In this week’s installment of our recurring series, student volunteers attend orientation before engaging in dangerous civil rights work, a senior complains about unwarranted accusations of being a communist, and more.

October 18, 1964—Seven Princeton student volunteers attend orientation at the headquarters of the Council of Federated Organizations in Jackson, Mississippi. Philip L. Fetzer ’65 is arrested on the way for driving through a yellow light, but manages to make it a half hour late after paying a fine. The group will spend a week registering African American voters following their training on how to manage the danger attendant to their efforts.

October 19, 1987—Robert Wessling ’88 complains that studying Russian is a misunderstood pursuit on campus. “I can’t remember how many times I’ve had to say, ‘I’m a Slavic major, not a communist.’”

October 20, 1920—Warren G. Harding wins Princeton’s presidential straw poll due to undergraduate support. However, graduate students favor James M. Cox to Harding by a margin of 39 to 26.

October 21, 1999—Regionally-infamous college street preacher and future convicted sex offender “Brother Stephen” White brings a partner to join him in his explicit denunciations of Princeton students.

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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