professors appealed to their students to support a “teach-in” protest against the war (Glenn 2017). This protest would be the first of its kind (Sahlins 2009, p. 4). The signed petition on this page is their appeal for student participation, which would be critical to the success of the demonstration. On March 24, 1965, the first “teach-in” protest was held and featured faculty speakers alongside Alan Haber, one of the founders of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). This kind of collaborative demonstration positioned teachers, their students, and student organizations as allies in a greater movement.
This ideological alliance worked both ways. Student organizations would call on faculty support in 1966 to protest the use of class rankings by the Selective Service. At the time, the Selective Service was using university class rankings to determine which students could be drafted (Foley 1999, p. 93). “A Petition from Students to Our Teachers” was written up by the SDS and asked faculty to register their public opposition to and noncompliance with this practice. The petition showed that faculty and student groups were aligned and took action by asking teachers to withhold students grades from the university registrar in protest.
Further reading on the 1965 Teach-In at the University of Michigan:
University of Michigan. (n.d.). The First U of M Teach-In (March 1965). http://michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu/antivietnamwar/exhibits/show/exhibit/the_teach_ins/first_teach_in.