Moratoria Papers, 1969-1970
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Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Sarang Gopalakrishnan. 2003-06-24
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collection
Moratoria Papers
Creation of Moratoria Papers
Time of Creation of Moratoria Papers
Amherst College
Biographical History for: Moratoria Papers
Historical Note In spring 1969, student grievances over the Vietnam War, race relations, College governance and coeducation led to plans to take over a College building. Advance warning allowed an ad hoc committee of students and faculty to request a two-day suspension of classes (April 28 and 29), called the Moratorium, to allow for College-wide discussion of these campus and national concerns. On Friday, April 25, 1969 the Amherst College Faculty in a closed meeting decided to suspend classes for two days, April 28 and 29. The Moratorium was declared to provide a campus-wide discussion to evaluate the College's problems in response to a proposal made by the English 98 Seminar, "English and Education." Out of these two days the College community voted on the Ad Hoc Committee's proposals dealing with reforms to the college and the drafting of a letter addressed to President Nixon informing him of "our concern as a committed institution for the existing relationship between the crisis on the university campus today and the larger ills of society." (Amherst Student, April 30, 1969) On May 14, 1969, at the instigation of the College's Afro-American Society, Amherst held a Black Moratorium, in which seminars were held to address issues of race relations and black dissatisfaction. (This event contributed to the College's decision to found the Black Studies Department in 1970.) On October 15, 1969, Amherst College again interrupted its normal academic activities by observing "Vietnam Moratorium Day." Millions of Americans throughout the United States participated in anti-war demonstrations, rallies, parades, teach-ins, forums, prayers and the reading of the roll of Vietnam dead. On May 3, 1970, area college students organized a strike to coincide with a national student strike to protest "the U.S. entry into Cambodia, political repression at home, and campus complicity in the form of ROTC and war-related research" (Amherst Student, June 4, 1970, p. 18). On May 4, the faculty joined with the student body in proposing a temporary cancellation of classes and the initiation of Departmental Committees to discuss the issues and act on them. On May 5 the faculty passed another resolution to make each student "free to decide individually where he will put his energy during the days ahead"; classes were allowed to continue if the student and teacher were so amenable. Then, on May 7, after a proposal by the Ad Hoc Student Assembly Steering Committee, the faculty voted to suspend classes for the remainder of the semester.
Scope and Contents of the Collection Clippings, printed matter, photographs and administrative records related to four separate moratoria held at Amherst College from April 1969 to May 1970 to protest current events and explore issues of the Vietnam War, race relations and other social ills, particularly with regard to the College's role in them.
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975--Protest movements --Massachusetts--Amherst.
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Amherst College--History--Sources.
Amherst College--Student strike, 1969.
Amherst College--Student strike, 1970.
Amherst College.
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series
Series 1: Moratorium of April 28-29, 1969 on the Structure of the College Community
College Counsel Publications (including schedule of events) n.d.
Ad Hoc Committee Proposals n.d.
Student Proposals, A-H (alphabetically by name of author) n.d.
Student Proposals, I-Z (alphabetically by name of author) n.d.
Faculty Proposals n.d.
Faculty Resolutions n.d.
General Statements Concerning the Moratorium, Pictures n.d.
Information on the Budget and Financial Aid n.d.
Information on the Foreign Language Requirement n.d.
Newspaper Clippings on Moratorium n.d.
President Plimpton's Letter to President Nixon: Answer to Letter From Daniel P. Moynihan; Supporting Letter from Columbia University; Newspaper Clippings Concerning Letter. (Related Material in President's Files - Series I) n.d.
Series 2: Moratorium of May 14, 1969 on Black Dissatisfaction
Material on May 14, 1969 Moratorium n.d.
Series 3: Moratorium of October 15, 1969 on the Vietnam War
Material on the October 15, 1969 Moratorium [See also biographical file of Ernest Craige '70 (Student Council President)] n.d.
Series 4: Moratorium of Spring, May 1970
Schedules and Announcements of Events n.d.
Student Assembly Bulletins of Events n.d.
Proposals and Resolutions of Faculty and Students (Including Women of Amherst) n.d.
Information and Directions for Demonstrating, Canvassing, Letter-Writing, etc. n.d.
Information on suspension of classes and grades n.d.
Strike - General Literature on - pictures n.d.
Strike - General Literature on n.d.
Black Newspapers: The Black Panther; People's Paper; Ministry of Information Bulletin n.d.
Newspaper clippings about strike n.d.
Magazines: Consider (7 copies); Change, Sep-Oct, 1970 n.d.
Biographical information on Amherst Trustees n.d.
Literature from other colleges n.d.
Election Day Protest, 1968 - Pictures n.d.