I remember one poignant morning walking up Bascom Hill and viewing what seemed to be thousands of white crosses placed there the night before. This was obviously an anti-war statement during the height of the war in Vietnam. Can you fill in the details of this sobering event? Are there any pictures of this scene?

The University of Wisconsin campus was wracked with civil unrest during the Vietnam War era, when students voiced their opposition to the authorities at anti-war marches and rallies. The perfect rows of white crosses you mentioned were part of a 1968 protest. That March, some 60 students worked for two days to make 435 crosses, then planted them in the grass on Bascom Hill. They also mounted a sign that read, “Bascom Memorial Cemetery, Class of 1968,” and chanted to passers-by, “Pray for the dead and the dead will pray for you.” Because the protesters were peaceful, the UW administration allowed the display to remain on Bascom Hill all day, but the crosses were removed the following morning.