 In late 1960s and early 1970s , student and faculty activists protested against the Vietnam War and MIT 's defense research . The Union of Concerned Scientists was founded on March 4 , 1969 during a meeting of faculty members and students seeking to shift the emphasis on military research toward environmental and social problems . MIT ultimately divested itself from the Instrumentation Laboratory and moved all classified research off @-@ campus to the Lincoln Laboratory facility in 1973 in response to the protests . The student body , faculty , and administration remained comparatively unpolarized during what was a tumultuous time for many other universities . Johnson was seen to be highly successful in leading his institution to " greater strength and unity " after these times of turmoil . 
