It’s Thanksgiving week. As a former college student, I always enjoyed coming home for a few days to take a break before final exams and completing term papers. I recall morning classes being held on the day before Thanksgiving and then making the trip home.

Back in 1966, some students at Delhi Agricultural and Technical College wanted to get away for Thanksgiving a bit earlier than scheduled. Some didn’t want to attend Wednesday classes and requested to the administration that classes be dismissed Tuesday afternoon.

The administration refused to call off classes, so a number of students made their opinions known.

It was around this time in the 1960s when colleges and universities across the nation were experiencing student unrest for many reasons. For example, administration buildings at the State University colleges at Oneonta and Binghamton and Cornell University were taken over by students for a variety of causes, such as war protests and alleged injustices against students.

Delhi was no exception to the unrest. On Friday, Nov. 18, students were picketing, protesting and rallying the college administration to cancel classes the following Wednesday, allowing students to start traveling home Tuesday at 5 p.m.

The night before, a large number of students staged a demonstration on the front lawn of then-President William Kunsela’s home. The rally led to a meeting at 9 p.m. in the college gymnasium between students and college officials for a question-and-answer period.

About 1,000 students attended, some with signs that read, "Tuesday or Never," or "Let’s Have a College, Not a High School." As the meeting was ready to begin, a chant began of "Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday," along with foot stomping on the wooden bleachers.

Student leaders predicted that a mass exodus of up to 800 students out of the 1,300 enrolled would leave Tuesday. College officials thought there might be some kind of walkout.

The administration stood its ground about not canceling Wednesday classes. No doubt, the decision was not popular with many students, and the issue simmered over the weekend.

On Monday night, Nov. 21, a roaring crowd of students marched off the hillside campus and into the center of the village, continually chanting, "We want rights, we want rights." People flocked to their doorways and watched, some mystified and others nervous.[an error occurred while processing this directive]