Iraq isn’t Vietnam, at least not literally, but that hasn’t stopped the two from being compared.

Yet since the beginning of the Iraq war, there have been no protests at Iowa State comparable to those in response to the Vietnam War. Between 1965 and 1971, the Iowa State Daily reported on several demonstrations for and against the war involving thousands of students.

In a year when the United States is involved in another contentious war and ISU students are facing other issues like tuition increases, there are assumptions that by not demonstrating, students are being apathetic.

“There was a fair amount of evidence that said that the draft was a real stimulus to student activism,” said Hamilton Cravens, professor of history.

“Should the draft come back, we’ll see a lot more student activism.”

Activism then …

The first Daily editorial about demonstrations during Vietnam, “Student Demonstrations Sweep Country,” was published April 3, 1965. In it, Shirley Bailey, editorial board member, wrote that demonstrations and protest movements were the result of rational efforts having failed.

“More important than the method used is the fact that these interested students and faculty did something,” Bailey wrote. “They were not ignoring problems. Iowa State also has problems and areas which need improvement. What are we doing?”

Iowa State had not, at this point, staged any large-scale demonstrations.

One of the first demonstrations on campus was held on April 14, 1965. About 35 students gathered in front of Beardshear Hall for a picket demonstration against military involvement in Vietnam. According to an article in the April 15, 1965, Daily, about six additional students counter-picketed in favor of U.S. military involvement.

As the U.S. involvement in Vietnam progressed, so did student movements on campus.

In response to the riots and subsequent killing of four students by national guardsmen at Kent State on May 4, 1970, the Government of the Student Body voted in favor of a 24-hour protest and mass rally on May 6, according to the 1971 ISU yearbook. More than 4,000 people gathered on campus for the event.

Following the 1970 Veishea parade, about 2,000 gathered for another rally.

“If the university is not concerned with deep human problems such as bringing peace, then what should it be concerned with?” then-ISU President W. Robert Parks told the crowd.

Cravens taught at Iowa State during the Vietnam demonstrations and said much of the momentum that led up to them came out of the ’60s when a variety of social issues were arising and changing.

“There was more of a sense that you can change the system than there is today,” Cravens said.

… and activism now

Today, campus groups like Time for Peace are working to encourage involvement from students. The group describes itself as a nonpartisan organization dedicated to nonviolence.

Brant Kassel, a member of the Time for Peace steering committee, said they have been holding demonstrations since the group’s beginning on Sept. 11, 2001.

In the events leading up to the beginning of the invasion of Iraq in early 2003, the group held vigils one or two times a week at the intersection of Welch Avenue and Lincoln Way. After the invasion, the vigils were held less frequently, but they are now organized periodically in response to events.

“The main reason to hold a vigil is because they can reach a large number of people,” Kassel said. “The response to the vigils has been largely positive.”

On the one-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, about 150 demonstrators gathered on Lincoln Way to memorialize the event.

Kassel said the event had one of the group’s larger turnouts, but he had heard of turnouts of about 300 people prior to his involvement with the group.

“Education, communication and awareness are kind of three things that the activist community strives for,” Kassel said. “When you couple that with a protest you can create a really effective program.”

Kassel said he’s happy with the turnout at Time for Peace events, but he does see differences in the activity levels of this generation. He said part of this is because of differences between the two wars.

“When you look at Vietnam, to me there was the draft, where they started taking people that didn’t want to be there,” Kassel said.

“The casualties were much higher.”

Kassel also said Sept. 11, 2001 may have given Americans a different perspective on the war that people didn’t have during Vietnam. He said because we were attacked, and because of the unity that emerged, protesting is often viewed as negative.

“There are people that want to make change out there,” Kassel said.

“I think for a lot of people, they feel really removed from what’s going on around us. I really hope it’s not apathy.”

Kassel said he sees growing numbers of people who are feeling moved to take action, and he noted a new group that is working to form an alliance between progressive student groups.

Dan Sherman, one of the founders of the new group, Catalyst, said the group has formed in response to many of the issues that he feels the current administration is mishandling, like the environment, the war in Iraq and foreign policy.

He said the Iraq war is different from Vietnam, but not different enough to account for the difference in the numbers of people taking action.

“Throughout the media, you’re not made aware that there are millions of people that feel the same as you,” Sherman said.

Louis Kishkunas, president of the ISU College Republicans, said his group has held demonstrations in support of the troops. He said in the events leading up to the Iraq war, they chose to do these as counter-protests to Time for Peace.

“I don’t think students are apathetic,” Kishkunas said. “When you look at the New Voters Project, student government, I think we’re anything but apathetic. This year, I think every student spent at least some time on the issues.”

Kishkunas said the number of students who voted shows that students aren’t apathetic.

“More students here voted in this election,” Kishkunas said. “I just don’t think there’s that type of apathy, especially in the wake of this last election.”

Cravens said the two wars are different, but he does see enough similarities that he would expect to see more student involvement.

“I think it’s because there is a real sense of pessimism and there’s also a sense of not being connected to the people, a sense of being an isolated individual,” Cravens said. “If we don’t have a common faith to share, then we don’t have a common cause.”