A Time of Protest
While the late 1960s was a tumultous time at universities and colleges across the United States with Vietnam protests in full swing, the students and sometimes the faculty at Rice University took a different approach to protest.
Their demonstrations focused on two major events: one being the Masterson Crisis in April 1969 and the other being the Abbie Hoffman Incident in April 1970. You can explore both of these stories below via timelines, oral histories, photographs, documents, and more.
A Time of Protest
While the late 1960s was a tumultous time at universities and colleges across the United States with Vietnam protests in full swing, the students and sometimes the faculty at Rice University took a different approach to protest.
Their demonstrations focused on two major events: one being the Masterson Crisis in April 1969 and the other being the Abbie Hoffman Incident in April 1970. You can explore both of these stories below via timelines, oral histories, photographs, documents, and more.
The Masterson Crisis
A controversy arose on the campus of Rice University in February 1969 when the Board of Trustees announced the appointment of William H. Masterson as the university's new president. Students and faculty protested the Board's failure to consult with a committee that had been created to advise on the selection, and many opposed the choice that the Trustees had made. After five days of peaceful protest, including a teach-in, march, and a campus-wide poll, Masterson resigned.
The Masterson crisis can be seen within the context of a decade of nation-wide turmoil resulting from the Civil Rights movement, the war in Vietnam, the emergence of feminism and women’s rights, and a general rebellion against authority among many of the nation’s youth. Many view the Masterson crisis as an event peculiar to Rice, influenced by yet separate from the wider student movement. With their slogan of "It Can't Happen Here" and their coat-and-tie dress code, Rice students and faculty distanced themselves from the demonstrations occurring at other universities and pushed for their cause to be taken seriously.
The Abbie Hoffman Incident
On the heels of the Masterson Crisis, another crisis in the Spring of 1970 yet again sparked student uprisings against the administration. Despite Rice’s relatively calm political atmosphere regarding the events and attitudes of the sixties compared to other college campuses, tensions remained heightened.
In late March, the Student Center Board invited Abbie Hoffman, a radical activist and an icon of the anti-war and counterculture movements, to speak at Rice University for a public event. The proposal was rejected by the dean of students and revised by the students multiple times without reaching a consensus. Over the next few weeks, the conflict escalated amid arson and bomb threats as the Student Association, the university president, and the Board of Trustees got involved.
While Hoffman ultimately gave a five minute speech at Willy’s statue, the next two weeks were marked by protests, negotiations, and most notably a student occupation and clash at the Allen Center.