Gettysburg College students’ response to the Vietnam war followed a similar timeline to student protests occurring across the country, albeit on a different scale. The Chaplain’s office collected donations in January 1966, and  a Vietnam discussion was hosted for faculty and students in February. In October of the same year, the college’s fall lecture series was devoted to a discussion of peace and withdrawal from Vietnam. The following spring, the Ad Hoc Committee of Students Opposed to the War in Vietnam scheduled a Peace Week including the erection of a peace monument, speakers, and media about the war.  The Peace Torch Marathon came to  Gettysburg in October 1967, and students and faculty signed a petition asking the government to de-escalate forces the next February. In one of the largest protests to take place in Gettysburg, approximately 500 people attended a demonstration at the Peace Light in October 1969.

Following news of the killed students at Kent State and student prompting, faculty voted to suspend classes on Friday May 8th and Saturday May 9th, 1970. President Hanson encouraged departmental discussions about the war over the course of the weekend. Simultaneously, Professor Harold Dunkelberger of the Religious Studies department proposed a resolution that stated: "We the majority of the faculty at Gettysburg College deplore the expansion of the Indochina war and call upon President Nixon to remove immediately all American troops from Cambodia and to speed the withdrawal of all American troops from Vietnam."

The following Monday morning, a small group of students sat outside Glatfelter hall distributing leaflets encouraging people to join student strike along with seventeen other schools.  Some students opted to sign a telegram that asked president Nixon to come to Gettysburg to explain his decision to expand US forces into Cambodia. On Tuesday, about 125 students held a memorial service for the deceased Kent State students, followed by a march to the peace light. On the same evening, strike leaders met with President Hanson, and became visibly upset when he refused to take a public position on behalf of the administration. Following a concert at the Chapel on Wednesday, a hundred students marched around campus holding candles and chanting phrases, including "Strike Now" and "1,2,3,4, We Don't Want Your War." The original 100 eventually grew to 400, and all went to the chapel to hear a rallying speech by English professor Bob Frederickson, who was quoted as saying "Real revolutionaries want to effect change...a confrontation with the townspeople will not effect change, it will only lead to divisiveness." Following his speech, student leaders conferred on how to continue the protest. Though the overall movement had a credible impact on campus, it was also critiqued for the disorganization among student leaders. Scroll below to see one of the pamphlets student protesters distributed.