Chapter 6 Scholastic Endeavors

Perhaps instigated by the willingness of the California Highway Patrol to use chemical weapons (including thermal foggers) in Berkeley on and around the University of California campus during the 1968 Convention protests, many law enforcement agencies escalated anti-war and racial just protests in University towns during the 1960s and 1970s via chemical weapons.

The willingness of police to fog literally any place where undergraduates standing up for racial justice and against imperialism were gathering was highlighted in May of 1970 when Maryland State Police deployed chemical weapons via thermal fogger into the University of Maryland Chapel (Cabe 1970).

Use of fogger-based chemical weapons against students, particularly students of color, was not limited to college campuses, but extended to high and middle schools.