Live, Vietnam Commencement - May 17, 1968, Sproul Plaza at the University of California at Berkeley The Faculty Peace Committee was formed in the early stages of opposition to the Vietnam War, drawing energy from many of the faculty members who had come together a year earlier in support of the Free Speech Movement. The FPC was active for a period of almost ten years, from the mid-60s on. There was no avoiding the rip tides and cross-currents that tore at the anti-war movements and the campus community, including the disagreements and antagonisms among different groups opposing the war. The FPC worked in full and equal collaboration to bring about the Vietnam Commencement of May 17, 1968. The Commencement was a remarkable event. At the height of the war, as UC Berkeley’s Class of 1968 was graduating, 866 seniors and graduate students signed an oath and affirmed it publicly before a huge assemblage in solemn ceremony in Sproul Plaza: “Our war in Vietnam is unjust and immoral. As long as the United States is involved in this war I will not serve in the armed forces.” About a thousand other members of the campus community signed this supporting pledge: “Although I am not subject to the draft, my opposition to our government’s policy in Vietnam compels me to support those draft-eligible Americans who have pledged to refuse induction. I believe that their decisions are legitimate acts of conscience opposing an unjust and immoral war. I pledge to support those young men with encouragement, counsel, and financial aid.” The size of the convocation matched the largest demonstrations of the Free Speech Movement. It was addressed by Robert Hutchins and Charles Sellers among others. The program included the mother of imprisoned Ronald Lockman, an African-American soldier who refused shipment to Vietnam, and the sister of another jailed draft resister, John Wells. Phil Ochs' FBI File: http://www.lulu.com/content/1184058
Live, Vietnam Commencement - May 17, 1968, Sproul Plaza at the University of California at Berkeley ...
