The April 23 Clarence Brown Theatre opening performance of Shakespeare’s Othello was cancelled minutes after it began because more than a hundred African American students shouted down the actors in protest of casting a Caucasian (Charles Lutz) as Othello. UT police were augmented by at least eight additional police personnel with riot batons after the … Continued

Student Government Association councilman Bill Owen and Dr. Charles Reynolds of the Religious Studies Department, led a group of about 25 UT students and staff in picketing the movie No Substitute for Victory!, which was being shown at Fulton High School by the committee To Restore American Independence Now (TRAIN).

The Student Senate conducted a massive campus-wide voter registration drive in fall 1971, through which approximately five thousand students were registered to vote. The senate sponsored a march from the Presidential Complex to the courthouse on the last day to register for the November 4 city elections, and bus service every half hour from the … Continued

In October 1972 some 250 African American students staged a rally in front of the Austin Peay Building, which was the location of the university administration at the time. The purpose of the rally was “to let the whole university know that the lackadaisical put-off of black people is over,” according to Afro-American Student Liberation … Continued

In 1972 a form of differentiated housing was implemented. Not well explained to parents and students, the open house rules were violated by residents of Morrill Hall, which led to the closing of Morrill’s lobby. Students across the residence halls coalesced in support of Morrill, demanded a role in the setting of regulations for residence … Continued

During the summer of 1972, student leaders from all UT campuses worked on a resolution to the board of trustees requesting that, since the legal age for consumption of alcohol had been decreased to 18, students be allowed to possess and consume alcohol in their living quarters. Student body presidents of UT campuses presented the … Continued

The UT Chapter of the ACLU passed a resolution in support of student pressure for the administration to outlaw the playing of “Dixie” and the waving of Confederate flags by University of Mississippi fans during the November 18 homecoming football game. Student Affairs Vice Chancellor Howard Aldmon issued a statement that spectators would not be … Continued

On May 10, 1972, a small rally, sparked by President Nixon’s order to place mines at Haiphong, originated at the Methodist Student Center and gained approximately one hundred students as it proceeded across campus. The crowd grew to more than three hundred at Circle Park, where Professors Charles Reynolds and Richard Marius addressed the students, … Continued

The issue of payment for spring quarter 1973 damage done to two doors and carpeting on the seventh floor of Morrill Hall resulted in a $10,000 lawsuit filed against UT and Morrill Head Resident Christine McKinney. Residents stated that when those who did the damage could not be located, the cost of repairs was levied … Continued

Bill Haltom, chairman of the Student Senate’s Student Rights Committee, met with several members of the US Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights on January 2–5, 1973. Senators Birch Bayh and Sam Ervin presented Haltom with army and FBI dossiers on several UT students, and Haltom was allowed to examine computer printouts, which he stated in … Continued