# My dad, the college radical **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 10, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dad-the-college-radical/588515 "2011-07-10T16:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dad-the-college-radical/588515/1 "2011-07-10T16:51:02Z")
My dad sent me a link today, something I’ve been scouring the net for since he first mentioned it in passing years ago. It’s a documentary about the student protests at Yale University in 1970, and my dad, a senior there at the time, has a small but memorable moment caught on film. [(Skip forward to around 21:00; my dad’s the angry guy with the aviator glasses and the New Yawk accent).](http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/bright_college_years_sixties_legacy_series/) Dad sent it to me because he thought it was amusing, and to show off how good he used to look - not that he doesn’t look terrific for his age right now - but personally, I’m not entirely sure what to think. I mean, it’s fun to see my dad, father of three and grandfather of two, successful lawyer and respected member of his community, haranguing his fellow protesters for not attacking the “rotsy” building with ladders and firebombs. It’s just that I’m much older than he was at the time and I’ve never felt so much passion about a cause, not to mention the need to express it in public. Is it me, or did I just grow up in less interesting times? Anyway ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dad-the-college-radical/588515/2 "2011-07-10T16:57:23Z")
by “rotsy” do you mean ROTC? I think its just different times, I don’t feel passion like that for anything but my family (thats right, you are NOT a real person once you physically threaten my family) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dad-the-college-radical/588515/3 "2011-07-10T17:00:48Z")
Yeah, ROTC - pronounced “rotsy”. On a completely unrelated note, my little brother is currently serving as a naval officer. Dad couldn’t be prouder. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dad-the-college-radical/588515/4 "2011-07-10T18:21:01Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > On a completely unrelated note, my little brother is currently serving as a naval officer. Dad couldn’t be prouder. The times, they are a’changin’. 🙂 I went to a few protests in my college days, but nothing quite so fiery, literally or figuratively! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dad-the-college-radical/588515/5 "2011-07-10T18:35:52Z")
[We made a movie on our campus](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_War_at_Home_%281979_film%29). Nominated for an Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dad-the-college-radical/588515/6 "2011-07-10T19:48:44Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s just that I’m much older than he was at the time and I’ve never felt so much passion about a cause, not to mention the need to express it in public. Is it me, or did I just grow up in less interesting times? > > Anyway Less “interesting” times. Remember that people were being drafted to fight in a war that was extremely unpopular with large segments of the population, especially the ones being drafted. War death counts were in the news every day. It was difficult not to feel impassioned about it one way or another if you were in that age bracket.