 The principal countries of origin for international students during this period were India, Iran, Micronesia, Nigeria, Taiwan, and Thailand.Reynolds argues that racial tensions on campus "reached a peak in the spring of 1968", after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.While there were no demonstrations or riots on campus, ETSU's African American students formed the African-American Student Society at East Texas (ASSET), which advocated their demands for equal treatment in matters of housing, course offerings in African American history and literature, and the employment of African American faculty members.