1967 Anti-CIA Protest
On November 3, 1967, Brown University students in the Campus Action Council (CAC) hosted a speak-out on the Campus Green. This occurred days after members of the CAC hosted a sit-in to prevent Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) job interviews on campus. Students were upset about the CIA’s involvement/actions in Vietnam. The purpose of the sit-in was to allow the students of Brown’s campus to demand an end to the CIA’s activities and the on-going Cold War. Much of the CAC’s work involved protests against the CIA, U.S. military draft and the use of napalm, in addition to general anti-Vietnam action.
The protestors blocked passage of a CIA interviewer from entering the room in the Brown Placement Office where he intended to conduct interviews. The CAC considered it a successful event, as the CIA left campus without conducting interviews and the administration was made aware of student’s objections to the CIA on campus. Many students, sympathizers, and professors were involved in the original sit-in on campus. Graduate student Arnold Strasser noted in the Brown Daily Herald, “We are not asking the administration to make a moral decision on the CIA; we are asking for a confrontation of ideas.”
Brown University President Ray Heffner was presented with a petition asking the administration to treat the student protestors with compassion, while another petition called for harsh punishment of the students. President Heffner responded to the petitions as “inappropriate” since the University Council on Student Affairs was responsible for the initial assessment of student conduct.
The University was divided on how the CAC and others involved in the sit-in should be reprimanded. Several days after the sit-in people gathered on the Campus Green to explain the motives behind their actions. Brown students allowed the sit-in to act as a catalyst in their efforts to make the administration and CIA listen to their stance on the country being at war. During the speak-out, 400 students filled the Green, listening as the CAC spread their message. Folk singer Pete Seeger performed for the crowd and Robert F. Cohen, Jr., ’68, CAC president, spoke on behalf of his members. Proceeds from this protest went to help injured children in Vietnam.
1984 Anti-CIA Student Protest
On November 26, 1984, a CIA recruiter arrived on campus and began conducting interviews, much to students’ upset. In response, students organized meetings to discuss how to react to the recruitment. Days later, an informal meeting conducted by CIA recruiters on Brown’s campus was interrupted when one of the audience members blew a police whistle and 60 students rose to perform a citizen’s arrest based on “solicitation to aid in the violation of national and international law” by the CIA. The students, gathered in the basement of Pembroke Hall, had prepared a list containing the names of the protesters and more names were added to the list at the meeting. Simultaneously students held signs and protested outside of Pembroke Hall in an effort to get their point across.
Of the 68 protestors that signed the list, three were recent graduates. The remaining 65 were charged and found guilty of disruptive behavior by University Counsel of Student Affairs (UCSA), including 56 undergraduates, one medical student and eight students who had signed the list, but weren’t in the room at the time of disruption. One student, Martha Gardner, recalled that the theme of accountability was strong throughout the protest, as the students wanted to be held responsible for their actions. Thus, the names of the students were taken by Dean Robinson and handed off to the UCSA.
Students held many late night meetings with the aim of strategizing how to navigate the UCSA process. Gardner described the students as an “ad hoc” group, that hadn’t previously gathered together. The group decided upon eight spokespeople, divided evenly among men and women, for the UCSA hearing. The students also procured John Stockwell, an ex-CIA agent who wrote a book about illegal CIA activity, to come as a witness to the hearing. The students talked to lawyers about the legality of citizens’ arrest. One aspect of the proceeding focused on how university disciplinary procedure related to Rhode Island law. The students, while they didn’t deny that they had disturbed a meeting, claimed that the citizen’s arrest was justified given the circumstances. The students also had the support of three professors, including Bill McLoughlin and Joan Scott, who gave statements at the hearing explaining that the students were justified and had done the arrest in a responsible manner.
The hearing was held in Alumnae Hall, with Gardner recalling that there were around 400 students in attendance. The students decided against having their peers on the UCSA board at the trial. The hearing was lengthy, possibly lasting until two or three in the morning. The students received a standing ovation following the hearing, headed off to a party afterwards, and ended up feeling accomplished with having only received a disciplinary mark on the students’ records as opposed to suspension as repercussion. The medical student involved in the protest was reprimanded but did not have this punishment noted on his transcript. The cases of the eight students who were not in the room during the arrest were dropped.
1987 Anti-CIA Student Protest
In late November of 1987, the CIA was planning to come to campus to conduct employment interviews. But, as it became clear that students were planning a protest, the CIA cancelled the on-campus interviews, saying they would accept resumes and follow up with individuals. Despite the cancellation, students still protested. A group called “CIA Off-campus” led the protest as a way to demand that the administration permanently ban the CIA from campus. Around 100 students held a sit-in in University Hall where they spoke to President Swearer and told him their demands. Swearer said he would present the issue to the Advisory and Executive Committee, the Brown Corporation’s governing body. Following the sit-in, about 100 students gathered on the green to hear speakers discuss the CIA and why Brown should ban the organization.
However, after a sit-in in Faunce House on the following day, student protestors were told that the administration would not arrange for such a meeting with the Advisory and Executive Committee. Students sat in Dean of Students, John Robinson’s office in Faunce. The students demanded that the university create a temporary ban on CIA recruitment while changes in Brown’s policy were discussed and complained that the administration was breaking its promise. However, Dean of Student Life, Eric Widmer, stated that students were warned before the Faunce sit-in that if they were to cause any more disturbance, the students’ “gains would be forfeited.” After a second warning, students left the building. This was just one of many anti-CIA protests occurring at colleges in different parts of America at this time.
“We are not asking the administration to make a moral decision on the CIA; we are asking for a confrontation of ideas.”
—Arnold Strasser, 11/6/67