January 21, 1991

Professor of Anthropology Charles Briggs marched alongside 150 other area residents in a “Demonstration for Peace” through downtown Poughkeepsie, protesting the U.S.’s recent entry into the Gulf War.

Returning from their winter break, students formed several organizations in response to the war, representing a spectrum of political perspectives. Vassar Opposed to the War (VOW) was “against the war and for an alternative solution to military action.” During the group’s first meeting in Josselyn House, the 90 students in attendance discussed organizing a protest and blood drive on campus, providing draft counseling and conscientious objector information and coordinating a teach-in day to educate the campus on issues surrounding the war and U.S. involvement.

The Vassar Conservative Society and the conservative student publication The Vassar Spectator jointly formed Vassar Students for a Free Kuwait. A third group of students founded a group that took no political stance, instead focusing on the troops themselves. A member said, “…men and women who are deployed in the Gulf are our peers, relatives and friends…The war is no longer an issue of ideology, of if it’s wrong or right. It’s that it is happening and we need to appreciate their sacrifice.” The Miscellany News