Faculty Urges Ending of ROTC on campus

Michael was president of the Washington University Faculty Senate for two years (1969-1971) during the contentious protests of the Vietnam War era.

In March 1970, it was the lead story page A1 in the Post-Dispatch that the Faculty Senate had voted to remove accreditation for Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) on campus.

WU Faculty Senate votes to remove ROTC
29 March 1970, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, pA1.

Letter to the editor about ROTC & WU
21 Oct 2009, Student Life, p4.
(full op-ed page)

44 years later, the decision was reversed
28 April 2014, Student Life, p1.
(Michael quoted here too)

Note too that the inside pA6 (1970, linked above) also has a call for teeth for the Baby Tooth Survey in the lower right of the page.

Howard Mechanic

Less than two month later (May 1970, in the aftermath of the Kent State shootings by National Guardsmen), protesters at Wash U burned the ROTC building(s). A student named Howard Mechanic was charged with throwing a cherry bomb at firefighters who came to put out the fire. It is a long dramatic story, in which he lived as a fugitive for nearly 30 years, but eventually received a presidential pardon from President Clinton. In late 2000, Michael wrote a letter supporting clemency and later received a citation of appreciation from the Friends of Howard Mechanic group.

The role of the university, faculty governance, and academic freedom.

From multiple Washington University Chancellors and Deans, Michael was sent private letters of appreciation for his dedication to academic freedom and demonstrated leadership on faculty governance.