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University of Wisconsin-Madison (view source)
Revision as of 12:37, April 26, 2007
, 12:37, April 26, 2007Campus radicalism during the Vietnam war
The university's radio station, WHA, was an important pioneer in broadcast radio, and makes the (questioned) claim to be "the oldest station in the nation"<ref>[http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER0607.html "The Oldest Station in the Nation"], photograph of historical marker]</ref> The physics department began experimental transmissions in 1900, received experimental license 9XM in 1915, began voice transmissions in 1920, and received its current call letters, WHA, in 1922.
The university's radio station, WHA, was an important pioneer in broadcast radio, and makes the (questioned) claim to be "the oldest station in the nation"<ref>[http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER0607.html "The Oldest Station in the Nation"], photograph of historical marker]</ref> The physics department began experimental transmissions in 1900, received experimental license 9XM in 1915, began voice transmissions in 1920, and received its current call letters, WHA, in 1922.
During the late 1960s, students at the University of Wisconsin became radicalized by the Vietnam war, and the university was a center of campus unrest. One protest focussed on the presence of Dow Chemical Company job recruiters—Dow being singled out as a manufacturer of napalm, a weapon thought to be particularly cruel. Others centered on the military-funded Army Mathematics Research Center (AMRC) which performed a mixture of published and secret research, with the university emphasizing its theoretical studies, while campus radicals suggesting it also did work with direct, practical military use. In 1970, Karleton Armstrong and three other students constructed what would now be called a "car bomb," filling a stolen van with a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, a home-made explosive familiar to farmers, and exploded it outside the Sterling Hall building which housed the AMRC.<ref>[http://www.madison.com/library/LEE/sterlinghall.html Sterling Hall Bombing], Madison library website</ref> The explosion killed a graduate student. The ensuing shock and revulsion, and the winding down of the Vietnam war, brought a steep decline to the period of campus radicalism.
It has long been one of the most liberal institutions in the United States.{{fact}} It has a relatively low representation of minorities in its enrollment—11.5%—compared to over 20% nationwide and 12.7% for the state of Wisconsin.
It has long been one of the most liberal institutions in the United States.{{fact}} It has a relatively low representation of minorities in its enrollment—11.5%—compared to over 20% nationwide and 12.7% for the state of Wisconsin.