March 12, 1987

CIA recruiters visited Vassar to conduct interviews. Protesting CIA involvement in Iran, Angola, Vietnam, Chile, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador, 25 students opposed their presence on campus and disrupted the interview sessions.

Writing to The Miscellany News two of the protestors said: “By allowing the CIA to ‘recruit’ on campus, Vassar is giving them time and space to propagandize for actions that go wholly against the beliefs upheld by Vassar College. In fact, by allowing their presence, Vassar is implicitly condoning their actions.”

The two students also mentioned former CIA officer John Stockwell’s February visit to Vassar: “Another point that we considered when planning our protest was one made by ex-CIA officer John Stockwell when he spoke at Vassar. He stated that CIA recruiting on college campuses was not aimed at gaining applicants, since the CIA got all the applicants it needed through private channels, but rather to provide an opportunity for the CIA to present themselves to students as benign ‘professionals.’”

An argument in favor of the on-campus interviews also deplored the “