In 1969 , 42 students were suspended for peacefully protesting military recruiting on campus . One year later , faculty voted to suspend classes in the wake of the Kent State shootings and America 's invasion of Cambodia . Subsequently , Oxy students wrote 7,000 letters to Washington D.C. , protesting U.S. involvement in the war in Southeast Asia . Occidental launched one of the country 's first Upward Bound programs in 1966 , aimed at increasing the number of low-income , underrepresented high school students who become the first in their family to go to college
Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
Occidental College