Without a doubt, the spring of 1970 was a tense and hot season for American college students. Protests and riots flared up over the escalation of the war in Vietnam, the sending of US troops to Cambodia, the environment, civil rights, and the inclusion of women into many formerly all-male universities and colleges. Certainly Kenyon College was experiencing just such a difficult transitional period. At Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, tensions were particularly high in regards to racism and civil rights.