Reactions to Kent State at Clemson

Clemson's transition from a military school to a public university was in full swing by 1970. During this shift, there was much conflict between the students and administration, between the old and the new that was reflective of the Counterculture of the period.

Published on July 31, 1970, an issue of The Tiger newspaper focused on student's reactions to Kent State and the liberal campus movements pushing social change. It reflected on Clemson's past as a military school and its future as a new kind of public university. Indicative of this, is a picture displaying an argument between an ROTC student and a newer civilian student outside of Harcombe Dining Hall.

Evident in both the pictures and the text of the newspaper is the atmosphere of tension amongst the social change that was occuring and was pushed by many younger liberal students. There was, of course, resistance from the adminsration and more conservative students. Pictures display competing prowar and antiwar demonstrations while a female students lifts her fist in defiance as she accepts her diploma. These pictures demonstrate Clemson's own position in the Counterculture of the period. It too was swept up by Counterculture and resulted in the contentious, but peaceful, shift from a military school to a public research university.

Images

Map