Protest and resistance have long been part of the University of Utah’s history. For more than a century, students have spoken out, challenged authority and pushed back against the limits of campus life — sometimes quietly, sometimes in ways that made national headlines.

External influences

In 1914, the University of Utah saw its first notable protest when valedictorian Milton Sevy used his commencement speech to criticize what he called the U administration’s “ultra-conservative” policies.

“What we need is a different point of view. The people must be convinced that their political hope lies in the breaking down of ultra-conservatism and the leadership of young, progressive men,” Sevy said in his commencement speech. “The time is ripe for this change.”

Fred Esplin, former vice president for institutional advancement and U faculty member of 42 years, said that in 1915, the U became a subject of national interest among public universities.

“Evolution was being taught at the time,” Esplin said. “The Board at the U and a lot of Utah leaders didn’t want it taught. There was a showdown between faculty and the president and the students who got involved on the side of the faculty.”

This tension stemmed in part from the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on university leadership. It was not until 1991 that the U appointed its first president without a church affiliation.

Mass resignation

A Daily Utah Chronicle story from March 3, 1915, reported that four U faculty members were demoted or dismissed after allowing a speaker at commencement to openly criticize the Church.

Students and faculty gathered together to protest the terminations.  

The controversy led the university to become the first institution investigated by the newly formed American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The AAUP ruled that the administration had acted unfairly in dismissing the faculty members. By the following year, one-third of the university’s faculty had resigned in protest, and the dispute also prompted the resignation of then-president Joseph T. Kingsbury.

Demonstrations during the 1970s

During the 1970s, the Vietnam War sparked some of the most visible demonstrations on the University of Utah campus.

At Kent State University in 1970, the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of students protesting the university’s involvement in Vietnam. Four students were killed and nine were wounded. 

The event created a nationwide movement on college campuses. Days after the Kent State shooting, hundreds of Utah students gathered in solidarity outside of the A. Ray Olpin Student Union. 

Protesters called on President Richard Nixon to end the war and urged the university to suspend classes in response to the violence in Ohio and nationwide limits on free speech.

L. Jackson Newell, professor emeritus at the U and former dean of the liberal arts and sciences program from 1974-1990, discussed the campus climate at the time.

“The students at that time, at least the student leadership in ASUU, were not in a cooperative mood with the administration,” Newell said.

Violence in protest

At the time, Union Plaza was a flat grassy field designated as a “free speech zone.” After the events in Ohio, the area was re-landscaped with rolling hills and large trees, making it harder for students to gather.

“It’s rather amusing to me still when I walk across that part of our campus and realize that all those little hillocks were deliberately created to make it difficult for students to demonstrate in that area, ” Newell said, “It was probably a fool’s errand to do that and probably an expensive one at that.”

Following a memorial for the four Kent State students who were killed, hundreds of students gathered again, filling the halls of the Park Building.

Protesters also occupied the offices of The Daily Utah Chronicle, demanding that the front page publish their statements. Rather than comply, the student editors relocated off-campus to continue reporting on the protest. 81 students were arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

The university provided statements from the student body president at the time, and now U law professor, Randy Dryer.

“There was property damage, starting with a gasoline-filled, quart-sized beer bottle getting hurled into the ROTC office the day after Kent State,” the university said. “Because the crude firebomb failed to fully ignite, damage was minimal. But a few days later, the university’s unoccupied Intercultural Center went up in flames.”

Other arson attempts on campus were unsuccessful and the offenders were never caught, Dryer told the U. 

Anti-apartheid movement

In the 1980s, students protested against apartheid in South Africa, once erecting shanties outside the Union.

“It’s very similar to the Gaza protests today because one of the things that students all over the country were demonstrating for was universities to divest their stock in any company that did business with South Africa,” Esplin said. “They were trying to develop an economic boycott.”

The administration tried to force students to take the shanties down, but there was no policy at the time that allowed them to do so.

Campus now

The U is now making an effort to support “campus dialogue,” detailing procedures that dictate how groups should go about organizing protests. 

Josh Shulruff, Campus Dialogue program manager, told The Chronicle that he encourages students interested in holding a protest or hosting a speaker on campus to reach out to his office at the Bennion Center.

Campus demonstrations continue into the present day. In spring 2025, a series of pro-Palestine protests resulted in 17 arrests.

“The atmosphere is rather chilling with regard to free speech on the campus at this point, which is a matter of great concern and sadness to me,” Newell said.

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