Cuban missile crisis march

Thousands of students demonstrating their support for President Kennedy’s involvement with the Cuban missile crisis were met by pro-Cuban protesters from the Ad Hoc Committee to Oppose U.S. Aggression during a march prior to the designation of Dunn Meadow as a free speech zone.

The peaceful protest broke into violence after a male protester grabbed a sign from a female picketer, which he used to strike her on the head. The man was arrested, and IU President Elvis Stahr blamed the violence on the pro-Cuban protesters.

Stahr approached the Bloomington Faculty Council claiming unrecognized organizations, such as the Ad Hoc Committee, should not be allowed to demonstrate on campus.

In July 1963, the IU Board of Trustees approved a compromise: Dunn Meadow would be designated as IU’s assembly grounds — a spot that, at the time, was in the center of campus.