Campus political activism has assumed many forms over the years. Students engaged with questions of what the future held and the role they might play in their community and the globe. There were calls for peace and for students to participate in war. There were marches through town as well as civil disagreements.

​Through these events, UM’s students recognized their place in the world. Students stayed informed through student groups, newspapers, and newsletters. Faculty and students alike expressed their values and visions for the world.

UM students gathered in the Student Union lounge to listen to the radio broadcast of President Roosevelt’s address to Congress following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The changing war and social conditions altered the outlook for students’ prospects.

Following the surrender of Germany and Japan in 1945, UM saw a significant increase in enrollment for the graduating class of ‘49.

During the 1960s there was a ‘critical spirit’ growing on campus. UM Professor Emeritus Edmund Freeman praised student critiques and calls for University decisions to be more inclusive of students.

On October 15th, 1969, over 2,000 students, faculty members, clergymen, and Missoula residents joined in a Vietnam Moratorium March. The same week, a pro-government counterprotest by UM’s student Republican group drew only 70 attendees. The ‘Critical Spirit’ persisted.

In the 1980s, student criticism helped push UM to divest its assets from corporations doing business in South Africa. The University concluded this was necessarily to move toward global racial equality.