February 8, 1968
Yale chaplain encourages civil disobedience re: Vietnam
(Date is for when it was reported in the Sophian)
William Sloane Coffin, Chaplain of Yale University, gave a sermon at the chapel and spoke at Gardiner House during reading period, urging students to express concern over the war in Vietnam. He made the case for civil disobedience, wherein the participant is willing to break a law but equally willing to accept punishment within the existing frameworks, rather than revolutionary actions. Coffin hoped that the anti-war cause would gain respectability and mainstream status and asked that students draft a petition on Vietnam, which they did at his request.
Coffin Discusses Civil Disobedience, Sees U.S. in Ideological Paralysis
[Last updated on October 13, 2018]