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According to the article Media Throw Everything at the Wall to See What Sticks:

Witless college students demanded cyanide pills be stocked in campus health care clinics, on the grounds that Reagan was going to get us all nuked.

Is the statement factual?

Laurel
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Chloe
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    Does "college students" mean "some college students in a handful of colleges", or "many college students in many colleges" (which is the broad insinuation it tries to make)? The claim as stated isn't really falsifiable, some college students somewhere have demanded pretty much anything you could think of, at some point. – smci Jan 12 '19 at 18:00
  • Your question doesn't match what really happened. What the students wanted was a symbolic action. This is far different from "clamoring for cyanide pills". – Daniel R Hicks Jan 16 '19 at 00:56

3 Answers3

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According to the 1991 book Horrendous Death and Health: Toward Action :

Brown University students took significant action in 1984, before the Cold War thawing. The students voted to have the campus health center stock cyanide pills so they could easily commit suicide in the event of a nuclear war

and according to a Brown University webpage:

On October 12, 1984, a queue of students waited for over an hour in a line snaking from the winding staircase of Sayles Hall, out to the foyer with pictures of former presidents, and onto the main green, despite a broken voting machine and snappy cold weather. Over 1900 students showed up to vote on a referendum asking Health Services to offer cyanide pills in the event of nuclear war, which was a larger turnout than any other vote in recent history at Brown.

With weeks of priming in the news, in posters and demonstrations on campus, and a story on CBS, Brown students were ready to vote on the controversial decision. Arguments flared between cold, testy students waiting on line, and posters put up late Tuesday night likening the referendum to the Jim Jones' mass cult suicide were hastily ripped down by supporters of the SST.

57% of the student body who voted said that they were willing to see Health Services offer cyanide pills, and the world gasped in response. The vote seemed to be split along gender and political lines with 81% of females and only 53% males supporting the referendum. 80% of Mondale supporters voted for the referendum and nearly all Reagan supporters voted against. It was a shocking outcome, and the campus did not seem ready for what was meant by the result.

See also this 1984 UPI article.

Also, according to the 29 November 1984 article Cyanide Pill Push May Harm Freeze Movement in Fiat Lux:

Attempts by students at Brown University and more recently at the University of Colorado to stock cyanide pills for use after a nuclear war may be doing the fading campus freeze movement more harm than good, some activists warn.

Last week—in the largest student vote turnout in six years—Brown students voted 1,044 to 687 in favor of a measure asking college officials to stockpile suicide pills for optional student use exclusively in the event of a nuclear war.

At the same time, Colorado student leaders voted to hold a similar referendum on that campus in late October.

However, the referendum was rejected at Univ. Colorado:

Students at the University of Colorado voted Thursday against having the university look into the possibility of stockpiling cyanide capsules for use in the event of a nuclear war. About 20 percent of the 20,000 students took part, said John Guldaman, chief assistant election commissioner for the university's student government, with 2,332 opposing the idea and 1,689 favoring it.

There was also a weaker effort by students as University of Michigan.

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DavePhD
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    "willing to see health services offer..." and "clamor for" seem subtly but distinctly different... – user3067860 Jan 11 '19 at 21:40
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    @user3067860 I don't disagree, but the problem appears to lie in the question title, then. The quoted claim only asserts that the students demanded the pills be stocked. "Demanded" might be a tad hyperbolic for voting for it, but I don't think it's wrong (particularly if promoters/supporters of the idea were demanding about it). – jpmc26 Jan 11 '19 at 22:26
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    Probably would have been seen as a pretty good idea had there been a nuclear war. Starvation + Radiation Poisoning is not the best way to die. – Bill K Jan 11 '19 at 23:34
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    Seem like this was unique to Brown though, so its super-duper misleading (which is the next best thing to lying) to just say "college students" when it should be "students at Brown". – T.E.D. Jan 11 '19 at 23:44
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    @T.E.D. We live in an society where one or two angry tweets are often reported as "The Internet is aghast". – Barmar Jan 12 '19 at 00:14
  • @T.E.D. Reading in context, the paragraph seems to be a list of examples demonstrating the mindset about the risk of nuclear war. Could be more explicit, sure, but for the point being made (that left leaning people considered Reagan's policy absurd and dangerous), I don't think it particularly matters whether it's a single event or multiple ones. Maybe *slightly* misleading at most; definitely not "super duper." If anything in there is misleading, I'd put my money on later parts of the article. – jpmc26 Jan 12 '19 at 00:14
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    @T.E.D. also Colorado University, I will add to answer – DavePhD Jan 12 '19 at 00:55
  • Thank you! That changes things. A *second* instance of this makes the phrasing in the quote much less misleading. – T.E.D. Jan 12 '19 at 01:00
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    @T.E.D. and after Brown and U. Colorado, there was a weaker effort at U. Michigan http://www.annarbor.com/news/1984-student-led-suicide-pill-campaign-at-u-m-fails-showers-now-mandatory-for-patrons-of-ann-arbor-d/ – DavePhD Jan 12 '19 at 01:08
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    This answer does not address the "witless" part of Coulter's claim. I highly doubt Brown's acceptance standards were so low in 1984 that a significant fraction of their students were "witless". – David Hammen Jan 12 '19 at 07:04
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    @T.E.D.: It's also quite misleading to claim "college students" when a much better description might be "a number of activists, some of whom were students attending X university". Google says Brown's current student population is 9380. (Can't find nuber for '84, but assume it's similar.) So only 18% voted on this, 60% of those in favor, so ~11% of the student body. Hardly a "clamor" :-) – jamesqf Jan 12 '19 at 18:53
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    @jamesqf "Vote totals from the two-day referendumm, which drew a record 35 percent of the 5,400 undergraduates, showed the referendum was approved 1,096 to 687" https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/10/12/Brown-University-students-have-approved-by-a-60-to/4604716406056/#ixzz5cQMGqD00 – DavePhD Jan 12 '19 at 19:43
  • @DavePhD: You're obviously better at Google than I am :-) Still, that's only 20% of the undergraduates in favor. (And less of the entire student body.) So I stick with "Hardly a clamor". – jamesqf Jan 13 '19 at 18:19
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    @jamesqf I agree that "clamor" should be removed from the title. That word isn't in the claim, it just exaggerates the claim. – DavePhD Jan 13 '19 at 19:34
  • @DavidHammen The OP didn't ask for an evaluation of "witless." I would also argue it's not something that can be evaluated objectively, anyway. Coulter is intentionally deriding their wisdom to establish a dismissive tone, rather than saying something objective about measurable abilities (like intelligence via IQ). Sadly and much to her loss of credibility, that's a common tactic on her part. – jpmc26 Jan 14 '19 at 23:34
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No, not really. They were making a dramatic and hyperbolic gesture about the dangers of nuclear holocaust, but they were not seriously hoping to have pills handy for use.

In any event, organizers say their aim is largely symbolic: they want people to equate nuclear war with suicide.

"There are words we hear talk about when people mention nuclear war: survival, recovery," said Jason Salzman, 21, a junior from Denver who is one of the group's four organizers. "I like more appropriate words: suicide, death."

Still others supported getting the referendum approved for voting as a statement about free speech and democracy.

Mr. Salzman and Christopher Ferguson, 21, a sophomore from New Rochelle, N.Y., who is also among the organizers, said many students signed the petition to put the question on the ballot not because they supported the measure but rather "to let it get on the ballot in the spirit of democratic process."

It seems like the students voting were also aware of the symbolic motivations, as well.

Madeline Butcher, 19, a sophomore from Brunswick, Maine, said she would vote yes and hope the health service would stock the poison "to make everybody a little more aware of the reality of it all."

But Scott C. Ganeles, 20, a junior from Peekskill, N.Y, said he would vote for the referendum "just as an idea - just to put the word 'suicide' with 'nuclear holocaust.'"

NY Times Archive 10/11/1984: Brown Students Vote On Atom War "Suicide Pills"

Was it silly and more than a little foolish, to our eyes in the post-Cold War era? Perhaps, but many today do not realize the actual danger of those times, as well.

In any case, the idea that they wanted the pill available as a practical alternative, rather than making an attention-grabbing statement, is also overblown, as is the idea that college students were "clamoring" for cyanide. But that's not surprising, given the source.

PoloHoleSet
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  • This is a good example of a "good subjective" answer, along with the facts to back it up. –  Jan 12 '19 at 06:32
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    Your "no, not really" seems more like a "yes, but" – John Coleman Jan 12 '19 at 13:38
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    The actual claim is "college students demanded cyanide pills be stocked in campus health care clinics". The word "clamor" is not part of the claim. – DavePhD Jan 12 '19 at 14:20
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    Import context. So more a PR publicity stunt. – Chloe Jan 13 '19 at 00:17
  • @DavePhD It's part of the title though, so don't blame the answer. – Mast Jan 13 '19 at 19:24
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    @Chloe - Yes, college students seeking out drama is not a new phenomenon. I remember the first big student march on the capital I saw at University of Wisconsin was over a demand that the university divest from apartheid South Africa. I believe that they had already done so seven or eight years previously. As sympathetic as I am and was to liberal policy stances, that one really had me scratching my head. We just liked to get together and march on the capitol, I guess. – PoloHoleSet Jan 14 '19 at 14:50
  • I do not think that four select quotes from interviews represent what "the students" voted for. I grew up in cold war West Germany, and I would have voted "yes" even at the age of 14 -- and for quite practical considerations, not to "raise awareness" or "make a statement". The quotes are interesting, but they do not really answer the question. These four might have had other ideas, or *stated* other motivations. Who likes to admit to a reporter that the idea of *surviving* a nuclear war (or rather, surviving the initial attack...) is scarier than the idea of dying in one? – DevSolar Jan 15 '19 at 12:49
  • @DevSolar - some of those quotes are from the organizers of the referendum at Brown, which was the focus/start of the movement in question. The article was from that time, at the time of the vote. It's going to be more accurate than a pundit's third-hand recollection of what here opinion was at the time. The NY Times is a respected journalistic source. They were clearly looking for a range of responses in what they put down. You don't think someone saying "I want it here so I can die!" would have been included? – PoloHoleSet Jan 15 '19 at 17:38
  • @PoloHoleSet: Well, would it? – DevSolar Jan 15 '19 at 17:52
  • @DevSolar - Of course it would. It's interesting, dramatic, creates a pro/con dichotomy, lends itself to further exploration. Draws more readers. More completely illuminates the issues at hand. There's no reporter, legitimate/scholarly or muck-raking sensationalist, who would ignore or bury that. – PoloHoleSet Jan 15 '19 at 17:54
  • @PoloHoleSet: You're still missing the point. The vote *was* held, the outcome *was* as described. And even if *all* the students stated that they wanted to "make a point" or whatever, the answer to the question is still quite clearly **yes**, not "no, not really". Also, dismissing their vote as "dramatic and hyperbolic gesture" is your personal opinion, and well, guess what, I disagree. – DevSolar Jan 15 '19 at 17:57
  • @DevSolar - I'm really not. The question isn't just about whether a vote was held. The question was asking about what students **wanted** and **why**, because the claim being addressed made representations about that. If the question was "did students vote for this?" my answer would have been different, but it wasn't. – PoloHoleSet Jan 15 '19 at 18:07
  • @PoloHoleSet: "...on the grounds that Reagan was going to get us all nuked" is all the "why" I can find in the question. – DevSolar Jan 15 '19 at 18:18
  • @DevSolar - I've yet to see any quotes, from anywhere, where someone involved was suggesting mass suicide as a practical policy stance, so "dramatic and hyperbolic" fits. I get that you disagree, and I appreciate the feedback. I was in college, at a liberal campus where marching and protesting were a point of pride, in the mid to late 1980s, right around the time this went on, so I guess I feel my perspective on this is perhaps a bit closer than yours of being 14 living in Cold War Germany at the time. – PoloHoleSet Jan 15 '19 at 18:53
  • Could it be that you completely misunderstood *the whole issue of the vote*? The idea was not to have cyanide pills available to commit "mass suicide to make a political point". The idea was to have them available to commit suicide if the cold war turned hot, nukes went off in large numbers, to avoid having to take part in an reenactment of The Last Children of Schewenborn ... – DevSolar Jan 15 '19 at 19:02
  • @DevSolar - Why are the words "mass suicide to make a political point" in quotes? The fact that you got that from anything I said suggest that you completely missed the issues I addressed. The idea was to have a dramatic referendum vote "to make a point," so people would be more aware and serious about proactive actions to prevent it from ever coming to that. They were interested in avoiding the scenario altogether, and their actions were targeted at that end, not how to deal with it when it happened. – PoloHoleSet Jan 16 '19 at 16:56
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/88356/discussion-between-devsolar-and-poloholeset). – DevSolar Jan 16 '19 at 16:58
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Apparently so.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1984/10/22/grave-new-world-pbwbhat-were-1044/

October 22, 1984 WHAT WERE 1044 Brown University students trying to say last Friday when they voted that their university should stock cyanide pills to be used in the event of a nuclear war?

Chloe
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