Class of 1968

October 19-21 was American University’s All-American Weekend. As part of the Golden Eagles Reunion, the Humanities Truck partnered with the American University archives to present the Class of 1968 exhibit on the AU quad Friday, October 19th. Archivists Leslie Nellis and Austin Arminio collaborated with Graduate Fellow Maren Orchard and Humanities Truck Director Dan Kerr to create the exhibit. In addition to numerous captioned photos, a slideshow of nostalgic photographs played while an infamous speech by Hubert Humphrey sounded throughout the grounds.

Photos of the Humanities Truck and our visitors can be viewed in our blog post.

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Dan and Maren conducted oral history interviews with several AU alumni, available below.

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The following materials were presented in the Humanities Truck exhibit.

The American University Eagle

Baseball team, 1967-1968

Basketball team, 1967-1968

Men’s cross country, 1967-1968

Men’s tennis, 1967-1968

Men’s swim team, 1967-1968

Homecoming parade, 1968

Justice Thurgood Marshall introduced Justice Fortas at the Washington College of Law Convocation honoring American University’s 75th anniversary, March 20, 1968

Mohammed Ali spoke at American University on the struggle of black men in America, May 3, 1968

American University President Hurst Anderson, 1952-1968

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In May 1968, American University students held a series of rallies on university governance issues.

The students were concerned about the confidentiality of their records, curfews for women, mandatory housing rules, and the inclusion of the student’s voice in the making of university policies.  The University formed an ad-hoc conference of students, faculty and administrators to review the students’ demands.  The conference participants eventually approved eleven out of the twelve demands.

Passed in 1972, Title IX prohibited federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex and mandated they provide fair and equal treatment in athletics. Prior to its passage, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) held no championships for women’s teams and universities provided limited funding to support these teams.

In 1968 at American University, women’s teams competed with other universities in basketball and field hockey in “extramural” competitions.  There were also women’s intramural competitions in tennis, swimming, volleyball, badminton, and bowling.

Additional Class of 1968 Photos

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Vice President Hubert Humphrey

75th Anniversary Convocation, American University, February 24th, 1968

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Class of 1968 Talon Yearbook, Commencement Program, and 1967-68 Catalog

Scanning courtesy of  the Internet Archive with funding by Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation. Visitors can view AU’s yearbooks for 1927-1998 by visiting the Internet Archive. AU’s yearbooks for 1999-2018 are available only to AU students and alumni on the univerity’s library website. AU’s course catalogs and commencement programs are also available on the Internet Archive.