William Peterson was born in Harvard, Illinois in December of 1947, and attended the University of Illinois in 1965. Peterson attended the University as a history major, and upon receiving his draft notice, decided to enlist in the Air Force. In this interview, he describes anti-war activism on the University of Illinois campus before he was deployed, as well as his duties overseas. Peterson returned to Illinois for graduate school in 1975 after various missions from the Air Force throughout Vietnam and the Pacific. Even though Peterson felt as though he missed the largest riots and protest movements on campus, he describes what he witnessed as well as what occurred at the university through his absence. Peterson discusses the way soldiers were portrayed on campus and throughout the United States as well as his personal views on activism and the Vietnam War.
This collection examines ways in which the U.S. university and the American college experience are affected by diversity, and difference. In particular, these student projects examine experiences of diversity on campus, including important contemporary social, cultural, and political debates on equity and access to university resources.
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