President Calvin Plimpton’s reception for students and families took place outdoors, as did Senior Class Exercises, which featured a speech by civil rights lawyer and ACLU director William M. Kunstler. But the commencement ceremony itself was held in Coolidge Cage. New York Times coverage noted the morning’s “persistent rain” and “leaden skies [that] seemed almost to reflect the solemn mood of the class of 1970, many of whom wore blue armbands of protest.”
The main topic of protest was U.S. military activity in Southeast Asia, particularly the invasion of Cambodia, which had spurred a nationwide student strike and the cancelation of classes at Amherst earlier that spring. Commencement weekend included, in Porter Lounge and Chapin Hall, discussion sessions about the strike.
The Times quoted the commencement speaker, journalist I.F. Stone, who said he drew hope from student activists: “I think we are very fortunate to have a generation like the present one, ready to give up academic careers and advancement” for the cause of “revolting against other people’s oppression.”
Katherine Duke ’05
