On Monday, March 6, 1967, the UT men’s basketball team won their first Southeastern Conference title since 1943 by beating Mississippi State with two free throws by Bill Justus with six seconds remaining in the third overtime. In Knoxville, there was much exuberance over the win. A power failure that blacked out Humes, Reese, New … Continued

In 1965 some three hundred students had attended a meeting sponsored by the Student Government Association in support of US policy in Vietnam, but in 1968 five hundred students and faculty demonstrated against the war during the visit of Selective Service Director Lewis Hershey, who came to campus to speak at a Boy Scout banquet … Continued

President Holt’s apparent refusal to allow Adam Clayton Powell (who had actually not been invited to speak), his refusal (twice) to allow Dick Gregory to speak, and denial of permission for a debate on campus between Timothy Leary and Sidney Cohen prompted the faculty of the College of Law and the Student Government Association to … Continued

Dr. Kenneth Burnham reported to UT officials that the final examination for fall quarter’s 1110 Zoology Class “appeared to have been released to students prematurely,” resulting in exceptionally high grades on the examination, which was taken by 1,350 students. Thirty-three students were suspected of cheating. On January 20, 1968, UT announced that it had suspended … Continued

In 1968 the Association of Women Students demanded that dormitory “curfew” hours be removed, or at least substantially extended, and that female students 21 years old or older and seniors who obtained parental permission be permitted to seek off-campus housing. In May, Dean of Women Jane McCormick presented the response from the President’s Cabinet: there … Continued

In fall 1969 African American students marched around the administration building and staged sit-ins demanding increased participation in institutional affairs.

On May 9 and 10, fifty to seventy-five members of the Black Student Union peacefully picketed the Austin Peay Administration Building, demanding (1) an African American cheerleader (reconsideration of Shirley Majors, who was not selected as a cheerleader in the Adawayhi tryouts); (2) funding of activities as previously submitted to the Student Activities Office; (3) … Continued

In early 1969 four African American students charged that they were asked to leave the UT Pep Band after refusing to play “Dixie” at the Vanderbilt basketball game. Mack Wiggins Jr. and Juan McVay withdrew from band activities after the event, and George Estell and William Pincham joined one of the concert bands.

The Student Government Association endorsed the October 15, 1969, Vietnam Moratorium Day on October 1 “as a means of showing the desire of students for a speedy peace” and added in the resolution of support that the “endorsement extends only to those activities sponsored by the Vietnam Moratorium Committee at UT.” The campus chapter of … Continued

Women had been complaining of the requirement that women return to dormitories by specific hours for some years, and in winter 1969 several hundred women peacefully walked out of their residence halls to protest the continuance of curfews. The Student Government Association and the Association of Women Students pushed for the abolition of curfew hours … Continued