The following evidence, drawn primarily from the pages of VPI's student newspaper, The Collegiate Times, provides insight into the complex politics that defined and influenced student life and priorities during the 1960s and 1970s. Student publications such as The Collegiate Times provide a unique and, in many ways, comprehensive view of the values and interests of college and university students. Because they exist in large part to report on campus news and events, student newspapers provide extensive coverage of what students, professors, and university administrators did and discussed. Just as importantly, campus periodicals must appeal to as broad a segment of the student body as possible, so their editorial pages and letters-to-the-editor sections often present a multiplicity of views, especially on contentious campus events. The documents and images below highlight the variety of responses among VPI students to the antiwar protests of April and May 1970. Organized according to position along the spectrum of student political beliefs, the evidence raises a number of questions about the nature of student politics during an era generally characterized as a period of youthful dissent.
