Warn Invasion of Cambodia Poses New Alienation Threat
Student Strikes Begin
From the New York Times, May 5, 1970
The Presidents of 37 colleges and universities urged President Nixon yesterday to “demonstrate unequivocally your determination” to end promptly the United States military involvement in Southeast Asia.
In a letter to Mr. Nixon, the presidents said that “The American invasion of Cambodia, and the weekend bombing of North Vietnam” had generated “Severe and widespread apprehensions on our campuses”
“We share these apprehensions,” the presidents said, adding:
”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 signers, representing many of the nation’s leading academic institutions, “urgently” requested a meeting with Mr. Nixon.
The letter was drafted by Dr. James M. Hester, the president of New York University, and bore the signatures, among others, of the presidents of Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Notre Dame, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University.
NATIONWIDE STRIKE URGED
In Washington the leaders of the National Student Association and the former Vietnam Moratorium Committee called for a nationwide university strike of indefinite duration, starting today, to protest the war and to mobilize public opinion for a withdrawal of United States forces from Indochina. It would involve students, faculty members and administrators.
Antiwar groups at dozens of colleges and universities across the nation, meanwhile, began demonstrations and rallies to protest the Administration’s policies. There were strike pledges from at least 100 colleges.
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