During the heat of the Vietnam War, large-scale May Day protests took place throughout Washington, DC, ending in clashes between protesters and police. Protesters sought refuge from the Metropolitan Police Department by coming to Georgetown University’s campus where, on May 3, 1971, Rev. Robert J. Henle, S.J, the university’s president, authorized the police department to use tear gas to disperse and remove the visitors. Many students were caught in the middle of the violence and injured.
This prompted then-student body President and Vice President Roger Cochetti and Nancy Kent to create a non-profit organization, The Students of Georgetown, Inc., “to assert and protect the inherent rights of its members [students] and the community.”