Students Respond to Injustice in Lake Forest
North Suburbs
When students at Lake Forest College attempted to get a permit for the protest march they were planning in October 1967, they were told by city hall that there were no permits for protests. This would be the first.
The students, faculty, and other members of the community marched through downtown in support of the antiwar march taking place in Washington, D.C. Lake Forest's first protest inspired more students to get involved in activism related to the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and other causes.
In May 1969, students organized another notable demonstration in downtown Lake Forest. Protestors read aloud the names of American soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. Reading the more than 35,000 names took over 12 hours.
Like students at colleges and universities across the country, Lake Forest College responded to the shooting of unarmed students at Kent State in 1970 with organized protests aiming to make their voices heard. During a three day strike, classes were replaced with sit-ins, teach-ins, and a march to Fort Sheridan. Students from Barat College and Lake Forest High School joined the Lake Forest College community in marching to the Army post, where they blocked the gates for hours. The march was the largest political protest ever held in the area.
This strike led to numerous new student activism organizations across the college's campus. This interest in social justice continued throughout the college's history and is documented in the collections of the Lake Forest College Archives. In 2014, students gathered in the student center to protest against police brutality. Like those in the 1960s and 1970s, these students joined a nationwide outcry for peace and justice.
